In Welk Land Ontspringt De Amazone: The Mantaro River is a long river running through the central region of Peru. Its Quechua name means “great river”. The word “Mantaro” may be a word originally from the Ashaninka language, who live downstream along the Ene River.

Length: 739 km
Basin area: 15 410 km²
Discharge: 460 m³/s
Source: Chinchayqucha
Mouth: Ene River
Country: Peru
Cities: Huancayo

In 1971, an expedition led by the National Geographic Society cited the Apurímac River as the designated headwaters of the Amazon River, with a follow-up expedition in 2000 confirming the connected Lake Ticlla Cocha as the furthest upstream Amazon extension. The definition for the distinction used at the time of survey was based on absolute length which the tributary added to the river, given a continuous and year-round flow of water.

With the Tablachaca Dam built in 1974, a portion of the Mantaro River suffers a dry spell for five months of the year, previously excluding it from the list of source eligibility. However, research published in 2014 challenged this existing definition, and used advanced imaging and topographic data to establish the Mantaro as the true longest upstream source feeding into the Amazon Basin.

The post In Welk Land Ontspringt De Amazone appeared first on 1Height.