Source of the Amazon (Nevado Mismi)

The Amazon is the river that carries more water than any other, and its starting point has puzzled explorers for centuries. Today experts do not name one single spring. Instead, the Amazon begins in several headwater areas high in the Peruvian Andes, where three rivers are born: the Marañón, the Apurímac and the Mantaro.

These headwaters all lie above 5,000 metres, among snow and ice, so the river begins as meltwater trickling down a cold mountain. The globe marks a peak in this area, about 5,600 metres high. From there, water runs a long way, roughly 6,400 kilometres by the usual estimate, before reaching the Atlantic Ocean.

Which stream is the real source?

People disagree because there are different ways to decide. You can choose the stream with the most water, the longest distance from the sea, the biggest drainage area, or the highest spring.

The Marañón carries more water. But the Ucayali branch and its tributaries run much farther, about 2,738 kilometres compared with 1,415, so the Apurímac and the Mantaro are the most distant parts of the headwaters.

How the mystery was explored

For a long time the Marañón was thought to be the main source. A Czech Jesuit priest, Samuel Fritz, sailed up the river and drew the first map of the Amazon basin in 1707, showing the Marañón as larger than the Ucayali.

Later explorers kept debating which Andean headwater deserved the title. The question continues even today.

On the globe

The model shows a snowy Andean peak where the Amazon's meltwater streams begin, on the globe in the Peruvian mountains.