RAS question
The Amazon River, the largest river by discharge, flows through:
Correct answer: (A) South America — mainly Brazil, also Peru, Colombia.
The Amazon River flows through South America, with its system originating in the Peruvian Andes and roughly two-thirds of its main stream lying within Brazil.
Explanation
The Amazon is a South American river system, so option A matches both its location and its course. Encyclopaedia Britannica places it in the northern part of South America, flowing west to east, originating in the Andes Mountains of Peru and emptying into the Atlantic Ocean; it also notes that roughly two-thirds of the main stream is within Brazil and that the system travels through Colombia and Brazil. This fits the MCQ framing of South America, mainly Brazil, also Peru and Colombia. The river is about 6,400 km long, is second only to the Nile in length, has the world’s largest discharge and basin area, and drains the world’s largest tropical rainforest.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) Africa is the continent of the Nile and Congo, whereas the Amazon is located in South America and drains eastward to the Atlantic from the Peruvian Andes.
- (C) North America is associated here with the Mississippi, while the Amazon course is in northern South America, with much of the main stream in Brazil.
- (D) Asia is associated here with the Yangtze, but the Amazon system begins in Peru and runs across South America rather than through Asia.
Concept
This tests the world geography mapping of major river systems by continent, source region and outlet. RAS repeats such questions because rivers link physical geography with forests, drainage basins and comparative facts such as length and discharge.