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Xingu River

 

River, central and northern Brazil. Formed by several headstreams, it flows north through northeastern Mato Grosso state and central Pará state into the Amazon River near its mouth. Though approximately 1,300 mi (2,100 km) long, it is navigable for only about 125 mi (200 km) upstream from where it joins the Amazon; its central part is a series of rapids 400 mi (644 km) long. In the 1950s Xingu National Park was designated as a preserve for Brazil's Indians, including the Tchikao, who were threatened by extinction.

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Xingu river from space, downstream section.
Map of the Amazon Basin with the Xingu River highlighted

The Xingu River is a 900-mile long, (1450 km) river in northeast Brazil; it is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River.

There was little known about the Xingu River, until it was explored in 1887 by Karl von den Steinen from Cuiabá. Travelling east, 240 miles (390 km), he found the river Tamitatoaba, 180 feet (55 m) wide, flowing from a lake 25 miles (40 km) in diameter. He descended this torrential stream to the river Romero, 1,300 feet (400 m) wide, entering from the west, which receives the river Colisu. These three streams form the Xingu, or Parana-xingu, which, from 73 miles (117 km) lower down, bounds along a succession of rapids for 400 miles (640 km). A little above the head of navigation, 105 miles (169 km) from its mouth, the river makes a bend to the east to find its way across a rocky barrier. Here is the great cataract of Itamaraca, which rushes down an inclined plane for 3 miles (4.8 km) and then gives a final leap, called the Fall of Itamaraca. Near its mouth, the Xingu expands into an immense lake, and its waters then mingle with those of the Amazon through a labyrinth of eanos (natural canals), winding in countless directions through a wooded archipelago. In the borders of this river, the Brazilian government created in the late 1950's the first Indian Park in Brazil. This park marks the first Indian territory recognized by the Brazilian government. Nowadays fourteen tribes live there, like their ancestors, surviving using natural resources, extracting from the river most of what they need for food and water. These people are in great danger, because these lands and the river are menaced by uncontrolled forest exploration, the cattle and the farming growing around the park, and the construction of a hydroeletric power plant in the Kuluene River, the most important ascedent of the Xingu River, despite the fight of these people against this.

In the Upper Xingu region was a highly self-organized pre-Columbian anthropogenic landscape, including deposits of agricultural terra preta, with a network of polities each of which covered about 250 square kilometers.[1]

In popular culture

The name has at least one reference in literature, as the title of a humorous Edith Wharton short story from 1911. It is also the title of a song on Waterfall Cities, a 1999 album by Ozric Tentacles. A Beer produced near the river is sold in the international market under the name "Xingu".

In the novel Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, the Xingu River is the location of the doomed Whittlesey/Maxwell expedition responsible for discovering evidence of the lost Kothoga tribe and their savage god Mbwun.

References

  1. ^ 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. 
  • Cowell, Adrian. 1973. The Tribe that Hides from Man. The Bodely Head, London.
  • Original text from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica


Further reading

  • Heinsdijk, Dammis, and Ricardo Lemos Fróes. Description of Forest-Types on "Terra Firme" between the Rio Tapajós and the Rio Xingú in the Amazon Valley. 1956.
  • Sipes, Ernest "Brazilian Indians: what FUNAI Won't Tell YOU". 2002.

http://www.brazzillog.com/2003/html/news/articles/aug03/p118aug03.htm Coordinates: 3°28′10″S 51°55′57″W / 3.46956°S 51.93237°W / -3.46956; -51.93237


 
 

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Xingu River" Read more