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Carchi River

The 883rd longest river in the world

km

The Carchi River is a river of Ecuador. It rises on the slopes of Chiles Volcano, elevation 4,698 metres (15, 413 ft), on the border of Ecuador and Colombia. The river flows eastward across the high plateau of El Angel. The Carchi has a total course of about 45 kilometres (28 mi), forming the border between Colombia and Ecuador for about 20 kilometres (12 mi). It passes between the cities of Tulcan, Ecuador and Ipiales, Colombia and beneath the Rumichaca Bridge, the principal terrestrial link between Colombia and Ecuador. Entering Colombia, the Carchi becomes known as the Guáitara River which is a tributary of the Patía River. The Pasto people lived along the Carchi River in pre-Columbian times. At the northernmost point of the Inca Empire the Pasto were never fully conquered by the Incas. The Carchi was known as the Angasmayo River by the Incas and the early Spanish colonists. A natural stone bridge at Rumichaca was the northernmost outpost of the Inca Empire.

Flows through: Ecuador.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.

Other major rivers

  1. Amazon6,992 km
  2. Nile6,650 km
  3. Yangtze River6,300 km
  4. Bian River5,806 km
  5. Yellow River5,464 km
  6. Paraná River4,880 km
  7. River Congo4,700 km
  8. Mekong River4,350 km