The Japurá River or Caquetá River is a 2,820 kilometres (1,750 mi) long river in the Amazon basin . It rises in Colombia and flows eastward through Brazil to join the Amazon River .
85-745: 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
170-555: A higher potential for larger, high-magnitude earthquakes in the future. The mountain range is also a source of shallow intraplate earthquakes within the South American Plate. The largest such earthquake (as of 2024) struck Peru in 1947 and measured M s 7.5. In the Peruvian Andes, these earthquakes display normal ( 1946 ), strike-slip (1976), and reverse ( 1969 , 1983) mechanisms. The Amazonian Craton
255-566: A joint ice stream network. The Andes' dendritic glacier arms, components of valley glaciers, were up to 112.5 km (69.9 mi) long and over 1,250 m (4,101 ft) thick, and spanned a vertical distance of 5,150 m (16,896 ft). The climatic glacier snowline (ELA) was lowered from 4,600 m (15,092 ft) to 3,200 m (10,499 ft) at glacial times. The Andean region cuts across several natural and floristic regions, due to its extension, from Caribbean Venezuela to cold, windy, and wet Cape Horn passing through
340-594: A north–south axis of cultural influences. A long series of cultural development culminated in the expansion of the Inca civilization and Inca Empire in the central Andes during the 15th century. The Incas formed this civilization through imperialistic militarism as well as careful and meticulous governmental management. The government sponsored the construction of aqueducts and roads in addition to pre-existing installations. Some of these constructions still exist today. Devastated by European diseases and by civil war ,
425-711: A series of bends or oroclines . The Bolivian Orocline is a seaward-concave bending in the coast of South America and the Andes Mountains at about 18° S. At this point, the orientation of the Andes turns from northwest in Peru to south in Chile and Argentina . The Andean segments north and south of the Orocline have been rotated 15° counter-clockwise to 20° clockwise respectively. The Bolivian Orocline area overlaps with
510-634: A typical location for calc-alkalic and subduction volcanism, the Andean Volcanic Belt has a large range of volcano-tectonic settings, such as rift systems, extensional zones, transpressional faults , subduction of mid-ocean ridges , and seamount chains apart from a large range of crustal thicknesses and magma ascent paths, and different amount of crustal assimilations. The Andes Mountains host large ore and salt deposits, and some of their eastern fold and thrust belts act as traps for commercially exploitable amounts of hydrocarbons . In
595-536: A whole glacier in the ablation area or in the accumulation area . In the high Andes of Central Chile and Mendoza Province , rock glaciers are larger and more common than glaciers; this is due to the high exposure to solar radiation . In these regions, glaciers occur typically at higher altitudes than rock glaciers. The lowest active rock glaciers occur at 900 m a.s.l. in Aconcagua . Though precipitation increases with height, there are semiarid conditions in
680-780: A zone of volcanic activity that encompasses the Pacific rim of the Americas as well as the Asia-Pacific region. The Andes are the result of tectonic plate processes extending during the Mesozoic and Tertiary eras, caused by the subduction of oceanic crust beneath the South American Plate as the Nazca Plate and South American Plate converge. These processes were accelerated by the effects of climate. As
765-452: Is a great variety of fish and birds, but relatively fewer mammals. Ground-dwelling mammals must migrate to higher ground during the flood season. Threats include logging, cattle farming, over-fishing and mercury pollution from gold mining. The Purus várzea is a low-lying region of the central Amazon basin that is seasonally flooded. It covers 17,741,418 hectares (43,840,000 acres) of eastern Colombia and western Brazil. It extends along most of
850-561: Is a result of the subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The belt is subdivided into four main volcanic zones that are separated from each other by volcanic gaps. The volcanoes of the belt are diverse in terms of activity style, products, and morphology. While some differences can be explained by which volcanic zone a volcano belongs to, there are significant differences inside volcanic zones and even between neighboring volcanoes. Despite being
935-551: Is actively underthrusted beneath the sub-Andes region of Peru, producing thrust faults. In Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, thrust faulting occurs along the sub-Andes due in response to compression brought on by subduction, while in the high Andes, normal faulting occurs in response to gravitational forces. In the extreme south, a major transform fault separates Tierra del Fuego from the small Scotia Plate . The Andes range has many active volcanoes distributed in four volcanic zones separated by areas of inactivity. The Andean volcanism
