Apurímac River

Apurímac
Origin	Nevado Mismi
Mouth	Ene River 12°15′46″S 73°58′44″W / 12.26278°S 73.97889°W / -12.26278; -73.97889
Basin countries	Peru
Length	690 kilometres (430 mi)[1]

The Apurímac River (Spanish: Río Apurímac, IPA: [ˈri.o apuˈɾimak]; from Quechua apu 'divinity' and rimac 'oracle, talker') rises from glacial meltwater of the ridge of Nevado Mismi, a 5,597-metre-high (18,363 ft) mountain in the Arequipa Province in southern Peru.

Río Apurímac

The Apurímac is the source of the world's largest river system, the Amazon River. It rises in Peru's south-western cordilleras, 10 km (6.2 mi) from the village of Caylloma, and less than 160 km (99 mi) from the Pacific coast.

It flows generally northwest past Cuzco in narrow gorges of up to 3,000 m, twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA, its course interrupted by falls and rapids. Of the six attempts so far to travel the Apurímac in its full length, only two have been successful.

After 730.70 kilometres (454.04 mi), the Apurímac joins the Mantaro River and becomes the Ene River at 12°15′46″S 73°58′44″W / 12.26278°S 73.97889°W / -12.26278; -73.97889, 440 m (1,440 ft) above sea level; then after joining the Perené River at 330 m (1,080 ft) above sea level, it becomes the Tambo River; when it joins the Urubamba at 280 m (920 ft) above sea level the river becomes the Ucayali, which is the main headstream of the Amazon.

Sometimes the complete river from its source to its junction with the Ucayáli, i.e. including the rivers Ene and Tambo, is called "Apurímac", with a total length of 1,069.80 km (664.74 mi).

In the 13th century, the Inca constructed a bridge over this river which gave them access to the west.^[2]

Coordinates: 15°31′31″S 71°41′27″W / 15.52528°S 71.69083°W / -15.52528; -71.69083

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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