Amazon+River

Joey Giola

Term: Amazon River

Aim: The Amazon river is a hugely vital river flowing through South America. It provides ample amounts of water to the surrounding areas and allows the local wildlife to flourish. The river has a large amount of run off rivers through out its length, that further provides water to the wildlife. This river allows for the entire Amazon rain forest to exist and for the ecosystem within that rain forest to thrive. Humans also benefit from the the Amazon by fishing and living around the water. The Amazon River basin covers around 40% of South America providing the entire region with fresh water (Save the Amazon Rainforest). The Amazon alone is responsible for 25% of all of the fresh water entering the Atlantic Ocean (Amazon River). The Amazon is hugely important to the ecosystem of South America.

Audience: The audience of the Amazon River could be a vast amount of people. It could be anyone from the ancient tribes that lived in the area to the huge amount of tourists who want to go down the Amazon River. Another audience or intended recipient of the Amazon river would the wildlife and the ecosystem surrounding this large river (Save the Amazon Rainforest). The ancient tribes that would have surrounded this river would be there because the water is fresh and thus drinkable plus, there would be fishing. The Amazon river would make an ideal living spot if the tribe could deal with the amount of flooding that happens (Amazon River). Tourists love the Amazon River due to the vast size of the river itself and all of the ecosystem surrounding the river. They could experience the wildlife and take a ferry down the river. The Amazon river has a wide and diverse audience of both animals and humans.

Cultural: The Amazon River is the biggest river in the world based on amount of water flowing through it and second in size. The Amazon would have had a vast cultural impact on anybody who had lived nearby. Their entire lives would depend on the river's ecosystem staying healthy and the flooding that would occur (Save The Amazon Rainforest). For ancient tribes, they probably saw the flooding as a punishment from the Gods. The flooding would be huge, with the river rising 30 ft in some places. The river's ecosystem would have to stay healthy and function due to the reliance on it from the locals (Amazon River). The Amazon River would have had diverse cultural effects on the people around it.

Historical: Historically, the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world behind the Nile in Amazon. It discharges around 209,000 cubic meters of water per second which is more the next biggest 7 rivers combined. The sheer size of the Amazon river is undisputed in pure water flow. The Amazon was discovered by early South American people however it was discovered by Europeans in the early 1500s by Spanish Conquistadors (Amazon River). European explorers went down the river to try to find the famed "City of Gold". They were only consumed by the jungle to only die due to various factors. The Amazon was also used for the vast amount of amount of rubber trees it has around it. The Allies in WW2 had used the rubber from the Amazon to continue the war effort (Amazon River). The Amazon has forever made its mark on the history books.

Sources:

"Amazon River | World's Greatest River." //Amazon River //. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

"Amazon River - Save the Amazon Rainforest." //Save the Amazon Rainforest RSS //. 27 July 2013. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.