Araguaia River
| Araguaia River (Rio Araguaia) | |
 A tree in the Araguaia National Park in flood season
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| Country | Brazil |
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| States | Goiás, Mato Grosso, , Pará |
| Cities | Aragarças, Barra do Garças |
| Mouth | |
| - coordinates | 5°22′34″S 48°43′08″W / 5.37611°S 48.71889°WCoordinates: 5°22′34″S 48°43′08″W / 5.37611°S 48.71889°W |
| Length | 1,910 km (1,187 mi) |
| Basin | 358,125 km2 (138,273 sq mi) |
| Discharge | for Conceicaodo Araguaia |
| - average | 6,172 m3/s (217,962 cu ft/s) |
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Map of the Araguaia/Tocantins Watershed
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The Araguaia River (Portuguese: Rio Araguaia [ˈʁi.u ɐɾɐˈɡwaj.jɐ]) is one of the major rivers of Brazil, and the principal tributary of the , though it is almost equal in volume at its confluence with the Tocantins. It has a total length of approximately 2,627 km. Araguaia means "river of (red) macaws" in the Tupi language.
Because of the vast number of tributaries, it is not easy to define its source. Important tributaries originate in the Araras mountain range in Mato Grosso as well in the Divisões mountain range situated in Goiás (according to other sources however, the Araguaia comes from the Caiapó Range, at the Goiás-Mato Grosso border). From there it flows northeast to a junction with the near the town of São João.
Along its course, the river forms the border between the Brazilian federal states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, and Pará. Roughly in the middle of its course, the Araguaia splits into two forks (with the western one retaining the name Araguaia and the eastern one being called the Javaés River). These later reunite, forming the Ilha do Bananal, the world's largest river island. The mouth of the Javaés forms a broad inland delta where it pours back into the main Araguaia, a 100,000 hectare expanse of igapó flooded forest, blackwater river channels, and oxbow lakes called Cantão, protected by the Cantão State Park. This is one of the biologically richest areas of the eastern Amazon, with over 700 species of birds, nearly 300 species of fish, large populations of threatened species such as the giant otter, the black cayman, the world's largest freshwater fish, the pirarucú, and the endemic Araguaian river dolphin (or Araguaian boto) all occurring within a relatively small area.
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Wikipedia