Did you ever wonder which rivers are the longest in the world?

By David McClelland

You probably know that the Mississippi River is the longest in the United States at 3,902 miles in length and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. Did you know that the Mississippi is the fourth longest river on earth? Let’s discuss the seven longest rivers in the world because they are the only ones that are more that 3,000 miles in length. Can you name them in order? I couldn’t before I researched the subject.

The longest is the Amazon River in South America at 4,300 miles. It runs through Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Second, the Nile River in Africa is 4,132 miles in length. It runs north through Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Egypt and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nile empties in the Mediterranean Sea.

Third, comes the Yangtze River in China. The Yangtze is 3,917 miles long and empties into the East China Sea.

After the Mississippi and the fifth longest, is the Russian Yenisei–Angara-Selenga River which is 3,445 miles in length, is in Mongolia, and empties into the Kara Sea.

The sixth longest river in the world is the Yellow River (Huang Ha) in China that empties into the Bohai Sea. It is 3,398 miles long.

The seventh is the Ob-Irtysh River. It is 3,364 miles long and runs through Russia, Kazakhstan, P.R. China and Mongolia.

There are another 13 rivers of between 2,300 and 2,922 miles in length. That is the story on the longest rivers in the world.