Major Rivers of the World – Part 1
- From Ancient times Civilisations have been found on the banks of rivers.
- The Egyptian Civilisation on the banks of River Nile.
- The Indus Valley Civilisation on the banks of Indus and its Tributaries.
- Mesopotamian Civilisation on the banks of Euphrates and Tigris.
- The Chinese Civilisation on the banks of Huang He or the Yellow River.
- Let us therefore take a moment to go through the major Rivers around the world.
In Asia
Asia is the largest and most populous Continent and is also home to 3 of the world’s Ancient Civilisation.
Brahmaputra:
- The Brahmaputra is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachal Pradesh and Jamuna in Bangladesh.
- It originates in the Manasarovar Lake region, near Mount Kailash and flows through Tibet, India, and Bangladesh into the Bay of Bengal.
- Brahmaputra along with Ganga makes the largest delta in the world known as Ganga-Brahmaputra delta.
Euphrates:
- The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia.
- This along with the Tigris, is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia hence the name “Land Between the Rivers”.
- It emerges from the confluence of the Kara Su or Western Euphrates and the Murat Su or Eastern Euphrates 10 kilometres upstream from the town of Keban in southeastern Turkey.
- Euphrates is also believed to be one of the rivers of the Garden of Eden mentioned in the Book of Genesis.
Huang He:
- Huang He also known as the Yellow River is the second-longest river in China, and the sixth-longest river system in the world.
- It is also the home of the Chinese Civilisation which is one of the world’s oldest civilisations.
- It originates in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai province of Western China, and flows entirely through China, and it empties into the Bohai Sea.
Ganga:
- Ganga originates from Gaumukh, which is located at the base of Gangotri and Khatilang glaciers in Uttarakhand.
- The Ganga flows through India and continues into Bangladesh where its name changing to the Padma.
- It is then joined by the Jamuna, the lower stream of the Brahmaputra, and eventually the Meghna, forming the major estuary of the Ganges Delta, and emptying into the Bay of Bengal.
Indus:
- The Indus is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan River of South and Central Asia.
- It originates northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, bends sharply to the left after the Nanga Parbat, and flows through Pakistan, before emptying into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi.
- It holds the distinction for bringing life to the oldest Civilisation in the Indian Subcontinent i.e., the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Mekong:
- Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
- It is the world’s twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia.
- It originates in the Tibetan Plateau the river runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam and flows into the South China Sea.
Ob:
- The Ob is a major river in the Western Siberian part of Russia.
- It is formed by the confluence of the Biya and Katun which have their origins in the Altai Mountains and flows into the Arctic Ocean.
- The Trans-Siberian Railway crosses the river at Novosibirsk, the largest city in Siberia, and the third-largest city in Russia.
- The Gulf of Ob is the world’s longest estuary.
Tigris:
- Tigris is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia.
- The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the Persian Gulf.
- Tigris is also believed to be one of the rivers of the Garden of Eden mentioned in the Book of Genesis.
Yangtze:
- The Yangtze or Yangzi is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country.
- It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains in the Tibetan Plateau and flows into the East China Sea.
- It is the seventh-largest river by discharge volume in the world.
- Its drainage basin comprises one-fifth of the land area of China, and is home to nearly one-third of the country’s population.
