Rio Paraná
| Paraná River | |
| Rio Paraná, Río Paraná | |
 Paraná River seen from Zárate, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
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| Countries | Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay |
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| Region | Mesopotamia, Argentina |
| Primary source | Paranaíba River |
| - location | Rio Paranaíba, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| - elevation | 1,148 m (3,766 ft) |
| - length | 1,070 km (665 mi) |
| - coordinates | 19°13′21″S 46°10′28″W / 19.22250°S 46.17444°W |
| Secondary source | Rio Grande |
| - location | Bocaina de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil |
| - length | 1,090 km (677 mi) |
| - coordinates | 22°9′56″S 44°23′38″W / 22.16556°S 44.39389°W |
| Source confluence | Paranaíba and Grande |
| - coordinates | 20°5′12″S 51°0′2″W / 20.08667°S 51.00056°W |
| Mouth | Rio de la Plata |
| - location | Atlantic Ocean, Argentina |
| - elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
| - coordinates | 34°0′5″S 58°23′37″W / 34.00139°S 58.39361°WCoordinates: 34°0′5″S 58°23′37″W / 34.00139°S 58.39361°W |
| Length | 4,880 km (3,032 mi) |
| Basin | 2,582,672 km2 (997,175 sq mi) |
| Discharge | for mouth |
| - average | 17,290 m3/s (610,600 cu ft/s) |
| - max | 65,000 m3/s (2,295,500 cu ft/s) |
| - min | 2,450 m3/s (86,500 cu ft/s) |
 Map of the Rio de la Plata Basin showing the Paraná River and its major tributaries
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The Paraná River (Spanish: Río Paraná, Portuguese: Rio Paraná, Guarani: Ysyry Parana) is a river in south Central South America, running through Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina for some 4,880 kilometres (3,030 mi). It is second in length only to the Amazon River among South American rivers. The name Paraná is an abbreviation of the phrase "para rehe onáva", which comes from the Tupi language and means "like the sea" (that is, "as big as the sea"). It merges first with the Paraguay River and then farther downstream with the Uruguay River to form the Río de la Plata and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
The first European to go up the Paraná River was the Englishman Sebastian Cabot, in 1526, while sailing for Spain.
The course is formed at the confluence of the Paranaiba and Rio Grande rivers in southern Brazil. From the confluence the river flows in a generally southwestern direction for about 619 km (385 mi) before encountering the city of Saltos del Guaira, Paraguay. This was once the location of the Sete Quedas waterfall, where the Paraná fell over a series of seven cascades. This natural feature was said to rival the world-famous Iguazu Falls to the south. The falls were flooded, however, by the construction of the Itaipu dam, which began operating in 1984.
For approximately the next 200 km (120 mi) the Paraná flows southward and forms a natural boundary between Paraguay and Brazil until the confluence with the Iguazu River. Shortly upstream from this confluence, however, the river is dammed by the Itaipu Dam, the second largest hydroelectric power station in the world (after the Three Gorges Dam in the People's Republic of China), and creating a massive, shallow reservoir behind it.
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Wikipedia