Map of the rivers of Brazil

Almost 15% of the world's fresh water reserves are in Brazil. Water is the country's main wealth, along with wood from the forest. And according to data for 2016, Brazil is the second largest producer of hydroelectric power in the world, after China.

O Brazil has one of the most extensive hydrographic networks on the planet. The Amazon basin alone accounts for about 20% of the total volume of fresh water on Earth discharged into the oceans. It is the river of all excess, more than a thousand tributaries and with 7 million km2, the Amazon basin is the largest hydrographic basin in the world. The Congo River, the second largest basin, covers 3.7 million km2. The average flow of more than 200,000 m3/sec (60 times the flow of the Nile!) is by far the highest of all rivers. The Congo, the second most powerful river, has an average flow of 40,000 m3. In terms of length (+/- 7,000 kilometers), the Amazon ranks first with the Nile.

A Amazonia starts in the Andes, in Peru, and flows into the Atlantic, in northern Brazil. At its widest point, the river is 11 km in the dry season and 50 km in the rainy season! Another surprising fact is that no bridge or dam crosses thousands of kilometers. The crossing is made by ferry. The width of the river, its depth (up to 100 meters), its power, the multitude of branches of the river, the banks flooded several months a year, are so many obstacles to the construction of such infrastructure. And at the mouth of the river, the island of Marajó covers an area of 40,000 km2, a territory larger than Belgium.

The country's second main river takes us south. The Paraná River is born in the center of Brazil, in the highlands and flows into the Atlantic in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, located in the north of the country. With an area of 2.5 million km2, its watershed is one of the largest in the world. O