Posted on July 10, 2017
longest and biggest rivers
The River Nile is the longest river in the world. It measures 6,695 kilometres from its source in Burundi, along the White Nile, to its delta on the Mediterranean Sea. Officially, the shortest river is the D River, Oregon, USA, which is just 37 metres long.
The biggest river in the world, measured by the amount of water that flows down it, is the Amazon. On average 120,000 cubic metres (about 20 swimming pools’ worth) of water flows out of its mouth every second.
The longest river of Europe is the River Volga. It flows primarily in a southerly direction through Russia into the Caspian Sea. The second longest is the Danube, flows west to east before entering the Black Sea.
The longest Rivers of the World
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River Name | Location | Length (miles approx) | Length (km approx) | Drainage Area (sq miles) |
Flow at mouth (cubic m per second) |
Nile | Africa | 4,160 | 6,695 | 1,170,000 | 1,584 |
Amazon | South America | 4,000 | 6,400 | 2,270,000 | 180,000 |
Yangtze | Asia (China) | 3,900 | 6,240 | 698,000 | 35,000 |
Mississippi | USA | 3,870 | 6,192 | 1,247,000 | 17,545 |
Ob | Asia (Russia) | 3,459 | 5,534 | 1,154,000 | 12,600 |
Yenisei/ Angara |
Asia (Russia) | 3,440 | 5,504 | 996,000 | 19,600 |
Yellow River | Asia (China) | 3,440 | 5,504 | 290,000 | 1,365 |
Congo | Africa (Zaire) | 2,900 | 4,640 | 1,440,000 | 42,000 |
Amur | Asia | 2,800 | 4,480 | 730,000 | 12,500 |
Parana | Uruguay | 2,795 | 4,472 | 1,197,000 | 19,500 |
Lena | Asia (Russia) | 2,700 | 4,320 | 961,000 | 16,400 |
Mackenzie | North America | 2,640 | 4,224 | 697,000 | 7,500 |
Niger | Africa | 2,600 | 4,160 | 850,000 | 5,700 |
Mekong | Asia | 2,500 | 4,000 | 750,000 | 15,900 |
Volga | Europe | 2,300 | 3,680 | 533,000 | 8,000 |
Murray-Darling | Australia | 2,300 | 3,680 | 410,000 | 391 |
Rio-Grande | USA | 1,885 | 3,016 | 310,000 | 82 |