1.Nile River – 6,650 km
Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan
The Nile – known as ‘the father of African rivers’ is the longest river in Africa – and the world (though disputed, as mentioned above). It flows northwards through 11 countries from Central to Northeast Africa, draining into the Mediterranean Sea at 2,800 cubic meters per second.
The Nile River actually has two sources – the White Nile and the Blue Nile.
The year-round water availability from the Nile combined with the warm tropical, and subtropical temperatures along its course mean that the river can support intensive cultivation along its banks. The river is also a significant waterway for transport – especially during flood season when roads are often out of action for long periods.
2Amazon River – 6,575 km
Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana
The second-longest river in the world is the Amazon River, which starts high in the Andes mountains in Eastern South America, runs through the world’s largest rainforest taking in seven countries along the way, and discharges into the Southern Atlantic Ocean.
While it may not be the longest river on the planet, it’s without challenge the world’s largest river, with a width of up to 190 kilometers in place during the rainy season and dumping an estimated 209,000 cubic meters of water into the Atlantic Ocean every second. That is a huge amount of water!
3.Yangtze River – 6,300 km
China
Third on this list is China’s Yangtze – the longest river in Asia and the longest to flow completely in just one country. In China, the Yangtze is called Chang Jiang (“Long River”) but is also known as Da Jiang (“Great River”) and simply Jiang (“River”).
From its source on the Tibetan Plateau to its mouth on the East China Sea, the river runs 6,300 kilometers through China, with more than three-quarters of its length winding through mountains. The Yangtze is the main waterway in China, with one-third of China’s population living in the Yangtze basin.
4.Mississippi River – 5,970 km
USA, Canada
When measured from its traditional source at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River has a length of 3,730 kilometers, but measured from Brower’s Spring in Montana – the Mississippi’s most distant source from the sea – the river is actually 5,970 km long. This officially makes the Mississippi River the fourth-longest river in the world.
The river and its floodplain is home to a diverse range of wildlife, some 260 species of fish, 40% of the USA’s migratory waterfowl, and over 145 species of amphibians and reptiles
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5.Yenisei River – 5,539 km
Russia, Mongolia
The Yenisey is the fifth-longest river in the world and the largest river to drain into the Arctic. With its source in Mongolia, the Yenisey drains a large part of central Siberia as it flows northwards to the Kara Sea.
Many nomadic tribes – such as the Ket and Yugh people – have lived along the river banks since records began, and the Yenisey hosts the Taimyr, the largest reindeer herd in the world, for their winter grazing.
The Yenisey sadly suffers from pollution caused by radioactive discharge from a plutonium factory in what is now the city of Zheleznogorsk.
6.Yellow River – 5,464 km
China
China’s second-longest river, and the sixth-longest in the world, the Yellow River, is an estimated 5,464 kilometers in length. The river has its source in the mountains of Western Cina’s Qinghai province and flows eastwards to the Bohai Sea.
The Yellow River basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization and, for a long time, the most prosperous region of the country. Over the centuries, there have been several large-scale natural disasters along the river, with some flood records killing more than one million people and large shifts in the river course. Modern dams have all but removed serious flooding of the river.
7.Ob Irtysh River – 5,410 km
Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia
The Ob River is the largest in Russia, located in Western Siberia, which merges with the Irtysh River from Kazakhstan to become the Orb Irtysh. The Ob basin stretches across much of Western Siberia, covering semi-desert, grassland, forests, and plains.
The river is frozen for half of each year, and through the rest of the year, is heavily used for the transportation of people and goods.
8.Rio de la Plata – 4,880 km
Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay
The Río de la Plata itself is only 290 kilometers long. Still, as part of the river system that includes the Paraná and the Rio Grande, this certainly is one of the longest rivers globally at 4,880 kilometers long. Not only that but the Rio de la Plata is officially the widest river in the world, reaching 220 kilometers wide in places.
As it runs through South America, its shoreline is the most densely populated part of both Uruguay and Argentina and includes the capital cities of Montevideo and Buenos Aires respectively.
9.Congo River – 4,700 km
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Angola, Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Cameroon, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda
Perhaps Africa’s most mysterious river, and certainly its second-longest (after the Nile), the Congo River winds it's away – in part – through impenetrable virgin rainforest.
Given the global deforestation of the rainforests, the whole Congo River and basin region is considered critical to the world's ecological health. Crossing the equator twice on its journey from the southern DRC to the Atlantic Ocean, the Congo River is a water source to forest-dwelling species as diverse as forest elephant, gorilla, lion, hyena, antelope, and over 600 species of fish.
10.Amur River – 4,444 km
Russia, China, Mongolia
The Amur River forms much of the border between Russia’s Far East and Northeast China, winding eastwards for 2,824 kilometers. Including its source river Argun, it is 4,440 km long in total. The Amur is known in China as Heilong Jiang, which means “Black Dragon River.”
The river is fed principally by the monsoon rains that fall in summer and autumn, leading to annual flooding from May to October, and home to around 100 species of fish, including 20 species of indigenous carp, Siberian salmon, and Chinese perch.
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