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#17327656863611020-884: Is found in the várzea. Other reptiles include black caiman ( Melanosuchus niger ) and spectacled caiman ( Caiman crocodilus ). The ecoregion is home to the endangered Johnson's horned treefrog ( Hemiphractus johnsoni ). Large fruit-eating fish that enter the forest during the flood period include pacu (genera Metynnis and Mylossoma ), tambaqui ( Colossoma macropomum ), pirarucu ( Arapaima gigas ) and sardinha ( Triportheus angulatus ). Other fish include piranha ( Serrasalmus species) and decorative fish from whitewater rivers and their blackwater tributaries and lakes such as blue discus ( Symphysodon aequifasciatus ), cichlids (genus Cichlasoma ), characins (family Anostomidae ), tetras (genera Hemigrammus and Hyphessobrycon ), and catfish (families Aspredinidae , Callichthyidae , Doradidae and Loricariidae ). According to
1105-471: Is natural, or the result of clearing which began during the Incan period. Regardless, in modern times , the clearance has accelerated, and the trees are now considered highly endangered , with some believing that as little as 10% of the original woodland remains. The Andes are rich in fauna: With almost 1,000 species, of which roughly 2/3 are endemic to the region, the Andes are the most important region in
1190-1647: Is the largest city of all Andean countries. It is the seat of the Andean Community of Nations . La Paz , Bolivia 's seat of government, is the highest capital city in the world, at an elevation of approximately 3,650 m (11,975 ft). Parts of the La Paz conurbation, including the city of El Alto , extend up to 4,200 m (13,780 ft). Other cities in or near the Andes include Bariloche , Catamarca , Jujuy , Mendoza , Salta , San Juan , Tucumán , and Ushuaia in Argentina; Calama and Rancagua in Chile; Cochabamba , Oruro , Potosí , Sucre , Tarija , and Yacuiba in Bolivia; Arequipa , Cajamarca , Cusco , Huancayo , Huánuco , Huaraz , Juliaca , and Puno in Peru; Ambato , Cuenca , Ibarra , Latacunga , Loja , Riobamba , and Tulcán in Ecuador; Armenia , Cúcuta , Bucaramanga , Duitama , Ibagué , Ipiales , Manizales , Palmira , Pasto , Pereira , Popayán , Sogamoso , Tunja , and Villavicencio in Colombia; and Barquisimeto , La Grita , Mérida , San Cristóbal , Tovar, Trujillo , and Valera in Venezuela. The cities of Caracas , Valencia , and Maracay are in
1275-562: The Astrocaryum jauari palm. There are relatively few palms compared to the terra firme forests. Other palm species include Astrocaryum murumuru , Mauritia flexuosa and Bactris species including the endemic Bactris tefensis . Trees that support fruit-eating fish that enter the forest in the flood period include yellow mombim ( Spondias mombim ), jauari palm ( Astrocaryum jauari ), biribá ( Rollinia deliciosa ), tarumã ( Vitex cymosa ), and apui ( Ficus species). The largest tree in
1360-404: The 2010 Maule earthquake (M8.8), the 2015 Illapel earthquake (M8.2), and the 1960 Valdivia earthquake (M9.5), which as of 2024 was the strongest ever recorded on seismometers. The amount, magnitude, and type of seismic activity varies greatly along the subduction zone. These differences are due to a wide range of factors, including friction between the plates, angle of subduction, buoyancy of
1445-682: The Americas and Antarctica . The etymology of the word Andes has been debated. The majority consensus is that it derives from the Quechua word anti "east" as in Antisuyu (Quechua for "east region"), one of the four regions of the Inca Empire . The term cordillera comes from the Spanish word cordel "rope" and is used as a descriptive name for several contiguous sections of
1530-456: The Andean cock-of-the-rock , while mixed-species flocks dominated by tanagers and furnariids are commonly seen—in contrast to several vocal but typically- cryptic species of wrens , tapaculos , and antpittas . A number of species such as the royal cinclodes and white-browed tit-spinetail are associated with Polylepis , and consequently also threatened . The Andes Mountains form
1615-592: The Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, were formerly thought to represent the submerged peaks of the extreme northern edge of the Andes range, but ongoing geological studies indicate that such a simplification does not do justice to the complex tectonic boundary between the South American and Caribbean plates . The Andes are an orogenic belt of mountains along the Pacific Ring of Fire ,
1700-535: The Cenozoic . Tectonic forces above the subduction zone along the entire west coast of South America where the Nazca Plate and a part of the Antarctic Plate are sliding beneath the South American Plate continue to produce an ongoing orogenic event resulting in minor to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to this day. Many high-magnitude earthquakes have been recorded in the region, such as
