The Yapacaní River is a river of

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 ...

, part of the Amazon River basin. The river is a tributary of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...

. The river runs northwards through the

Santa Cruz Department Santa Cruz () is the largest of the nine constituent departments of Bolivia, occupying about one-third (33.74%) of the country's territory. With an area of , it is slightly smaller than Japan or the US state of Montana. It is located in the ...

and joins the

Mamoré River The Mamoré is a large river in Brazil and Bolivia which unites with the Madre de Dios River to form the Madeira, one of the largest tributaries of the Amazon. It rises on the northern slope of the Sierra de Cochabamba, east of the city of Cochaba ...

Geography

The Yapacaní River originates in the formations of the

Amboró National Park Amboró National Park in central Bolivia is a nature reserve with over 912 species of birds, over 177 mammalian species including Cougar, puma, ocelot, and the rare spectacled bear. Covering an area of 4,425 km² (1,709 sq mi), it is protecte ...

and receives water from numerous rivers and tributary streams. It arises from the confluence of the Yapacaní and Surutú at . From this point, the river flows northwest to its mouth in the Rio Grande at . The river forms the border between the municipalities of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

and Yapacaní, in Ichilo Province of the Santa Cruz Department. Today, the town of La Chancadora, which is located upstream, is threatened by the continuous flooding of the river, since it can be up to 2,600 ft (800m) wide in places. In 2005 work began on the river channeling the Yapacaní-Surutú. The Piray River is a major tributary.

Economy

The river Yapacaní has economic significance because of the potential marketable fishing of some species that occur in its waters. The banks of the river have been cleared for agriculture, which has been denounced by some environmental advocacy organizations. Colonization efforts began in Santa Cruz Department in 1954. In 1958, the trail from the Yapacaní River to the

Ichilo River Ichilo River is a Bolivian river at the foot of the Eastern Andes-Cordillera in South America. It lends its name to the Ichilo Province, one of the 15 provinces of the Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia), Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia. Location ...

was widened with the hope of attracting more agricultural colonists. In 1963, the road west from Montero stopped at the river. Previous efforts to construct a bridge over the river were failures, and the only way to cross it continued to be by boat. Since the river was often high, crossings could be delayed three to four days. In 1966, work began on construction of a bridge which would eliminate river crossings by boat.

References

*Rand McNally, The New International Atlas, 1993.

Sources

* * Rivers of Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia) {{Bolivia-river-stub

Geography

Economy

See also

References

Sources