Great Rivers of the World “P...-”
for social studies and science educators and home schoolers.

Paraná - Rio de la Plata

The Paraná River runs through South America (Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina) for over 3,000 miles. The Paraná merges with the Paraguay and Uruguay Rivers to form the Rio de la Plata that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Its watershed area includes São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Asunción and Brasília.

FYI ~ The Iguazu Falls are also part of the Parana system.
~ Sebastian Cabot explored the Rio de la Plata in 1525.

The Pearl River is an extensive river system in southeastern China that share a common delta, the Pearl River Delta. The mouth of the Pearl River forms the Zhujiang Kou bay in the delta separating Macau and Zhuhai from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

The Pearl River gained its name for the pearl coloured shells that lie at the bottom of the river where it flows through the city of Guangzhou (Canton). Today the Pearl River is considered one of the world's most polluted waterway.

The Platte is an important river that drains a large portion of the central Great Plains in Nebraska and the eastern Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming.

The Platte is in the middle of the Central Flyway which is a primary North-South Corridor for migratory birds. It also provided a route for several major westward trails such as the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail.

FYI - the name Platte comes from the French word for “flat”.

The Po River, Il grande fiume or ‘great river’, is the longest river in Italy, fed by 141 tributaries draining a catchment basin of 27,000 square miles that includes the cities of Turin and Milan.

The Po flows east to west creating the Val Padana, a plain that stretches across northern Italy from the French border and Alps on the west to the Adriatic Sea on the east, just south of Venice.

Potomac River rises in West Virginia and flows into the Chesapeake Bay, forming the border between Maryland and Virginia.

The shores of the Potomac are rich in American history, places and events, with the U.S. national capital, Washington, DC, straddling the river.

• Tidewater Poster Map