Mismi is a mountain peak of volcanic origin in the

Chila mountain range The Chila mountain range lies in the Arequipa Region in the Andes of Peru. It extends between 15°02' and 15°26'S and 71°43' and 72°37'W for about 80 km. The range is located in the provinces of Castilla and Caylloma. Mountains The h ...

in the Andes of Peru. A glacial stream on the Mismi was firmly identified as the most distant source of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of ...

in 1996; this finding was confirmed in 2001 and again in 2007. This claim has been challenged with three locations for the source of the Amazon identified, depending upon the definition of "source." The waters from Mismi flow into the streams

Carhuasanta Carhuasanta is a small river located in the Arequipa Region of Peru. It is known as the source (river or stream), headwaters of the Amazon River. The brook is fed by the winter snows of Nevado Mismi, (5,597 m), some 6,400 kilometers from t ...

and Apachita, which flow into the

Apurímac River The Apurímac River ( que, Apurimaq mayu; es, Río Apurímac, ; from Quechua ''apu'' 'divinity' and ''rimaq'' 'oracle, talker') rises from glacial meltwater of the ridge of the Mismi, a mountain in the Arequipa Province in the south-western m ...

. It is a tributary of the

Ucayali The Ucayali River ( es, Río Ucayali, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón close to Nauta city. The city o ...

which later joins the Marañón to form the Amazon proper.

Location

Mismi is about west of

Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...

and southeast of Peru's capital city, Lima, in the

Arequipa Region Arequipa ( ay, Ariqipa; qu, Ariqipa) is a department and region in southwestern Peru. It is the sixth largest department in Peru, after Puno, Cuzco, Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto, its sixth most populous department, and its eleventh least ...

. It is one of the highest points of

Colca Canyon The Colca Canyon is a canyon of the Colca River in southern Peru, located about northwest of Arequipa. With a depth of about 1000 - 2000 m (3300 - 6600 ft) (whereas bottom is at cca 2000 m and edges are at 3000 - 4000 metres above the sea le ...

. There are several glaciers on the peak.

The Cousteau Amazon Expedition

In 1982

Jean-Michel Cousteau Jean-Michel Cousteau (born 6 May 1938) is a French oceanographic explorer, environmentalist, educator and film producer. The first son of ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, he is the father of Fabien Cousteau and Céline Cousteau. Life and care ...

led a large scale scientific exploration of the Amazon from its mouth to its origin. The "Cousteau Amazon Expedition" cost eleven million dollars and culminated in a six-hour television documentary titled "Cousteau's Amazon" released in 1983. It offered study information to last years and gave insights into the biology and geology of the largest river system on earth. This expedition was broken into three separate groups and the upper Amazon section was covered by "The Flying Expedition" tasked with exploring the upper third to Arequipa from the river's origin. Traditionally, explorers and geographers define the origin of a river system by tracking the longest tributaries while heading upstream, as volume can change dramatically from month to month. In a system as complex as the Amazon basin with dozen of streams as candidates in previously poorly mapped areas, no consensus could plausibly be substantiated for some time, and the origin was left to speculation. Half a dozen sites claimed title to "The Origin of the Amazon" and until 1982 several were in the running. But, in 1971,

Loren McIntyre Loren McIntyre (March 24, 1917 – May 11, 2003), was an American photojournalist who worked extensively in South America. His photographs and writing appeared in ''National Geographic'' and hundreds of other periodicals. He has numerous bo ...

discovered the true source of the Amazon before anyone else. This has since been confirmed by satellite. Using an international team of twelve and bringing in expeditionary specialists from Germany, France, Argentina, Peru and the US, Jean-Michel Cousteau put together resources and logistics spanning a thousand miles of unknown jungle. The Upper Amazon expedition (The Flying Expedition) included an Eastern European multi-axled articulated Land Rover for use on land, a float plane Papagaiu, for air support and reconnaissance, and the Peruvian Air Force offered a high elevation helicopter to reach the upper levels of the

in Peru. Expedition support bases were established in

Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru ...

, in the mountains, in

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated cit ...

, and high in the Chilca mountain range at Caylloma for the quest to find the origin of the Amazon. Many locations were remote, making it necessary to surmount language, terrain and logistical difficulties, as the mountain team made their way up the Selinque River to the flanks of the Mismi. At this mountain's base, Cousteau dispatched a team of German alpinists who climbed the volcano and returned in two days. During their descent, they found melt water dropping into a fissure. This cleft varied from two meters to half a meter wide, angling down the slope. This stream flowed nearly fifty meters before disappearing, emerging again lower downstream to flow between stones and continue its course. They discovered that within the fissure, the water was deep enough to float a small craft, and realized that they were presented with an opportunity. Utilizing pack llamas, kayaker Caril Ridley was brought to the site, and in June 1982, navigating by kayak, became the first person to run the origins of the Amazon. Later expeditions refined the understanding of the river's many origins and its subsequent course to the Atlantic Ocean.

National Geographic Society Expedition

In 2001, it was verified that the main headwater of the Amazon River has its glacial source on the Mismi. An expedition of the National Geographic Society discovered that the Qarwasanta stream flowing into Apurímac River originates on the northern slopes of the mountain and then runs its course through other tributaries and rivers to help form the main Amazon River. Brazilian scientists in 2007 confirmed that the headwaters of Apurímac River are the source of the Amazon River and pointed to Mismi as the most probable source of the Amazon.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Landscapes of the Soul
- photos and story of a solo hike to the Source of the Amazon via the continental divide.

Mismi Mismi is a mountain peak of volcanic origin in the Chila mountain range in the Andes of Peru. A glacial stream on the Mismi was firmly identified as the most distant source of the Amazon River in 1996; this finding was confirmed in 2001 and a ...

Upper Amazon Mountains of Arequipa Region Five-thousanders of the Andes

Location

The Cousteau Amazon Expedition

National Geographic Society Expedition

See also

References

External links