1785-984: The Ega long-tongued bat ( Scleronycteris ega ). Aquatic mammals include the Amazon river dolphin ( Inia geoffrensis ), tucuxi ( Sotalia fluviatilis ) and Amazonian manatee ' ( Trichechus inunguis ). Endangered mammals include the white-bellied spider monkey ( Ateles belzebuth ), Peruvian spider monkey ( Ateles chamek ), white-cheeked spider monkey ( Ateles marginatus ), Marinkelle's sword-nosed bat ( Lonchorhina marinkellei ) and giant otter ( Pteronura brasiliensis ). 633 bird species have been reported. These include many aquatic species such as heron and egret (genera Egretta and Ardea ), whistling duck ( Dendrocygna species), ibis ( Cercibis and Theristicus species) and roseate spoonbills ( Platalea ajaja ). Endangered birds include wattled curassow ( Crax globulosa ). The very large green anaconda ( Eunectes murinus )
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#17327656863611870-580: The Juruá , central Purus , and Caquetá ( Japurá ) rivers and their tributaries. In the east it reaches the confluence of the Japurá and Solimões Rivers. Urban centers in or around the region are Tefé , Tabatinga and Carauarí . To the southeast the varzea adjoins the Purus–Madeira moist forests , and to the northeast it adjoins the Japurá–Solimões–Negro moist forests . Streams that flow through
1955-785: 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 . On the border with Brazil, it meets the long Apaporis River (which is 1,370 km long when combined with one of its sources, the Tunia River ), near
2040-605: The Southwest Amazon moist forests , Solimões–Japurá moist forests and Caquetá moist forests to the west, and the Juruá–Purus moist forests in the central region all contain stretches of the varzea. The Monte Alegre várzea is downstream along the Solimões. Altitudes range from 80 to 120 metres (260 to 390 ft). The forests are seasonally flooded by whitewater rivers , which carry suspended sediment washed from
2125-694: The Tropical Andes , the Dry Andes , and the Wet Andes . The Andes are the highest mountain range which is outside of Asia . The range's highest peak, Argentina's Aconcagua , rises to an elevation of about 6,961 m (22,838 ft) above sea level. The peak of Chimborazo in the Ecuadorian Andes is farther from the Earth's center than any other location on the Earth's surface, due to
2210-582: The Venezuelan Coastal Range , which is a debatable extension of the Andes at the northern extremity of South America. Cities and large towns are connected with asphalt -paved roads, while smaller towns are often connected by dirt roads, which may require a four-wheel-drive vehicle. The rough terrain has historically put the costs of building highways and railroads that cross the Andes out of reach of most neighboring countries, even with modern civil engineering practices. For example,
2295-674: The War of the Pacific between Chile and the allied Bolivia and Peru, in a diplomatic deal to keep Peru out of the war. The Chilean Army and Chilean Navy defeated the combined forces of Bolivia and Peru, and Chile took over Bolivia's only province on the Pacific Coast, some land from Peru that was returned to Peru decades later. Bolivia has been completely landlocked ever since. It mostly uses seaports in eastern Argentina and Uruguay for international trade because its diplomatic relations with Chile have been suspended since 1978. Because of
2380-496: The World Wildlife Fund the status of the ecoregion is Critical/Endangered. Smallholders along the rivers undertake mixed agriculture, forest exploitation, small-scale logging and livestock raising. In some areas the várzea forest is threatened by large-scale logging and cattle farming. Fish populations are threatened by large-scale fishing operations and may be threatened by excessive collection of aquarium fish such as
2465-602: The equatorial bulge resulting from the Earth's rotation . The world's highest volcanoes are in the Andes, including Ojos del Salado on the Chile-Argentina border, which rises to 6,893 m (22,615 ft). The Andes are also part of the American Cordillera , a chain of mountain ranges ( cordillera ) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that form the western "backbone" of
2550-513: 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. The 19th-century Brazilian historian and geographer José Coelho da Gama e Abreu, the Baron of Marajó, attributed 970 kilometres (600 mi) of navigable stretches to it. Jules Crevaux , who descended it, described it as full of obstacles to navigation,
2635-517: The longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America . The range is 8,900 km (5,530 mi) long and 200 to 700 km (124 to 435 mi) wide (widest between 18°S and 20°S latitude ) and has an average height of about 4,000 m (13,123 ft). The Andes extend from South to North through seven South American countries: Argentina , Chile , Bolivia , Peru , Ecuador , Colombia , and Venezuela . Along their length,
