On the southeast coast of South America , betwixt Uruguay as well as Argentine Republic , in that location is a tapering intrusion of the Atlantic Ocean. The funnel-shaped intrusion extends most 290 kilometer inland as well as terminates at the signal where the Uruguay as well as the Paraná rivers meet. This is Río de la Plata , or the “River of Silver” inwards Spanish.
Depending on who you lot inquire , Río de la Plata is an estuary , a river , a gulf or a marginal sea.
Geographers debate that Río de la Plata is non just a river but an estuary where the Uruguay as well as the Paraná rivers pour into. But inwards Argentine Republic as well as Uruguay , it is normally considered a river; it has a outset at the confluence of ii smaller rivers , it’s elongated inwards variety , as well as it flows out into the Atlantic. To those who see it a river , it is the widest river inwards the footing , alongside a maximum width of most 220 kilometers. For others , it’s the widest estuary inwards the world.
Photo credit: NASA
The Río de la Plata was firstly sighted past times the Castilian inwards 1516 , past times a navigator named Juan Díaz de Solís , who made the regain during his search for a passage betwixt the Atlantic as well as the Pacific Oceans. De Solis called it the Mar Dulce , or "freshwater sea" , because of its vast size.
The river’s modern cite was given past times explorer Sebastian Cabot who made a detailed written report of the river as well as its tributaries inwards the 1520s. The cite comes from the fabled Sierra del Plata , or the “Silver Mountain” , that was idea to prevarication upstream. The legend has its roots inwards the early on 16th century when castaways from the Juan Díaz de Solís expedition heard indigenous stories of a mount of Ag inwards an inland share ruled past times the so-called White King. The firstly European to Pb an expedition inwards search of it was the castaway Aleixo Garcia , who crossed nearly the entire continent to achieve the Andean altiplano. On his way dorsum to the coast , Garcia died when natives ambushed him inwards Paraguay , but survivors brought dorsum plenty precious metals to corroborate their storey as well as inspire others to embark on like expedition , all of which ended inwards failures.
The Río de la Plata , equally good equally the reason of Argentine Republic , both possess got their names from the myth; the cite “Argentina” comes from the Latin argentum , which agency "silver".
Today , the shores of the Río de la Plata are i of the most densely populated areas of both Argentine Republic as well as Uruguay. Buenos Aires , Argentina’s large , cosmopolitan working capital alphabetic lineament urban heart as well as person as well as the middle of i of the world’s largest urban agglomerations , is located on its shores. Uruguay’s working capital alphabetic lineament as well as its largest urban heart as well as person , Montevideo , is besides located on the shores of Río de la Plata.
Photo credit: NASA
Source: Britannica / Wikipedia / New World Encyclopedia