Pilcomayo (in Hispanicized spelling) (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

Pillkumayu or Pillku Mayu, ''pillku'' red, ''mayu'' river, "red river", Guarani Ysyry Araguay ) is a river in central

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. At long, it is the longest western tributary of the

Paraguay River The Paraguay River (''Ysyry Paraguái'' in Guarani language, Guarani, ''Rio Paraguai'' in Portuguese language, Portuguese, ''Río Paraguay'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is a major river in south-central South America, running through Brazil, Bol ...

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is in area, and its mean discharge is . Along its course, the Pilcomayo silts up and splits into two main branches, North and South. After some distance, these branches rejoin to form the Lower Pilcomayo. The Pilcomayo rises in the foothills of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountain range in the

Oruro Department Oruro (; Quechua: ''Uru Uru''; Aymara: ''Ururu'') is a department of Bolivia, with an area of . Its capital is the city of Oruro. According to the 2012 census, the Oruro department had a population of 494,178. Provinces of Oruro The depar ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, east of

Lake Poopó Lake Poopó ( ) was a large saline lake in a shallow depression in the Altiplano in Oruro Department, Bolivia, at an altitude of approximately . Due to the lake's length and width (), it made up the eastern half of Oruro, known as a mining r ...

. The Jach'a Juqhu River is considered the origin of the Pilcomayo. Upstream the Jach'a Juqhu River successively receives the names Aguas Calientes and Kachi Mayu. From the confluence with the Chillawa ''(Chillahua)'', the river is called Pilcomayo.Santiago de Huari Municipality:
population data and map showing Jach'a Juqhu River From there, it flows in a southeasterly direction through

Chuquisaca Chuquisaca may refer to: *Chuquisaca Department, a department of Bolivia in the center south *Chuquisaca Revolution The Chuquisaca Revolution was a popular uprising on 25 May 1809 against Ramón García de León y Pizarro, Governor-intendant o ...

and

Tarija Tarija or San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa is a city in southern Bolivia. Founded in 1574, Tarija is the largest city and capital and municipality within the Tarija Department, with an airport ( Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport, (TJA)) of ...

departments, passes through the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

province of

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

and the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or simply Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland tropical dry broadleaf forest natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion o ...

plains of

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

, forming most of the border between these two countries before it joins the ''Paraguay River'' near

Asunción Asunción (, ) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of Asunción in the north ...

. The

Río Pilcomayo National Park The Río Pilcomayo National Park () is a national park located in the northeastern part of the Argentina, Argentine province of Formosa Province, Formosa, on the border with Paraguay. Established on September 29, 1951 to protect the natural featu ...

is located on the

side of the border. It also forms a short part of the boundary between Argentina and Bolivia, just prior to the

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

–

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

Human settlement

The river basin is home to approximately 1.5 million people: one million in Bolivia, 300,000 in Argentina, and 200,000 in Paraguay. The Nakotoi Indian Tribe resides in the southern region of the Pilcomayo, a region located along the river in central Paraguay.Kerr, p. 116 The aborigines of this tribe are descendants of the highly renowned Redskin Tribe. The Natokoi treated all neighbors as enemies, but none more so than the Tobas Tribe and the Nimká Tribe, their respective neighbors to the southwest and northeast. Guerrilla warfare has long existed between the tribes, isolating the tribe from direct intercourse with the European settlers in the late 19th century. Men of this tribe are generally tall and skinny, built like hunters or warriors, whereas women are short in size.Kerr, p. 117 The Natokoi dress in a rug, fastened around the waist-line.

Gallery

File:A._Fiskare_gå_över_Pilcomayo._Rio_Pilcomayo,_Bolivianska_Chaco._Rio_Pilcomayo,_El_Gran_Chaco_-_SMVK_-_004711.tif, Local fishermen with fishing nets crossing Rio Pilcomayo 1908. File:In_Bolívia.jpg, Pilcomayo River as seen through

Tarija Department Tarija () is a department in Bolivia. It is located in south-eastern Bolivia bordering with Argentina to the south and Paraguay to the east. According to the 2024 census, it has a population of 534,348 inhabitants. It has an area of . The city ...

, Bolivia. File:Riodelaplatabasinmap.png, Map of the

Rio de la Plata Basin Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Fl ...

. File:Puente Misión La Paz - Pozo Hondo Chaco Paraguay.jpg, The Misión La Paz Bridge over the Pilcomayo River, between Pozo Hondo, Boquerón and Misión La Paz,

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

, ( PY)-( AR)

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

. File:Rio_Pilcomayo_en_el_Aguarague.jpg, The Pilcomayo River seen at the

Aguaragüe National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area Aguaragüe National Park and Integrated Management Natural Area (''Parque Nacional y Área Natural de Manejo Integrado Serranía del Aguaragüe'') is a protected area in Bolivia situated in the Tarija Department, Gran Chaco Province. The national ...

, in Bolivia File:20170807_Bolivia_1322_sRGB_(37949270772).jpg, A 19th century-built

footbridge A footbridge (also a pedestrian bridge, pedestrian overpass, or pedestrian overcrossing) is a bridge designed solely for pedestrians.''Oxford English Dictionary'' While the primary meaning for a bridge is a structure which links "two points at a ...

over the Pilcomayo River as seen at Bolivia's Route 5, between

Sucre Sucre (; ) is the ''de jure'' capital city of Bolivia, the capital of the Chuquisaca Department and the sixth most populous city in Bolivia. Located in the south-central part of the country, Sucre lies at an elevation of . This relatively high ...

and

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Potosí Department, Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the list of highest cities in the world, highest cities in the wo ...

, Southern Bolivia. File:Valle_Pilcomayo.jpg, Pilcomayo Valley, near

Villamontes Villamontes or Villa Montes is a town in the Tarija Department in south-eastern Bolivia. Location Villamontes is the administrative center of Villamontes Municipality and is situated at 388 m above sea level, on the left bank of Río Pilcoma ...

, Bolivia. File:Riopilcomayoenpnriopilcomayo.jpg, Pilcomayo River seen at the

, Argentina File:Pilcomayo_al_Sur_desde_el_puente_San_Ignacio.jpg, Pilcomayo River, near

References

Sources

*Kerr, Graham. A Naturalist in the Gran Chaco. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1950. *Pilcomayo River. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 18, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/460371/Pilcomayo-River *W. H. Strosnider, F. Llanos, R.W. Nairn
''LEGACY OF NEARLY 500 YEARS OF MINING IN POTOSÍ, BOLIVIA: STREAM WATER QUALITY''
(pdf) - conference paper at the ''2008 National Meeting of the American Society of Mining and Reclamation. New Opportunities to Apply Our Science'', June 14–19, Richmond, VA. {{coord, 25, 21, S, 57, 40, W, type:river_region:AR_dim:5km, display=title Rivers of Paraguay Rivers of Argentina Rivers of Formosa Province Argentina–Paraguay border Argentina–Bolivia border International rivers of South America Rivers of Chuquisaca Department Rivers of Oruro Department Rivers of Potosí Department Rivers of Tarija Department Rivers of Salta Province Tributaries of the Paraguay River Border rivers Ramsar sites in Argentina

Human settlement

Gallery

See also

References

Sources