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2720-483: The rodent order, inhabit the Andes' alpine regions. The Andean condor , the largest bird of its kind in the Western Hemisphere , occurs throughout much of the Andes but generally in very low densities. Other animals found in the relatively open habitats of the high Andes include the huemul , cougar , foxes in the genus Pseudalopex , and, for birds, certain species of tinamous (notably members of
2805-703: The 1,000-kilometer-wide (620 mi) Drake Passage lie the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula south of the Scotia Plate , which appear to be a continuation of the Andes chain. The far east regions of the Andes experience a series of changes resulting from the Andean orogeny. Parts of the Sunsás Orogen in Amazonian craton disappeared from the surface of the earth, being overridden by
2890-469: The Andean peoples are those of the Quechua and Aymara language families. Woodbine Parish and Joseph Barclay Pentland surveyed a large part of the Bolivian Andes from 1826 to 1827. In modern times, the largest cities in the Andes are Bogotá , with a metropolitan population of over ten million, and Santiago , Medellín , Cali , and Quito . Lima is a coastal city adjacent to the Andes and
2975-405: The Andes are tobacco and potatoes . The high-altitude Polylepis forests and woodlands are found in the Andean areas of Colombia , Ecuador , Peru , Bolivia , and Chile . These trees, by locals referred to as Queñua, Yagual, and other names, can be found at altitudes of 4,500 m (14,760 ft) above sea level. It remains unclear if the patchy distribution of these forests and woodlands
3060-510: The Andes are split into several ranges, separated by intermediate depressions . The Andes are the location of several high plateaus —some of which host major cities such as Quito , Bogotá , Cali , Arequipa , Medellín , Bucaramanga , Sucre , Mérida , El Alto , and La Paz . The Altiplano Plateau is the world's second highest after the Tibetan Plateau . These ranges are in turn grouped into three major divisions based on climate:
3145-521: The Andes end at the Pacific Ocean , although the Peru-Chile trench can be considered their ultimate western limit. From a geographical approach, the Andes are considered to have their western boundaries marked by the appearance of coastal lowlands and less-rugged topography. The Andes also contain large quantities of iron ore located in many mountains within the range. The Andean orogen has
3230-462: The Andes such as the Incas have practiced irrigation techniques for over 6,000 years. Because of the mountain slopes, terracing has been a common practice. Terracing, however, was only extensively employed after Incan imperial expansions to fuel their expanding realm. The potato holds a very important role as an internally-consumed staple crop. Maize was also an important crop for these people, and
3315-526: The Andes varies greatly depending on latitude, altitude, and proximity to the sea. Temperature, atmospheric pressure, and humidity decrease in higher elevations. The southern section is rainy and cool, while the central section is dry. The northern Andes are typically rainy and warm, with an average temperature of 18 °C (64 °F) in Colombia . The climate is known to change drastically in rather short distances. Rainforests exist just kilometers away from
3400-542: The Andes, as well as the entire Andean range, and the combined mountain chain along the western part of the North and South American continents. The Andes can be divided into three sections: At the northern end of the Andes, the separate Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range is often, but not always, treated as part of the Northern Andes. The Leeward Antilles islands Aruba , Bonaire , and Curaçao , which lie in
3485-524: The Andes. The Sierras de Córdoba , where the effects of the ancient Pampean orogeny can be observed, owe their modern uplift and relief to the Andean orogeny in the Tertiary . Further south in southern Patagonia , the onset of the Andean orogeny caused the Magallanes Basin to evolve from being an extensional back-arc basin in the Mesozoic to being a compressional foreland basin in
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3570-585: The Brazilian government made a somewhat careful examination of the Brazilian part of the river, as far up as the rapid of Cupati. Several very easy and almost complete water routes exist between the Japurá and Negro across the low, flat intervening country. The Baron of Marajó wrote that there were six of them, and one which connects the upper Japurá with the Vaupés branch of the Negro; thus the indigenous tribes of
3655-438: The Incas were defeated in 1532 by an alliance composed of tens of thousands of allies from nations they had subjugated (e.g. Huancas , Chachapoyas , Cañaris ) and a small army of 180 Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro . One of the few Inca sites the Spanish never found in their conquest was Machu Picchu , which lay hidden on a peak on the eastern edge of the Andes where they descend to the Amazon. The main surviving languages of
