The Amazon River Basin is an interesting part of the world. It is located in the South American countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Perú, and Venezuela. The basin is filled with wildlife in it’s rainforest, mountains, and rivers. Within the midst of the Amazon Basin are tribal people.
When you talk about location, you can talk about absolute, which is measured by longitude and latitude, or relative, which is the general area. The absolute location, or center, of the basin is located 3.35 S, 64.71, which is in Brazil. The relative location is in the western hemisphere. The basin is mainly in northwestern South America.
Although the Amazon is known for it’s rainforest, it has many other physical characteristics. These include mountains, highlands, rivers, and lots of plant and animal life. The Andes Mountains stretch down the west side of the Amazon. The Andes Mountains are the second largest mountain range in the world, after the Himalayas, and the highest peak in the range is Mount Yerupaja, at 21,768 feet. The Amazon river, the main supply of water in the basin, begins in the Andes Mountains. The Amazon River flows through the basin and empties into Atlantic Ocean in Brazil. It is the second largest river in the world. The Basin is bordered by highlands to the north and south and oceans the the east and west.
The place of a location include things such as land, climate and schooling. The schools for the Amazon tribes are very scarce. Most children are not expected to attend school unless there is one in their village. Schooling in the Amazon only goes through eighth grade, not including Kindergarten.
In the Amazon, there are two seasons, wet and dry. In both seasons, there and rains which cause the climate to be hot and humid. The main difference between the seasons are that the rains are stronger and more common in the wet season. The rivers usually overflow during this season. In the areas near the Andes mountains, Winter months can be freezing. This can cause deaths for the thousands of plants in the area.
Human-environmental interaction is how people interact with their environment. The tribes in the Amazon live with the plants and animals. They only take what they need when they hunt or gather. However, the Amazon is being cut down for its trees. This is a map of the Amazon’s deforestation:
Movement is mainly transportation, immigration, and emigration. The Amazon tribes mainly travel by foot through the forest. Some tribes also use canoes on the Amazon river. Because the Amazon tribes are native people, there are no immigrants. However, several tribal people emigrate to other South American countries and move to modern day city. A lot of the native emigrants live in cities in Brazil such as Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo.
Region are the major parts of a country, such as language and landforms, and government. In the Amazon’s case, there is no government becuase the population of people are tribes. The native tribes speak several languages such as Portuguese, Ponoa, Arawakan, and Tacana. Most tribes speak several languages so that they can communicate with other tribes. The most spoken tribal language is Arawakan.
There are many different landforms in the Amazon. To the west of the basin, the Andes mountains stretch down the coast. The Amazon River forms in the Andes. The Amazon is bordered by highlands, or large plateaus, to the north and south. In the forest region there is flat land which flows of rivers including the Amazon.
The Amazon Rainforest has the most amount of plant species for any region in the world. There are 46 plants that have potential to cure cancer. Over 1/5 of the world’s oxygen comes from the Amazon, giving the basin it’s nickname: The lungs of our planet. Scientist estimate there are over five million plants in the Amazon. All in all, the Amazon River Basin is a very interesting part of the world.
