The Amazon is recognized as the world's largest river by volume, plus, it has the largest drainage basin in the world. The Amazon has also generally been regarded as second in length to the River Nile even though there is ongoing dispute regarding that comparison. The Amazon is about 3,900 miles (6,280 kilometers) long. It begins high in the snow-fed Andean lakes of Peru, and the main body of the river flows across Brazil. Other tributaries flow into the Amazon from Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela. Brazilians call the main part of the river Rio Amazonas.
This huge watershed includes the largest tropical rainforest in the world as well as areas of dry grassland, or savannah and they are a source of valuable timber. There are rich deposits of gold, bauxite (aluminum ore), copper, tin, manganese, and iron ore. The Amazon Basin is home to more than 2 million insect species, 100,000 plants, 2,000 species of fish, and 600 mammals.
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