River Wangki in Miskitu or Río Coco, in Spanish, formerly known as the Río Segovia, Cape River, or Yara River,
is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
located on the border of northern
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...
and southern
Honduras. It is the longest river that runs entirely within the Central American isthmus with a total length of .
The river originates in the
Somoto Canyon National Monument
Somoto Canyon National Monument (Spanish: Monumento Nacional Cañón de Somoto) is a canyon located in the Madriz Department of Nicaragua. The Somoto Canyon National Monument protected area covers an area of approximately , of which are in the act ...
, near where the
Pan American Highway
The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...
crosses into Nicaragua, and flows through low mountainous terrain into the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...
at
Cabo Gracias a Dios
Cabo Gracias a Dios is a cape located in the middle of the east coast of Central America, within what is variously called the Mosquito Coast and La Mosquitia. It is the point where the Rio Coco flows into the Caribbean, and is the border bet ...
; the middle and lower reaches form the
Honduras-Nicaragua border.
On September 7, 2007, major international news wires reported that the Río Coco was over above normal stage, two days after category 5
Hurricane Felix
Hurricane Felix was an extremely powerful Category 5 Atlantic hurricane which was the southernmost-landfalling Category 5 storm on record, surpassing Hurricane Edith of 1971. It was the sixth named storm, second hurricane, and second Category ...
made landfall.
Location
See also
*
Honduras–Nicaragua border
The Honduras–Nicaragua border is the roughly international boundary between Honduras and Nicaragua, running from the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific Ocean to the Caribbean Sea. The Coco River, which flows generally northeast to the Caribbean, ...
*
List of rivers of the Americas
This is a list of rivers of the Americas, it includes major historical or physiological significant rivers of the Americas grouped by region where they are located (Central America, Northern America, West Indies and South Americas). The longest ...
References
Coco
Coco
International rivers of North America
Honduras–Nicaragua border
Border rivers
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