How Big Is the Amazon River, Where Does the Amazon River Begin and End, and How Wide Is It?

The Amazon is the largest of the five river systems in South America.

Its source is in the Andes mountains of Peru.

From there it flows eastward for 4,000 miles (6,437 km) across Brazil and into the Atlantic Ocean.

It is the second longest river in the world, after the Nile in Africa.

The Amazon carries much more water than the Nile, though, and it accounts for one-fifth of the world’s fresh river water.

At one point near the Atlantic Ocean, the Amazon is 40 miles (64 km) wide.