3740-676: The Japurá River originate very close to the Solimões River (Auati Paraná River), and some tributaries of the Negro River arise near the Japurá (Uneiuxi, Cuiuni, and Unini rivers), with connections and bifurcations between them during flood seasons. Although the Caquetá/Japurá is a broad and voluminous river, the existence of numerous rapids throughout its course has significantly hindered navigation. Slave raids against
3825-712: The Matanzas rubber station, managed by the infamous Armando Normand . The Boras people were primarily dedicated to rubber extraction around the stations of Abisinia, Santa Catalina and La Sabana correspondingly managed by Abelardo Agüero , Arístides Rodríguez and his brother Aurelio . Several writers that were contemporary to the rubber boom, including Roger Casement, noted that the Boras and Andoques nations were more resistant to enslavement and attempts by rubber tappers to conquer them. Joseph R. Woodroffe believed that their resistance resulted in those two indigenous nations suffering
3910-478: The Patagonian Orocline. The western rim of the South American Plate has been the place of several pre-Andean orogenies since at least the late Proterozoic and early Paleozoic , when several terranes and microcontinents collided and amalgamated with the ancient cratons of eastern South America, by then the South American part of Gondwana . The formation of the modern Andes began with
3995-478: The Solimões (Amazon) River on its left bank. This is why the accumulated sediments on the banks have shaped a complex mouth that stretches for several hundred kilometers. Firstly, the Japurá receives a long bifurcation from the Solimões itself and then drains into it through a main mouth located opposite the city of Tefé. However, a secondary branch, the Paraná Copea, continues its winding course until it rejoins
4080-416: The Solimões River 300 km downstream. This multiple confluence (resembling a very elongated delta) complicates the measurement of the length of the Caquetá-Japurá, which varies, depending on the method used, from 2200 to 2800 km, especially because the boundaries between the basins of other tributaries and sub-tributaries of the Amazon system are unclear in this flat, flooded, and swampy area. Some tributaries of
4165-402: The area of the maximum width of the Altiplano Plateau , and according to Isacks (1988) the Orocline is related to crustal shortening . The specific point at 18° S where the coastline bends is known as the Arica Elbow. Further south lies the Maipo Orocline, a more subtle orocline between 30° S and 38°S with a seaward-concave break in the trend at 33° S. Near the southern tip of the Andes lies
4250-431: The current very strong and the stream frequently interrupted by rapids and cataracts. It was initially supposed to have eight mouths, but colonial administrator Francisco Xavier Ribeiro Sampaio, in the historic report of his voyage of 1774, determined that there was but one real mouth, and that the supposed others are all furos or canos , as the diverting secondary channels of the Amazonian rivers are known. In 1864–1868,
4335-399: The dry climate that reduced the disturbing actions of meteoric water . The dry climate in the central western Andes has also led to the creation of extensive saltpeter deposits which were extensively mined until the invention of synthetic nitrates . Yet another result of the dry climate are the salars of Atacama and Uyuni , the former being the largest source of lithium and the latter
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#17327656863614420-478: The dry season (winter) possible and allows the cultivation of frost-resistant vegetable crops like onion and carrot . The Andes rose to fame for their mineral wealth during the Spanish conquest of South America . Although Andean Amerindian peoples crafted ceremonial jewelry of gold and other metals, the mineralizations of the Andes were first mined on a large scale after the Spanish arrival. Potosí in present-day Bolivia and Cerro de Pasco in Peru were among
4505-544: The eastern slopes of the Andes and organic material. Water levels rise by up to 12 metres (39 ft) in the flood period, which may last for eight months of the year. The soil is fertile, composed of sediments that have accumulated in the present Holocene epoch and that are renewed by the annual floods. The river course through the floodplain constantly shifts over time, creating oxbow lakes , levees , meander swales and bars . These landscape elements support diverse vegetation adapted to flooding, which gradually merges into
