LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Amazon River
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The Amazon River is the great river of South America. Before the conquest of South America, the Rio de las Amazonas had no general name; for, according to a common custom, each indian tribe gave a name only to the section of the river which it occupied -- such as Paranaguazu, Guyerma, Sclimoes and others. In the year 1500, Vicente Yanez Pinzon, in command of a Spanish expedition, discovered and ascended the Amazon to a point about 50 meters from the sea. He called it the Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce, which soon became abbreviated to Mar Dulce, and for some years, after 1502, it was known as the Rio Grande. The principal companions of Pinzon, in giving evidence in 1513, mention it as El Ryo Haranon. There is much controversy about the origin of the word Maranon.
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Adventure on the Amazon River is a fictional story about a girl named Cammy who is traveling up the Amazon River on a large boat with her parents. She is not enjoying the trip until, one morning, something happens. As she looks over the side of the boat, she falls into the river. She is rescued by a small boy in a canoe who takes her deep into the rainforest to where his family lives. Cammy stays with the family until the boy teaches her how to paddle a canoe. Eventually reunited with her father, she has a much-altered perspective on her Amazon adventure.
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At one time Amazon River flowed westward, perhaps as part of a proto-Congo (Zaire) river system from the interior of present day Africa when the continents were joined as part of Gondwana. Fifteen million years ago, the Andes were formed by the collision of the South American plate with the Nazca plate. The rise of the Andes and the linkage of the Brazilian and Guyana bedrock shields, blocked the river and caused the Amazon to become a vast inland sea. Gradually this inland sea became a massive swampy, freshwater lake and the marine inhabitants adapted to life in freshwater. For example, over 20 species of stingray, most closely related to those found in the Pacific Ocean, can be found today in the freshwaters of the Amazon.
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As your Amazon River cruise continues along the shoreline, view small native villages, last human outposts of the upper Amazon rainforest. Perhaps visit one of these villages or do some fishing, where the legendary piranha is the catch of the day. After lunch, disembark and transfer by speedboat to Iquitos. Tour this bustling frontier, the world's furthest inland seaport. Visit the San Juan Amazonian handcraft market before departing for the airport. (B/L)
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The Amazon River Basin precipitation data were derived from data that were collected daily by the gauging network operated by the Divisao Nacional de Aguas e Energia Eletrica (DNAEE, SGAN 603 Modulo J, Anexo DNC, CEP 70.830-030 Brasilia DF, Brazil). The DNAEE provided the EOS Regional Amazon Model (EOSRAM) project with this data for cooperative analysis. The monthly total precipitation is in a 126 by 151 element array. The data is based on monthly rain data sets from Peru and Bolivia and daily rain data sets from Brazil. The extent of the gridded data ranges from latitudes of 20.0S to 5.2N and longitudes from 79.6W to 49.4W.
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The Amazon River, according to many accounts, was named by Spanish explorer Fransisco de Orellana in 1541. The name was in honor of the female warriors he encountered on his voyage through the territory previously called Maranon.
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Amazon River