Xingu River

Rio Xingu

Rio Xingu

The Rio Xingu [ ˌ χiu ʃĩɡu ] is one of the major right tributaries of the Amazon lowlands of Brazil.

River

The Xingu River is located in the northern part of the plateau of Mato Grosso by the confluence of the rivers Ronuro and Culuene, the lower reaches of the latter is often regarded as the Xingu. The headwaters of the Xingu is characterized by impenetrable wilderness, vast wetlands and numerous lakes.

From here, the Xingu crosses over about 1980 km in several large arches in the north, the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Pará, before he finally joins up with Porto de Moz in the lower Amazon.

The Xingu is characterized by rapids and waterfalls, which are formed by the spreading of Paleozoic strata in the south of the Amazon basin.

History

The Xingu River was known by the stones in the years 1884 and 1887 to research by the doctor, anthropologist and explorer Karl, but over the course of the river and its inhabitants, little information was available.

After the conquest of the continent by Europeans, it was the first 1541/42, the Spaniard Francisco de Orellana, of the lower Amazon sailed, explored and opened up. Until 1666 only the course was on a card in Jansson'schen Atlas, created by about 1630, up to listed " waterfalls " listed. In 1843, Prince Adalbert of Prussia undertook a journey upriver on the Rio Xingu, up to a branch called Piranhacoara. He wrote the first reliable, useful information for a map to this river. The remaining course of the Rio Xingu was to research by Charles of the stones terra incognita.

Etymology

1637 was called the Rio Xingu by Christoval de Acuna, a companion of Pedro Teixeira, who made the journey of Francisco de Orellana, in the reverse direction from the mouth to Quito, Paranahyba ( " clear river "). In a description of Mauricio de Arte Heri ( 1662-67 ), the river is called Paranaiba. In the maps of Father Samuel Fritz, which represents the knowledge of the Strohm Maragon in 1700, the Rio Xingu is located with the name Aoripana. There is also a village Xingu, which was the naming of the river, Pate later on the map. Other spellings were Paranyba and Paranatinga.

Charles of the stones preferred the phonetic spelling, which he ( in the state of Maranhao from 1661 to about 1694 ) vorfand in the written of Bettendorf Chronicle of the Jesuits.

The Xingu is / was written by the American Zingu, Chingu French, English and Portuguese Shingu Xingu.

Dam projects

In the late 1980s, there had been plans under the then government of Brazil, the Xingu River dam up and use to generate electricity. The protest of the threatened eviction of indigenous peoples in Altamira in February 1989 led to international protests and leave eventually fail the dam project.

The Brazilian government under President Lula da Silva reactivated in its second term, the project to build on the Rio Xingu the huge hydroelectric Belo Monte, in a modified form. More than 400 square kilometers of rain forest and riparian areas with the people living there are threatened by this world's third largest dam to generate electricity. In May 2008, about 1000 indigenous groups affected and river residents in Altamira have protested against the Belo Monte project. In October 2011, a judge stopped the project. The consortium of investors lodged an objection against the judgment and obtained that it was repealed in December 2011.

Other planned Xingu dams are:

• Altamira ( Babaquara )
• Iriri
• Ipixuna
• Kakraimoro
• Jarina