The XO Directory

If you are wondering where the world's largest river, the Amazon River, originates, it's right here at the Nevado Mismi. It is located about 700 km southeast of Lima, Peru and is one of the highest points of Colca Canyon. It's amazing that despite it's historic significance, this site is just marked with a wooden cross.

Nevado Mismi is a 5,597 m (18,363 ft) mountain peak of volcanic origin located in the Andes mountain range of Peru. A glacial stream on the Mismi was firmly identified as the most distant source of the Amazon River in 1996, 2001 and 2007. The waters from Nevado Mismi flow into the Quebradas Carhuasanta and Apacheta, which flow into the Río Apurímac which is a tributary of the Ucayali which later joins the Marañón to form the Amazon proper.

In 1982 Jean-Michel Cousteau led a large scale scientific exploration of the Amazon from its mouth to its origin. The “Cousteau Amazon Expedition”[4] cost eleven million dollars and culminated in a six-hour television documentary titled “Cousteau’s Amazon” released in 1983. It offered study information to last years and gave insights into the biology and geology of the largest river system on earth. This expedition was broken into three separate groups and the upper Amazon section was covered by “The Flying Expedition” tasked with exploring the upper third to Aracipa from the river's origin.

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