4590-501: The establishment of the century-long Inca Empire . This all changed in the 16th century, when the Spanish conquistadors colonized the mountains in advance of the mining economy. In the tide of anti-imperialist nationalism, the Andes became the scene of a series of independence wars in the 19th century, when rebel forces swept through the region to overthrow Spanish colonial rule. Since then, many former Spanish territories have become five independent Andean states. The climate in
4675-519: The events of the Triassic , when Pangaea began the breakup that resulted in developing several rifts . The development continued through the Jurassic Period. It was during the Cretaceous Period that the Andes began to take their present form, by the uplifting , faulting , and folding of sedimentary and metamorphic rocks of the ancient cratons to the east. The rise of the Andes has not been constant, as different regions have had different degrees of tectonic stress, uplift, and erosion . Across
4760-423: The extreme in the slopes near the virtually-lifeless Atacama Desert. About 30,000 species of vascular plants live in the Andes, with roughly half being endemic to the region, surpassing the diversity of any other hotspot . The small tree Cinchona pubescens , a source of quinine which is used to treat malaria , is found widely in the Andes as far south as Bolivia. Other important crops that originated from
4845-645: The families Zingiberaceae , Marantaceae and Heliconiaceae . Economically valuable timber trees include Carapa guianensis , Iryanthera surinamensis , Ceiba pentandra and Calycophyllum spruceanum . On the upper levees the most common trees are Ceiba pentandra , Hura crepitans and Parinari excelsa . On the lower levees common trees include Pterocarpus santalinoides , Eschweilera albiflora , Piranhea trifoliata and Neoxythece elegans . The lowest areas contain abundant bamboo ( Bambusa species), and pioneer trees that include Cecropia species, Pseudobombax munguba , many Ficus species and
4930-401: The forelands of the Atacama Desert , some of the largest porphyry copper mineralizations occur, making Chile and Peru the first- and second-largest exporters of copper in the world. Porphyry copper in the western slopes of the Andes has been generated by hydrothermal fluids (mostly water) during the cooling of plutons or volcanic systems. The porphyry mineralization further benefited from
5015-555: The genus Nothoprocta ), Andean goose , giant coot , flamingos (mainly associated with hypersaline lakes), lesser rhea , Andean flicker , diademed sandpiper-plover , miners , sierra-finches and diuca-finches . Lake Titicaca hosts several endemics, among them the highly endangered Titicaca flightless grebe and Titicaca water frog . A few species of hummingbirds , notably some hillstars , can be seen at altitudes above 4,000 m (13,100 ft), but far higher diversities can be found at lower altitudes, especially in
5100-447: The glaciers were over ten times longer. On the east side of this section of the Mendozina Andes, they flowed down to 2,060 m (6,759 ft) and on the west side to about 1,220 m (4,003 ft) above sea level. The massifs of Aconcagua (6,961 m (22,838 ft)), Tupungato (6,550 m (21,490 ft)), and Nevado Juncal (6,110 m (20,046 ft)) are tens of kilometres away from each other and were connected by
5185-453: The humid Andean forests (" cloud forests ") growing on slopes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and far northwestern Argentina. These forest-types, which includes the Yungas and parts of the Chocó, are very rich in flora and fauna, although few large mammals exist, exceptions being the threatened mountain tapir , spectacled bear , and yellow-tailed woolly monkey . Birds of humid Andean forests include mountain toucans , quetzals , and
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#17327656863615270-467: The hyperarid Atacama Desert . Rainforests and tropical dry forests used to encircle much of the northern Andes but are now greatly diminished , especially in the Chocó and inter-Andean valleys of Colombia. Opposite the humid Andean slopes are the relatively dry Andean slopes in most of western Peru, Chile, and Argentina. Along with several Interandean Valles , they are typically dominated by deciduous woodland, shrub and xeric vegetation, reaching
5355-431: The indigenous people of the Caqueta/Japurá River valley had persisted for at least 100 years prior to Roger Casement 's investigation of the Putumayo genocide in 1910. While citing a book published by English lieutenant Henry Lister Maw, Casement noted that these slave raids had been continued by Brazilian and Portuguese men. The territory of the Peruvian Amazon Company extended between the Putumayo and Japurá Rivers during
5440-439: The larger glaciers descend to sea level. The Andes of Chile and Argentina can be divided into two climatic and glaciological zones: the Dry Andes and the Wet Andes . Since the Dry Andes extend from the latitudes of the Atacama Desert to the area of the Maule River , precipitation is more sporadic, and there are strong temperature oscillations. The line of equilibrium may shift drastically over short periods of time, leaving
