Rivers have always proved fascinating for mankind-to explore, for irrigational purposed, transport, recreation and but most importantly, for trade.
VOLGA RIVER: is the main waterway in this mighty nation. It’s important to the Russians, stretches far back into the mist of time, leading to this river being given the affectionate title “Mother Volga”. It contains many locks which were built to bypass reservoirs and dams. Trade is important upstream and downstream on this giant waterway.
CONGO RIVER: is 3000 miles long and is the deepest river in the world. It is also a vital source of produced electricity. Astonishingly, by the turn of the 21st century, it possessed 40 hydropower plants and these produce 13% of the world’s entire hydropower generated electricity.
YELLOW RIVER: is the biggest and important waterway and the Chinese for centuries referred to it as ‘Cradle of Civilization”. The history of this mighty river is fascinating. It’s giant floods, it’s massive change of direction, it’s enormous cost of life, it’s almost as though this massive waterway is a county in its own right. For thousands of years this stupendous river has seen the enormous development of agricultural products. Today the river is an important source of hydroelectricity as well.
MEKONG RIVER: At 2600 miles long, it raises in the highlands of Tibet and eventually at the end of its incredible journey, empties into the South China Sea. Such is the force of its power during the rainy season, this delta actually another river, the Tonle Sap, to reverse its direction. That’s astonishing, because it can be navigated for several hundred miles upstream from its mouth. It is a valuable economic centre for trade routes linking: Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia & Vietnam.
YUKON RIVER: flows its considerable part of its 3200 miles length northwards. Because of the weather conditions it can be navigated by boats for just 3 months of the year. It is one of the longest rivers and links Canada & USA. Villages built along the river rely heavily on salmon for their commercial and substance value. Besides Yukon, Nile is the only other river in the world to flow northwards.
MURRAY RIVER: which is over 1600 miles long, forms the border between New South Wales and Victoria. It is joined along its length by the Darling river. Together these two rivers form what is known as Murray-Darling river system that transverses a large area of south-eastern Australia. Their combined length of almost 3000 miles provides the life blood of almost 50% of Australia’s agricultural production.
EUPHRATES RIVER: flows through Turkey, Syria & Iraq. Today it is mostly unnavigable due to the huge Anatolia Project in Turkey which involves 22 dams built upon the river. It depends more on a trade in hydro generated electricity, drinking water and fishery industries than the massive agricultural trading of old,
RIVER CLYDE: is Scotland’s third largest river, runs through the major city of Glasgow. It is famous for ship building since the early 18th century. Major dredging work had to take place before the river became navigable to large ships dealing with tobacco and cotton trade from the Americas. Over 25,000 ships have been built along the river.
TOCANTINS RIVER: named after the beautiful and unusual bird: TOUCAN. Rising in the mountainous area of Pireneus, flows through four of Brazil’s states before it finally empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Replete with waterfalls and rapids along its course, today its main economic base is that which is generated by tourism and canoeing trips.
COLUMBIA RIVER: Rises in the Rocky Mountains in Canada’s British Columbia and flows Northwest, South and then West again before emptying in the Pacific Ocean. The lava beds have contributed to change of direction and the ice also played a large part in the formation of river’s journey to the sea. Salmon fishing was an original trading industry but since 1932, building of dams and hydroelectric stations commenced along this beautiful waterway.
For Private & Customized Holidays: www.365tours.in
