World Rivers

A river is a flowing, moving stream of water. Usually a river feeds water into an ocean, lake, pond, or even another river.

Water from a river can come from rain, melting snow, lakes, ponds, or even glaciers. Rivers flow downhill from their source. They are considered part of the freshwater biome.

There are about 165 major rivers in the world, but these fourteen are some of the most famous.

River	Description
Nile	Source: Tributaries of Lake Victoria, Africa Outflow: Mediterranean Sea Length (km): 6,690
Amazon	Source: Glacier-fed lakes, Peru Outflow: Atlantic Ocean Length (km): 6,296
Mississippi-Missouri-Red Rock	Source: Source of Red Rock, Montana Outflow: Gulf of Mexico Length (km): 5,970
Chang Jiang (Yangtze)	Source: Tibetan plateau, China Outflow: China Sea Length (km): 5,797
Ob	Source: Altai Mts., Russia Outflow: Gulf of Ob Length (km): 5,567
Huang He (Yellow)	Source: Eastern part of Kunlan Mts., West China Outflow: Gulf of Chili Length (km): 4,667
Yenisei	Source: Tannu-Ola Mts., western Tuva, Russia Outflow: Arctic Ocean Length (km): 4,506
Paraná	Source: Confluence of Paranaiba and Grande rivers Outflow: Río de la Plata Length (km): 4,498
Irtish	Source: Altai Mts., Russia Outflow: Ob River Length (km): 4,438
Zaire (Congo)	Source: Confluence of Lualab and Luapula rivers, Congo Outflow: Atlantic Ocean Length (km): 4,371
Heilong (Amur)	Source: Confluence of Shilka (Russia) and Argun (Manchuria) rivers Outflow: Tatar Strait Length (km): 4,352
Lena	Source: Baikal Mts., Russia Outflow: Arctic Ocean Length (km): 4,268
Mackenzie	Source: Head of Finlay River, British Columbia, Canada Outflow: Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean) Length (km): 4,241
Niger	Source: Guinea Outflow: Gulf of Guinea Length (km): 4,184
Mekong	Source: Tibetan highlands Outflow: South China Sea Length (km): 4,023
Mississippi	Source: Lake Itasca, Minnesota Outflow: Gulf of Mexico Length (km): 3,779
Missouri	Source: Confluence of Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison rivers, Montana Outflow: Mississippi River Length (km): 3,726
Volga	Source: Valdai plateau, Russia Outflow: Caspian Sea Length (km): 3,687
Madeira	Source: Confluence of Beni and Maumoré rivers, Bolivia–Brazil boundary Outflow: Amazon River Length (km): 3,238
Purus	Source: Valdai plateau, Russia Outflow: Amazon River Length (km): 3,207

Interesting Facts:

• There are 76 rivers in the world over 1000 miles long.
• A lot of people think that rivers always flow south, but 4 of the 10 longest rivers in the world flow north.
• The United States alone has around 3.5 million miles of rivers.
• Four of the top 10 longest rivers flow through Russia at some point.
• Four of the top 10 longest rivers flow through China at some point as well.
• World Rivers have been a great source of trade and transport throughout human history.
• The river which crosses the Equator twice is Zaire.
• The river which crosses the Tropic of Capricorn twice is Limpopo.
• The river known as China’s sorrow is River Hwang Ho or the Yellow River.