5525-432: The main crossover of the Andes between Argentina and Chile is still accomplished through the Paso Internacional Los Libertadores . Only recently have the ends of some highways that came rather close to one another from the east and the west been connected. Much of the transportation of passengers is done via aircraft. However, there is one railroad that connects Chile with Peru via the Andes, and there are others that make
5610-821: The mainland, but areas of várzea in contact with terra firme forests house ground-dwelling mammals that migrate to higher ground in the flood periods. There are two endemic primates in the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve , the bald uakari ( Cacajao calvus ) and black squirrel monkey ( Saimiri vanzolinii ). The reserve is also home to white-footed saki ( Pithecia albicans ), emperor tamarin ( Saguinus imperator ), moustached tamarin ( Saguinus mystax ), Nancy Ma's night monkey ( Aotus nancymaae ) and Hershkovitz's titi ( Callicebus dubius ). Other mammals include white-lipped peccary ( Tayassu pecari ), common agouti (Dasyprocta genus), lowland paca ( Cuniculus paca ), jaguar ( Panthera onca ), capybara ( Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris ), spiny tree-rat (genus Echimys ) and
5695-567: The most under the Peruvian Amazon Company's management and the near extinction of those two groups by 1910. Hundreds of indigenous people died while subjected to the Peruvian Amazon Company agents at Matanzas, La Sabana and Santa Catalina. For much of its length the river flows 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
5780-445: The nearly-7,000-metre (22,966 ft) highest mountains of the Andes. This dry steppe climate is considered to be typical of the subtropical position at 32–34° S. The valley bottoms have no woods, just dwarf scrub. The largest glaciers, for example the Plomo Glacier and the Horcones Glaciers, do not even reach 10 km (6.2 mi) in length and have only insignificant ice thickness. At glacial times, however, c. 20,000 years ago,
5865-444: The principal mines of the Spanish Empire in the New World. Río de la Plata and Argentina derive their names from the silver of Potosí. Purus v%C3%A1rzea The Purus várzea (NT0156) is an ecoregion of seasonally flooded várzea forest in the central Amazon basin . It is part of the Amazon biome . The ecoregion is home to a vegetation adapted to floods of up to 12 metres (39 ft) that may last for eight months. There
5950-402: The rainy season (summer), part of the rangeland is used for cropping (mainly potatoes, barley, broad beans, and wheat). Irrigation is helpful in advancing the sowing data of the summer crops, which guarantees an early yield in periods of food shortage. Also, by early sowing, maize can be cultivated higher up in the mountains (up to 3,800 m (12,500 ft)). In addition, it makes cropping in
6035-627: The respective valleys have easy contact with each other. The river serves as a principal means of transportation, being plied by tiny dugout canoes , larger ones, motorboats , and riverboats known locally as lanchas . The boats carry a multitude of cargoes, sometimes being chartered, sometimes even being traveling general stores. In the Colombian section, the presence of guerrillas and soldiers used to limit river traffic. Andes The Andes ( / ˈ æ n d iː z / AN -deez ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range ( Spanish : Cordillera de los Andes ; Quechua : Anti ) are
6120-654: The rubber boom. Many of the indigenous nations between these rivers were enslaved by the Peruvian Amazon Company, which was originally founded by the Peruvian rubber baron Julio César Arana . Near the Caqueta River, the Andoque, Boras, Muinane, Manuya, Recigaro and other nations were forced to extract rubber at the Peruvian Amazon Company's stations. The Andoque workforce was largely based around
6205-460: The same connection via southern Bolivia. There are multiple highways in Bolivia that cross the Andes. Some of these were built during a period of war between Bolivia and Paraguay , in order to transport Bolivian troops and their supplies to the war front in the lowlands of southeastern Bolivia and western Paraguay. For decades, Chile claimed ownership of land on the eastern side of the Andes. However, these claims were given up in about 1870 during
6290-721: The snow-covered peak of Cotopaxi . The mountains have a large effect on the temperatures of nearby areas. The snow line depends on the location. It is between 4,500 and 4,800 m (14,764 and 15,748 ft) in the tropical Ecuadorian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and northern Peruvian Andes, rising to 4,800–5,200 m (15,748–17,060 ft) in the drier mountains of southern Peru and northern Chile south to about 30°S before descending to 4,500 m (14,760 ft) on Aconcagua at 32°S , 2,000 m (6,600 ft) at 40°S , 500 m (1,640 ft) at 50°S , and only 300 m (980 ft) in Tierra del Fuego at 55°S ; from 50°S, several of
