Casiquiare
Casiquiare is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 2.53°, -66.46°
About Casiquiare
The Casiquiare river or canal (Spanish pronunciation: [kasiˈkjaɾe]) is a natural distributary of the upper Orinoco flowing southward into the Rio Negro in Venezuela. As such, it forms a unique natural canal between the Orinoco and Amazon river systems. It is the world's largest river of the kind that links two major river systems, a so-called bifurcation. The area forms a water divide, more dramatically at regional flood stage.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Casiquiare canal (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Casiquiare in Depth
Geography
The origin of the Casiquiare at the River Orinoco is 14 kilometres (9 mi) below the mission of La Esmeralda at 3°8′18.5″N 65°52′42.5″W, and about 123 metres (404 ft) above sea level. Its mouth at the Rio Negro, an affluent of the Amazon River, is near the town of San Carlos and is 91 metres (299 ft) above sea level.
The general course is southwest, and its length is about 320 kilometres (200 mi). Its width at its bifurcation with the Orinoco is approximately 90 metres (300 ft), with a current towards the Rio Negro of 0.3 metres per second (0.75 mph). However, as it gains in volume from its numerous tributary streams its velocity increases, and in the wet season the stream reaches 2.2 metres per second (5 mph), even 3.6 metres per second (8 mph) in certain stretches.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Casiquiare canal (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Casiquiare: Key Facts
| Length | 326 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 2,387 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 42,300 km² |
| Source | Orinoco River |
| Mouth | Rio Negro |
| Drainage system | Amazon basin |
| Tributaries | Orinoco River |
Facts from Wikidata Q331455 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Casiquiare: Quick Answers
- Where is Casiquiare?
- Casiquiare is located in Venezuela, at 2.5298° N, 66.4639° W.
- Are there dams on the Casiquiare?
- No dam on the Casiquiare is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.