Solimões () is the name often given to upper stretches of the
Amazon River in
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
from its confluence with the
Rio Negro upstream to the border of
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The Solimões flows for about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) through a floodplain about 80 km (50 miles) wide.
Geography
The Amazon / Solimões river just above the confluence of the Solimões and Rio Negro is already by far the largest river in the world, even though its two largest tributaries (the Negro and the
Madeira River
The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...
) have not yet contributed to the flow volume.
The Solimões portion of the Amazon River lies entirely in the state of
Amazonas, Brazil, and some portion of the state is often referred to as the "Solimões region". The ecoregion of the Solimões River
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
is entirely
tropical rainforest
Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...
.
Etymology
An Amazonian aboriginal nation called ''Soriman'' was corrupted in
Portuguese to ''Solimão'' and ''Soliemoens'', from which the name of this section of the river and the region it drains is derived.
Use of the name ''Solimões'' for the upper
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
is mostly confined to
Brazilian speakers of
Portuguese; the rest of the world refers to both the upper and lower portions of the river as the ''Amazon''.
See also
*
Marañón River
*
List of rivers of Amazonas
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solimoes
Tributaries of the Amazon River
Rivers of Amazonas (Brazilian state)
·