<span>The Mississippi River is the largest and most important river in North America. This great river, often referred to as the “Mighty Mississippi,” originates as a small brook flowing out of Lake Itasca in Minnesota and, 2,340 miles later, empties into the Gulf of Mexico. It is truly one of the nation’s most important assets. Covering forty-one percent of the forty-eight contiguous United States, its watershed stretches across the heart of the nation. This vast river system, which includes several large tributaries, drains 1,260,000 square miles, making it the largest drainage basin in terms of area in North America and the third largest in the world</span>
At approximately 6,400 km (4,000 miles) the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world, just slightly shorter than the Nile although reputable sources disagree as to the exact length of the two rivers. What is certain is that the Amazon is the largest river in the world by volume, with a total river flow that accounts for approximately one-fifth of the world’s total. The Amazon and its tributaries flow through Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.
Beyond abolishing slavery in the United States, the Civil War was a pivotal event in American history because it reshaped the political landscape and forced the South to develop an entirely new economy.<span />
