The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. Amazonian redirects here, for other uses see Amazonian (disambiguation) Image File history File links Amazon_river_basin. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... A satellite image of the mouth of the Amazon River, looking south The Amazon River (occasionally River Amazon; Spanish: Río Amazonas, Portuguese: Rio Amazonas) of South America is one of the two longest rivers on Earth, the other being the Nile in Africa. ... Amazonian may refer to: an epoch in the Martian geologic timescale relating to the Amazon This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Geography

The South American rainforest of Amazonia (60% located in Brazil), the largest in the world, was originally covered by more than 7,000,000 km² (2 million square miles) of dense tropical forest. For centuries, this has protected the area and the animals residing in it. But over the past 30 years the Brazilian government has transformed Amazonia into factory sites and settlements by sponsoring road projects, colonization schemes, and industrial developments. This article is about the rainforest in general. ...

Settlements

Amazonia is not heavily populated. There are a few cities along the Amazon's banks and scattered settlements inland, but most of the population lives in cities. The forest has been cleared in areas for plantations and ranching (the most extensive non-forest use of the land) and some of the inhabitants harvest wild latex and Brazil nuts. Though a substantial area of the Amazon basin has been cleared, most of the rain forest remains relatively undisturbed by humans. A panorama of Sydney, Australia at night. ... A plantation is an intentional planting of a crop, on a larger scale, usually for uses other than cereal production or pasture. ... Ranching is the raising of cattle or sheep on rangeland, although one might also speak of ranching with regard to less common livestock such as elk, bison or emu. ... LATEX, written as LaTeX in plain text, is a document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. ... Binomial name Bertholletia excelsa Humb. ...

Flora and fauna

Not all of the plant and animal life of Amazonia are known because of its hugely unexplored areas. No one knows how many species of fish there are in the river either. Some have estimated close to 2,000 though. Some of the famous Amazon animals that reside here are the electric eel, the piranha, and the anaconda. A small percentage of plants and animals is known to science to have produced valuable foods, medicine, and commercial products. Binomial name Electrophorus electricus Linnaeus, 1766 The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) is a species of fish. ... Genera Catoprion Citharinus Pristobrycon Pygocentrus Serrasalmus The piranhas or pirañas are a group of carnivorous freshwater fish living in South American rivers. ... Species See text. ...

The rain forest in the Amazon Basin is under threat from logging, mining and oil extraction, the clearing of land for farms and ranches, water pollution and climate change. A river in the Amazon rainforest The Amazon Rainforest is a moist broadleaf forest in the Amazon Basin of South America. ...

External links

• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See Amazon River. Peace Palace Libray
• Amazônia (www.colegiosaofrancisco.com.br)
• Amazon rainforest information and photos
• Save the Amazon rainforest
• Information and a map of the Amazon's watershed