Japurá River

Japurá River
Caquetá River
Countries	Brazil, Colombia
Mouth	Amazon River
- coordinates	3°9′56″S 64°46′51″W / 3.16556°S 64.78083°W / -3.16556; -64.78083Coordinates: 3°9′56″S 64°46′51″W / 3.16556°S 64.78083°W / -3.16556; -64.78083
Length	2,820 km (1,752 mi)
Basin	255,700 km2 (98,726 sq mi)
Discharge
- average	18,620 m3/s (657,559 cu ft/s)
Map of the Amazon Basin with the Japurá River highlighted

The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a river about 2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi) long in the Amazon basin. It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River.

The river rises as the Caquetá River in the Andes in southwest Colombia. The Caquetá River rises near the sources of the Magdalena River, and augments its volume from many branches as it courses through Colombia. It flows southeast into Brazil, where it is called the Japurá. The Japurá enters the Amazon River through a network of channels. It is navigable by small boats in Brazil. West of the Rio Negro, the Solimões River (as the Amazon's upper Brazilian course is called) receives three more imposing streams from the northwest—the Japurá, the Içá (referred to as the Putumayo before it crosses over into Brazil), and the Napo.

For much of its length the river flow through the Purus várzea ecoregion. The river is home to a wide variety of fish and reptiles, including enormous catfish weighing up to 91 kg (201 lb) and measuring up to 1.8 metres (5.9 ft) in length, electric eels, piranhas, turtles, and caimans.

Much of the jungle through which the eastern Caquetá originally flowed has been cleared for pasture, crops of rice, corn, manioc, and sugar cane, and in the past two decades, particularly coca crops.