Xingu River

This article is about the river. For other uses, see Xingu.
Xingu River
Xingu river from space, downstream section.
Country Brazil
Tributaries
 - left Iriri River
Mouth Amazon River
 - coordinates 1°31′59″S 52°14′30″W / 1.53306°S 52.24167°W / -1.53306; -52.24167Coordinates: 1°31′59″S 52°14′30″W / 1.53306°S 52.24167°W / -1.53306; -52.24167
Length 1,640 km (1,019 mi) [1]
Basin 520,300 km2 (200,889 sq mi)
Discharge
 - average 9,680 m3/s (341,846 cu ft/s)
Map of the Amazon Basin with the Xingu River highlighted

The Xingu River (Portuguese: Rio Xingu, Portuguese pronunciation: [ɕĩˈɡu], /ʃiŋˈɡuː/ sheeng-GOO) is a 1,640 km (1,019 mi)[1] river in north Brazil. It is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River.

Description and history

The first Indian Park in Brazil was created in the river basin by the Brazilian government in the early 1960s. This park marks the first indigenous territory recognized by the Brazilian government and it was the world's largest indigenous reserve on the date of its creation. Currently, fourteen tribes live on the reserve surviving with natural resources and extracting from the river most of what they need for food and water.

The Brazilian government is building the Belo Monte Dam, which will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam, on the Lower Xingu. Construction of this dam is under legal challenge by environment and indigenous groups, who assert the dam would have negative environmental and social impacts along with reducing the flow by up to 80% along a 100 kilometres (62 mi) stretch known as the "Big Bend" (Volta Grande).[2] More than 450 fish species have been documented in the Xingu River Basin and it is estimated that the total is around 600 fish species, including many endemics.[3] In the last 5 years alone, 21 new fish species have been described from the river.[4] Many species are seriously threatened by the dam,[5][6] including at least 26 fish species that are entirely restricted to the lower Xingu.[4]

In the Upper Xingu region was a highly self-organized pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape, including deposits of fertile agricultural terra preta, black soil in Portuguese, with a network of roads and polities each of which covered about 250 square kilometers.[7]

Near the source of Xingu River is Culuene River, a 600 km tributary.

In popular culture

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ziesler, R.; Ardizzone, G.D. (1979). "Amazon River System". The Inland waters of Latin America. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. ISBN 92-5-000780-9. Archived from the original on 8 November 2014.
  2. ↑ "Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation" (PDF). Summary and History of the Belo Monte Dam: Rainforest Foundation. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  3. ↑ Camargo, M., T. Giarrizzo and V. Isaac (2004). Review of the geographic distribution of fish fauna in the Xingu River Basin, Brazil. Ecotropica 10: 123–147
  4. 1 2 Hyland, T: Race against time. Retrieved 4 June 2014.
  5. ↑ Ekström, J. (23 December 2007) Hydroelectric dam constructions in Amazonas. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  6. ↑ Survival International (2009). Experts Panel Assesses Belo Monte Dam Viability. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
  7. ↑ Heckenberger, Michael J.; J. Christian Russell; Carlos Fausto; Joshua R. Toney; Morgan J. Schmidt; Edithe Pereira; Bruna Franchetto; Afukaka Kuikuro (2008-09-29). "Pre-Columbian Urbanism, Anthropogenic Landscapes, and the Future of the Amazon". Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 321 (5893): 1214–1217. doi:10.1126/science.1159769. PMID 18755979.

Further reading

Movies

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