The
Marañón River rises about 160 km to the northeast of
LimaLima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
, flows through a deeply-eroded
AndeanThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
valley in a northwesterly direction, along the eastern base of the
CordilleraA cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, that runs along a coastline . It comes from the Spanish word cordilla, which is a diminutive of cuerda, or "cord".-Notable cordilleras:...
of the Andes, as far as 5 degrees 36' southern latitude; then it makes a great bend to the northeast, and cuts through the inland Andes, until at the
Pongo de MansericheThe Pongo de Manseriche is a gorge in northwest Peru. The Marañón River runs through this gorge before it reaches the Amazon Basin.The Pongo de Manseriche is 3 miles long, located at 4° 27' 30" south latitude and 77° 34' 51" west longitude, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it...
it flows through the plains. After its confluence with Río Ucayali, the Marañón is given the name of the
Amazon RiverThe Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. During...
.
Barred by reefs, and full of rapids and impetuous currents, the Marañón has never become a commercial avenue.
The
Marañón River rises about 160 km to the northeast of
LimaLima is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, on a coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It forms a contiguous urban area with the seaport of Callao...
,
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
, flows through a deeply-eroded
AndeanThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
valley in a northwesterly direction, along the eastern base of the
CordilleraA cordillera is an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, that runs along a coastline . It comes from the Spanish word cordilla, which is a diminutive of cuerda, or "cord".-Notable cordilleras:...
of the Andes, as far as 5 degrees 36' southern latitude; then it makes a great bend to the northeast, and cuts through the inland Andes, until at the
Pongo de MansericheThe Pongo de Manseriche is a gorge in northwest Peru. The Marañón River runs through this gorge before it reaches the Amazon Basin.The Pongo de Manseriche is 3 miles long, located at 4° 27' 30" south latitude and 77° 34' 51" west longitude, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it...
it flows through the plains. After its confluence with Río Ucayali, the Marañón is given the name of the
Amazon RiverThe Amazon River of South America is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow greater than the next eight largest rivers combined. The Amazon, which has the largest drainage basin in the world, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world's total river flow. During...
.
Barred by reefs, and full of rapids and impetuous currents, the Marañón has never become a commercial avenue. At the point where it makes its great bend the river meets the
ChinchipeThe Chinchipe River is a river located in the locality of San Ignacio, in Cajamarca, Peru....
, which originates in southern
EcuadorEcuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador , literally, "Republic of the equator") is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America that...
. Just downriver from this, the mountains close in on either side of the Marañón, forming narrow gorges or
ping-pongs for a length of 56 km (35 miles), where, besides numerous whirlpools, there are no less than 35 rapids, the series concluding with three cataracts just before reaching the river Imasa or Chunchunga, near the mouth of which
Charles Marie de La CondamineCharles Marie de La Condamine was a French explorer, geographer, and mathematician.La Condamine was born in Paris. He was trained for the military profession, but turned his attention to science and geographical exploration...
embarked in the 18th century to descend the Amazon. In this region the general level of the country begins to decrease in elevation, with only a few mountain spurs, which from time to time push as far as the river and form small-scale
ping-pongs. The
AguarunaFor the Aguaruna people's language, see Aguaruna language.The Aguaruna are an indigenous people of the Peruvian jungle. Historically, they lived primarily on the banks of the Marañón River, a tributary of the Amazon in northern Peru near the border with Ecuador...
people live on the river in this area.
The final
ping-pong on the Marañón, the
Pongo de MansericheThe Pongo de Manseriche is a gorge in northwest Peru. The Marañón River runs through this gorge before it reaches the Amazon Basin.The Pongo de Manseriche is 3 miles long, located at 4° 27' 30" south latitude and 77° 34' 51" west longitude, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it...
, is 5 km (3 miles) long, just below the mouth of the Rio Santiago, and between it and the old abandoned missionary station of Borja. According to Captain Carbajal, who descended the Pongo de Manseriche in the little steamer "Napo," in 1868, it is a vast rent in the Andes about 600 m (2000 ft) deep, narrowing in places to a width of only 30 m (100 ft), the precipices "seeming to close in at the top." Through this canyon the Marañón leaps along, at times, at the rate of 20 km/h (12 miles an hour).
After passing the Pongo de Huaracayo (or Guaracayo), the
cerros, or hills, gradually disappear, and for a distance of about 30 km (20 miles) the river is full of islands, and there is nothing visible from its low banks but an immense
forestA forest is an area with a high density of trees. There are many definitions of a forest, based on the various criteria. These plant communities presently cover approximately 9.4% of the Earth's surface in many different regions and function as habitats for organisms, hydrologic flow modulators,...
-covered plain known as the
selva baja ("low jungle") or
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
vian Amazonia, home to
indigenous peoplesThe term indigenous peoples can be used to describe any ethnic group of people who inhabit a geographic region with which they have the earliest known historical connection, alongside more recent immigrants who have populated the region and may be greater in number...
such as the
UrarinaThe Urarina are an indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon Basin who inhabit the Chambira, Urituyacu, and Corrientes Rivers. According to both archaeological and historical sources, they have resided in the Chambira Basin of contemporary northeastern Peru for centuries. The Urarina refer to...
of the Chambira Basin
http://www.upf.com/book.asp?id=DEANXS07, the Candoshi, and the
Cocama-CocamillaCocama is an indigenous language spoken by thousands of native people in western South America. It is spoken along the banks of the Northeastern lower Ucayali, lower Marañón, and Huallaga rivers and in neighboring areas of Brazil and an isolated area in Colombia. There are three dialects...
peoples. The Marañón river serves also as a frame for one of the most important novels of the Peruvian writer
Ciro AlegríaCiro Alegría Bazán was a Peruvian journalist, politician, and novelist.-Biography:Born in Huamachuco District, he discovered a great deal about the native Peruvians, learning about their way of life. This understanding of how they were oppressed was the focus for his novels...
:
La serpiente de oro (1935).
http://enfenix.webcindario.com/literat/sigloxx/serpioro.phtml,
http://enciclopedia.us.es/index.php/La_serpiente_de_oro_(1935)
See also
Maina IndiansThe Maina Indians are an ethnic group or a group of tribes who lived or live along the north bank of the Marañón River in South America. They spoke varieties of the Omurano language and residing along the North bank of the Marañón....