Major Rivers of the World

Every place on this map

1. NileNortheast AfricaThe world's longest river (about 6,650 km), formed at Khartoum where the White Nile from Lake Victoria meets the Blue Nile from Ethiopia.
2. CongoCentral AfricaThe world's second-largest river by discharge, crossing the Equator twice.
3. NigerWest AfricaWest Africa's great river with a boomerang course: it rises near the Atlantic but flows inland first.
4. ZambeziSouthern AfricaThe river of Victoria Falls, flowing to the Indian Ocean through Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
5. LimpopoSouthern AfricaThe southern African river that crosses the Tropic of Capricorn twice.
6. OrangeSouthern AfricaSouthern Africa's longest river, forming the South Africa-Namibia border in its lower course.
7. OkavangoSouthern AfricaThe river that never reaches the sea: it dies in the Okavango Delta of the Kalahari.
8. VolgaRussiaEurope's longest river, flowing to the Caspian Sea through Russia.
9. DanubeEuropeThe river crossing more countries than any other: ten, from Germany's Black Forest to the Black Sea.
10. RhineEuropeEurope's busiest waterway, from the Alps to the North Sea at Rotterdam.
11. ThamesUnited KingdomLondon's river, flowing to the North Sea, not the Irish Sea.
12. SeineFranceThe river of Paris, flowing to the English Channel.
13. DnieperEastern EuropeUkraine's great river: Kyiv stands on it, flowing to the Black Sea.
14. YangtzeChinaAsia's longest river (about 6,300 km) and China's lifeline to the East China Sea.
15. Huang HeChinaThe Yellow River, China's Sorrow: it carries loess silt, floods and shifts course.
16. MekongSoutheast AsiaSoutheast Asia's great river from Tibet to the South China Sea through six countries.
17. IrrawaddyMyanmarMyanmar's lifeline river, flowing to the Andaman Sea.
18. SalweenSoutheast AsiaOne of the world's longest free-flowing rivers, from Tibet to the Andaman Sea.
19. TigrisWest AsiaThe eastern river of Mesopotamia: Baghdad and Mosul stand on it.
20. EuphratesWest AsiaThe longest river of West Asia, flowing through Turkey, Syria and Iraq.
21. Jordan RiverWest AsiaThe short holy river flowing from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea.
22. Amu DaryaCentral AsiaThe great Central Asian river that once fed the Aral Sea.
23. Syr DaryaCentral AsiaThe Aral Sea's other feeder, flowing through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
24. ObRussiaThe great Siberian river flowing north to the Arctic Ocean.
25. YeniseyRussiaThe biggest river system flowing into the Arctic Ocean.
26. LenaRussiaThe Siberian river flowing through permafrost to the Laptev Sea.
27. AmurRussia and ChinaThe river forming a long stretch of the Russia-China border.
28. Mississippi-MissouriUSANorth America's longest river system, with the classic bird's-foot delta.
29. St. LawrenceCanada and USAThe river draining the Great Lakes to the Atlantic.
30. ColoradoUSA and MexicoThe river that carved the Grand Canyon in the USA.
31. Rio GrandeUSA and MexicoThe river forming the Texas-Mexico border.
32. MackenzieCanadaCanada's longest river, flowing to the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic.
33. YukonCanada and USAThe Alaska-Yukon river of the Klondike gold rush, flowing to the Bering Sea.
34. AmazonSouth AmericaThe world's largest river by discharge and basin, carrying about a fifth of all river water reaching the oceans.
35. OrinocoSouth AmericaVenezuela's great river, flowing through the Llanos grasslands to the Atlantic.
36. ParanaSouth AmericaThe South American river carrying the Itaipu Dam, a Brazil-Paraguay joint project.
37. Murray-DarlingAustraliaAustralia's biggest river system, the food bowl of the Murray-Darling basin.