6375-526: The subducting plate, rate of subduction, and hydration value of the mantle material. The highest rate of seismic activity is observed in the central portion of the boundary, between 33°S and 35°S. In this area, the angle of subduction is very low, meaning the subducting plate is nearly horizontal. Studies of mantle hydration across the subduction zone have shown a correlation between increased material hydration and lower-magnitude, more-frequent seismic activity. Zones exhibiting dehydration instead are thought to have
6460-637: The subduction of the Nazca Plate and the Antarctic Plate . To the east, the Andes range is bounded by several sedimentary basins , such as the Orinoco Basin , the Amazon Basin , the Madre de Dios Basin, and the Gran Chaco , that separate the Andes from the ancient cratons in eastern South America. In the south, the Andes share a long boundary with the former Patagonia Terrane . To the west,
6545-498: The surrounding terra firme forest. The ecoregion is in the Neotropical realm and the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome. The Köppen climate classification is "Af": equatorial, fully humid. Average temperatures range from 21 to 32 °C (70 to 90 °F), with a mean temperature of 26.5 °C (79.7 °F). Average annual precipitation is about 2,550 millimetres (100 in). Rain falls throughout
6630-452: The tortuous terrain in places, villages and towns in the mountains—to which travel via motorized vehicles is of little use—are still located in the high Andes of Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador . Locally, the relatives of the camel , the llama , and the alpaca continue to carry out important uses as pack animals, but this use has generally diminished in modern times. Donkeys , mules , and horses are also useful. The ancient peoples of
6715-518: The town of La Pedrera. It then enters Brazilian territory, in the Amazon, where it is known as the Japurá River. In its lower course, it is joined by the Auati Paraná and Mirim Pirajuana rivers (the latter is sometimes considered a secondary branch, or a dead or backwater of the river). The Caquetá-Japurá is a "white water" river, which, like all rivers descending from the Andes, carries a significant alluvial load that it partly deposits when joining
6800-477: The uplift of the Andes created a rain shadow on the western fringes of Chile, ocean currents and prevailing winds carried moisture away from the Chilean coast. This caused some areas of the subduction zone to be sediment-starved, causing excess friction and an increased rate of compressed coastal uplift. The main cause of the rise of the Andes is the compression of the western rim of the South American Plate due to
6885-462: The várzea is Ceiba pentandra . Other typical várzea trees are Parkia inundabilis , Septotheca tessmannii , Coumarouna micrantha , Ceiba burchellii , Ochroma lagopus and Manilkara inundata . Flooded forests hold Virola surinamensis and Euterpe oleracea . 199 species of mammals are found in the region, fewer than in the surrounding terra firme forests. There are no ground-dwelling species in flooded várzea forests isolated from
6970-642: The world for amphibians . The diversity of animals in the Andes is high, with almost 600 species of mammals (13% endemic), more than 1,700 species of birds (about 1/3 endemic), more than 600 species of reptiles (about 45% endemic), and almost 400 species of fish (about 1/3 endemic). The vicuña and guanaco can be found living in the Altiplano , while the closely related domesticated llama and alpaca are widely kept by locals as pack animals and for their meat and wool . The crepuscular (active during dawn and dusk) chinchillas , two threatened members of
7055-470: The world's largest reserve of the element. Early Mesozoic and Neogene plutonism in Bolivia's Cordillera Central created the Bolivian tin belt as well as the famous, now-mostly-depleted, deposits of Cerro Rico de Potosí . The Andes Mountains, initially inhabited by hunter-gatherers , experienced the development of agriculture and the rise of politically centralized civilizations , which culminated in
7140-520: The year, but is heaviest in January–March and lightest in July–August. The floodplain holds aquatic vegetation where drainage is poor, successional vegetation, forest mosaics and permanent swamp vegetation. The várzea forests holds more species than várzea on the lower Amazon, but fewer species than in the surrounding terra firme forests. The forest is continuous. The rich understory includes plants of
7225-408: Was used for the production of chicha , important to Andean native people. Currently, tobacco , cotton , and coffee are the main export crops. Coca , despite eradication programs in some countries, remains an important crop for legal local use in a mildly stimulating herbal tea , and illegally for the production of cocaine . In unirrigated land, pasture is the most common type of land use. In
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