The Amazon River flows for more than 4,100 miles (6,600 km); within its hundreds of tributaries and streams are the largest number of freshwater fish species in the world.

The Amazon rainforest, often thought to have been pristine wilderness before the modern era, was once domesticated, and was reclaimed by the wild only in recent centuries, research increasingly suggests.The Amazon, the world’s largest river basin, is home to the largest rainforest on Earth, covering about 2.6 million square miles (6.7 million square kilometers) across nine countries. This area, known as Amazonia, holds an extraordinary array of life, harboring one in 10 known species in the world and one in five of Earth’s birds. Read more.

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