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The Napo River ( es, Río Napo) is a
tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
to the Amazon River that rises in
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
on the flanks of the east Andean
volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...
es of Antisana, Sincholagua and Cotopaxi. The total length is . The river drains an area of . The mean annual discharge is ( Mazán).


Geography

Before it reaches the plains it receives a great number of small streams from impenetrable, saturated and much broken mountainous districts, where the dense and varied vegetation seems to fight for every piece of ground. From the north it is joined by the
Coca River The Coca River is a river in eastern Ecuador. It is a tributary of the Napo River. The two rivers join in the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana. The Payamino River The Payamino River is a river of Ecuador. It is a tributary of the Napo River ...
, having its sources in the gorges of
Cayambe volcano Cayambe or Volcán Cayambe is a volcano in Ecuador, in the Cordillera Central, a range of the Ecuadorian Andes. It is located in Pichincha Province, some northeast of Quito. It is the third-highest mountain in Ecuador, at an elevation of abo ...
on the
equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can also ...
, and also a powerful river, the Aguarico having its headwaters between Cayambe and the
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
frontier. From the west, it receives a secondary tributary, the Curaray, from the Andean slopes, between Cotopaxi and the
Tungurahua volcano Tungurahua (; from Quichua ''tunguri'' (throat) and ''rahua'' (fire), "Throat of Fire")) is an active stratovolcano located in the Cordillera Oriental of Ecuador. The volcano gives its name to the province of Tungurahua. Volcanic activity resta ...
. From its Coca branch to the mouth of the Curaray the Napo is full of snags and shelving sandbanks and throws out numerous canoes among jungle-tangled islands, which in the wet season are flooded, giving the river an immense width. From the Coca to the Amazon it runs through a forested plain where not a hill is visible from the river - its uniformly level banks being only interrupted by
swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...
s and
lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into '' coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons ...
s. From the Amazon the Napo is navigable for river craft up to its Curaray branch, a distance of about , and perhaps a bit further; thence, by painful canoe navigation, its upper waters may be ascended as far as
Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina * Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...
, the usual point of embarkation for any venturesome traveller who descends from the Quito tableland. The Coca river may be penetrated as far up as its middle course, where it is jammed between two mountain walls, in a deep canyon, along which it dashes over high falls and numerous reefs. This is the stream made famous by the expedition of Gonzalo Pizarro.


Tributary


Drainge basin


Discharge

References:
Estudio Binacional de Navegabilidad del Río Napo (Ecuador-Perú)
' References:
Boletin extraordinario de la evaluación hidrológica y pluviométrica en la cuenca amazónica peruana
(Senamhi, 2012)'' References:
Boletin extraordinario de la evaluación hidrológica y pluviométrica en la cuenca amazónica peruana
(Senamhi, 2013)''


See also

* Lake Pilchicocha


References

{{Authority control Tributaries of the Amazon River Rivers of Ecuador Rivers of Peru International rivers of South America Rivers of Loreto Region Geography of Napo Province Geography of Orellana Province Geography of Sucumbíos Province Upper Amazon