Source of the Amazon: A Trickle in the Peruvian Andes

The Amazon River's most distant source lies in southern Peru's Andes, near the Bolivian border. Two sites contend for the title:

• Quebrada Apacheta on Nevado Mismi (5,597 m / 18,363 ft)
• Río Mantaro headwaters on Nevado Siula Grande

Both feed the Apurímac River, which joins the Ucayali, then the Marañón—forming the Amazon proper. The debate reflects the challenge of defining a river's "true source" in a braided, glacier-fed alpine network. Regardless, the Amazon's journey begins as a cold, clear mountain stream 6,400+ km from its Atlantic mouth.