9781422278802

B R A Z I L

Brazil : An Introduction

F or many years, people believed that the Nile River in Egypt and other parts of Africa was the world’s longest. However, in 2007, a team of Brazilian scientists said that the Amazon deserved that honor because they claimed they had discovered a new and longer starting point for the mighty river. At 4,250 miles (6,839 km) in length, they said it was about 90 miles (144 km) longer than the Nile, though that measurement has not yet been widely accepted. However, there is no question that the Amazon and its dozens of tributaries in Brazil and some of its neighbors—collectively known as the Amazon Basin—comprise the world’s largest river system. Almost everything about the Amazon Basin staggers the imagination:

Words to Understand amenities  features providing convenience, comfort, or pleasure inadvertently  by mistake, without intention indigenous  original; native to a place stigma  mark of disgrace, set of negative beliefs tributaries  rivers or streams flowing into a larger river

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