A scientific expedition to Peru claims to have established a
new source for the Amazon, located in southern Peru at an altitude of 5,000m, on an ice-covered mountain called Mismi. It means that the Amazon is 6,800km (4,250 miles) long, which compared to the length of the Nile, 6,695km (4,184 miles), makes the Amazon the World's longest river.
The research was co-ordinated by the National Geographical Institute of Peru, with the help of colleagues at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics in Brazil.
Martin Strel, from Slovenia, recently completed a swim of the entire length of the Amazon, starting at its previously documented source in Atalaya, Peru.
Labels: Amazon, river, source Peru, swimmer
