Which is longer, Amazon or Nile? New quest aims to settle old debate
- An international team hopes to settle the debate over whether the Nile or the Amazon is the world’s longest river
- Explorers want to determine if the source of Amazon in Peru is farther away, and if the river is longer than previously thought
What’s the longest river in the world, the Nile or the Amazon? The question has fuelled a heated debate for years. Now, an expedition into the South American jungle aims to settle it for good.
Using boats run on solar energy and pedal power, an international team of explorers plans to set off in April 2024 to the source of the Amazon in the Peruvian Andes, then travel nearly 7,000km (4,350 miles) across Colombia and Brazil, to the massive river’s mouth on the Atlantic.
“The main objective is to map the river and document the biodiversity” of the surrounding ecosystems, the project’s coordinator, Brazilian explorer Yuri Sanada, said.
The team also plans to make a documentary on the expedition.
Around 10 people are known to have travelled the full length of the Amazon in the past, but none have done it with those objectives, says Sanada, who runs film production company Aventuras (Adventures) with his wife, Vera.
The Amazon, the pulsing aorta of the world’s biggest rainforest, has long been recognised as the largest river in the world by volume, discharging more than the Nile, the Yangtze and the Mississippi combined.