Which of the following is the world's widest river?

Flowing some 6,992 km (4,345 miles), one of the world’s longest rivers is also the widest.

At its thinnest section, the Amazon stretches a “mere” 1 km (0.62 miles) across. However, on average the Amazon is quite a bit wider - between 3.2 to 8 km (2 to 5 miles) wide - and that is just during the dry season. The wet season sees the river grow substantially, to a width of up to 100 km (62 miles) in some areas.

Just for comparison, the Nile is about 6,650 km (4,130 miles) long, with a maximum width of 2.8 km (1.7 miles) at its widest point.

The Yangtze is the longest river in both China and Asia, and third longest river in the world, at 6,300 km (3,900 miles) long. Although it is extremely deep in places, the width varies, from 30 meters (98 feet) at its narrowest point to 650 meters (2,130 feet) at its widest.

At its source the “Mighty Mississippi” is only 6-9 meters (20-30 feet) wide, while at the widest point, Lake Winnibigoshish, the river sprawls some 17 km (11 miles) wide.

As if being (disputably) the longest and (definitely) the widest river were not enough, the Amazon is also the world’s largest river by volume.

More Info: en.m.wikipedia.org

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What are your thoughts on this subject?

13 Comments

Russ Dobell

Well that's a switch, instead of longest as usual now it's widest!

Player

Since both the Amazon and the Nile were on the options, I chose neither.

Karin Johansson

Federico Chaplin, that is not a real river!

Karin Johansson

Tom Kelly, No Amazon is both the longest and the widest!

Jas Newman

GONavarini, The Rio de la Plata is not a true river. It's part of the Atlantic Ocean.

Shirley Dutt

I once saw an overlay of the Amazon and tributaries superimposed over the Mississippi. The Amazon was wider and longer than the entire United States.

GONavarini

Either a poorly written question, or a collection of wrong answers. The widest river in the world is the Rio de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay. The Amazon may be the widest of the four rivers named in the question, but the query is not written that way.

dmarkc

No definitive answer. Typical QC question. Just whichever arbitrary choice the questioner picks. This one during wet season. That one when it floods. The other after a big rain. Another on average.

Jaimi McEntire

Sorry - The St. Lawrence river is wider than the Amazon by several KM. As well, it drains 25% of the worlds fresh water supply. The estuary is even wider, but we won't count that.

Joe Mangan

Federico Chaplin, the word rio misidentifies Rio de la Plata. It is generally classed as an estuary, though I would argue that it is more correctly a bay.