Editing Amazon basin (section)

== Geography ==
[[File:Amazon14 (5641588550).jpg|thumb|right|Aerial view of the [[Amazon rainforest]], near [[Manaus]]]]
The Amazon River begins in the [[Andes|Andes Mountains]] at the west of the basin with its main tributary the [[Marañón River]] and [[Apurímac River|Apurimac River]] in [[Peru]]. The highest point in the [[Drainage divide|watershed]] of the Amazon is the second biggest peak of [[Yerupajá]] at {{convert|6635|m|ft}}.

The Amazon River Basin occupies the entire central and eastern area of South America, lying to the east of the Andes mountain range and extending from the Guyana Plateau in the north to the Brazilian Plateau in the south.

With a length of about {{convert|6400|km|mi|abbr=on}} before it drains into the [[Atlantic Ocean]], it is [[List of rivers by length|one of the two longest rivers in the world]]. A team of scientists has claimed that the Amazon is longer than the [[Nile]],<ref>{{cite web | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822042725/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=22 August 2007 | title=Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say | publisher=National Geographic | date=18 June 2007 | author=Roach, John}}</ref> but debate about its exact length continues.<ref name="River Britannica">{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Amazon-River | title=Amazon River | publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] | date=16 March 2018 | access-date=21 August 2018 |author1=Raymond E. Crist |author2=Alarich R. Schultz |author3=James J. Parsons}}</ref>

The Amazon system transports the largest volume of water of any river system, accounting for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. Some of the [[Amazon rainforest]]s are [[deforestation of the Amazon rainforest|deforested]] because of an increase in cattle ranches and soybean fields. The Amazon basin formerly flowed west to the [[Pacific Ocean]] until the Andes formed, causing the basin to flow eastward towards the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="Amazon Pacific">{{cite web|url=http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1024-amazon.html |title=Amazon river flowed into the Pacific millions of years ago |work=[[Mongabay]] |date=24 October 2006 |access-date=8 June 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103204147/http://news.mongabay.com/2006/1024-amazon.html |archive-date=3 January 2013 }}</ref>

Politically the basin is divided into [[Peruvian Amazonia]], [[Amazônia Legal]] of Brazil, the [[Amazon natural region]] of [[Colombia]], [[Amazonas (Venezuelan state)]], and parts of [[Bolivia]] and [[Ecuador]].

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Distribution of the Amazon River basin area and discharge between countries<ref name=HyBam>{{cite web|url=http://www.ore-hybam.org|title=HyBam}}</ref><ref name="Região Hidrográfica Amazônica — Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA)">{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.br/ana/pt-br/as-12-regioes-hidrograficas-brasileiras/amazonica|title=Região Hidrográfica Amazônica — Agência Nacional de Águas e Saneamento Básico (ANA)}}</ref>
!Country
!State
!Area
(km<sup>2</sup>)
!(%)
!Discharge
(km<sup>3</sup>)
!(%)
|-
|{{flagicon|Bolivia}}[[Bolivia]]
| rowspan="2" |
|724,000
|10.4
|291
|4.0
|-
|{{flagicon|Brazil}}[[Brazil]]
|4,674,619
|67.5
|4,167.3
|57.2
|-
| rowspan="11" |
|{{flagicon|Acre}}''[[Acre (state)|Acre]]''
|''164,123''
|''3.5''
|''144.2''
|''2.0''
|-
|{{flagicon|Amapá}}''[[Amapá]]''
|''44,870''
|''1.0''
|''57.7''
|''0.8''
|-
|{{flagicon|Amazonas}}''[[Amazonas (Brazilian state)|Amazonas]]''
|''1,559,159''
|''33.3''
|''1,848.3''
|''25.4''
|-
|''[[File:Bandeira do Distrito Federal (Brasil).svg|border|25px]] [[Brasília]]''
|''1,010''
|''0.02''
|
|
|-
|''{{flagicon|Goiás}}[[Goiás]]''
|''212,131''
|''4.5''
|''96.7''
|''1.3''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Maranhão}}[[Maranhão]]''
|''39,396''
|''0.8''
|''9.4''
|''0.1''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Mato Grosso}}[[Mato Grosso]]''
|''723,470''
|''15.5''
|''490.6''
|''6.7''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Pará}}[[Pará]]''
|''1,190,147''
|''25.5''
|''1,053.1''
|''14.5''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Rondônia}}[[Rondônia]]''
|''237,591''
|''5.08''
|''140.6''
|''1.9''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Roraima}}[[Roraima]]''
|''224,301''
|''4.8''
|''211.6''
|''2.9''
|-
|''{{flagicon|Tocantins}} [[Tocantins]]''
|''278,421''
|''6.0''
|''115.1''
|''1.6''
|-
|{{flagicon|Ecuador}}[[Ecuador]]
| rowspan="5" |
|146,688
|2.1
|258.4
|3.6
|-
|{{flagicon|Guyana}}[[Guyana]]
|12,224
|0.2
|8.8
|0.1
|-
|{{flagicon|Colombia}}[[Colombia]]
|345,293
|5.0
|755
|10.4
|-
|{{flagicon|Peru}}[[Peru]]
|967,176
|14.0
|1,739.5
|23.9
|-
|{{flagicon|Venezuela}}[[Venezuela]]
|53,000
|0.8
|60.0
|0.8
|-
| colspan="6" |
|-
| colspan="2" |'''''Amazon basin'''''
|'''''6,923,000'''''
|''100.0''
|'''''7,280'''''
|''100.0''
|}