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Amazon River

The Amazon River (, ; Río Amazonas, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the longest or second-longest river system in the world, a title which is disputed with the Nile.

The headwaters of the Apurímac River on Nevado Mismi had been considered for nearly a century the Amazon basin's most distant source until a 2014 study found it to be the headwaters of the Mantaro River on the Cordillera Rumi Cruz in Peru. The Mantaro and Apurímac rivers join, and with other tributaries form the Ucayali River, which in turn meets the Marañón River upstream of Iquitos, Peru, forming what countries other than Brazil consider to be the main stem of the Amazon. Brazilians call this section the Solimões River above its confluence with the Rio Negro forming what Brazilians call the Amazon at the Meeting of Waters (Encontro das Águas) at Manaus, the largest city on the river.

The Amazon River has an average discharge of about 215000 –—approximately 6591 – per year, greater than the next seven largest independent rivers combined. Two of the top ten rivers by discharge are tributaries of the Amazon river. The Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge into oceans. The Amazon basin is the largest drainage basin in the world, with an area of approximately 7000000 km2. The portion of the river's drainage basin in Brazil alone is larger than any other river's basin. The Amazon enters Brazil with only one-fifth of the flow it finally discharges into the Atlantic Ocean, yet already has a greater flow at this point than the discharge of any other river in the world.

Etymology
The Amazon was initially known by Europeans as the Marañón, and the Peruvian part of the river is still known by that name, as well as the Brazilian state of Maranhão, which contains part of the Amazon. It later became known as Rio Amazonas in Spanish and Portuguese.

The name Rio Amazonas was reportedly given after native warriors attacked a 16th-century expedition by Francisco de Orellana. The warriors were led by women, reminding de Orellana of the Amazon warriors, a tribe of women warriors related to Iranian Scythians and Sarmatians mentioned in Greek mythology. The word Amazon itself may be derived from the Iranian compound * ha-maz-an- "(one) fighting together" or ethnonym * ha-mazan- "warriors", a word attested indirectly through a derivation, a denominal verb in Hesychius of Alexandria's gloss "ἁμαζακάραν· πολεμεῖν. Πέρσαι" (": 'to make war' in Persian"), where it appears together with the Indo-Iranian root * kar- "make" (from which Sanskrit karma is also derived).

Other scholars claim that the name is derived from the Tupi word amassona, meaning "boat destroyer".

Geological history
Recent geological studies suggest that for millions of years the Amazon River used to flow in the opposite direction - from east to west. Eventually the Andes Mountains formed, blocking its flow to the Pacific Ocean, and causing it to switch directions to its current mouth in the Atlantic Ocean.

Pre-Columbian era

During what many archaeologists called the formative stage, Amazonian societies were deeply involved in the emergence of South America's highland agrarian systems. The trade with Andean civilizations in the terrains of the headwaters in the Andes formed an essential contribution to the social and religious development of higher-altitude civilizations like the Muisca and Incas. Early human settlements were typically based on low-lying hills or mounds.

Shell mounds were the earliest evidence of habitation; they represent piles of human refuse (waste) and are mainly dated between 7500 BC and 4000 BC. They are associated with ceramic age cultures; no preceramic shell mounds have been documented so far by archaeologists. Artificial earth platforms for entire villages are the second type of mounds. They are best represented by the Marajoara culture. Figurative mounds are the most recent types of occupation.

There is ample evidence that the areas surrounding the Amazon River were home to complex and large-scale indigenous societies, mainly chiefdoms who developed towns and cities. Archaeologists estimate that by the time the Spanish conquistador De Orellana traveled across the Amazon in 1541, more than 3 million indigenous people lived around the Amazon. These pre-Columbian settlements created highly developed civilizations. For instance, pre-Columbian indigenous people on the island of Marajó may have developed social stratification and supported a population of 100,000 people. To achieve this level of development, the indigenous inhabitants of the Amazon rainforest altered the forest's ecology by selective cultivation and the use of fire. Scientists argue that by burning areas of the forest repeatedly, the indigenous people caused the soil to become richer in nutrients. This created dark soil areas known as terra preta de índio ("Indian dark earth"). Because of the terra preta, indigenous communities were able to make land fertile and thus sustainable for the large-scale agriculture needed to support their large populations and complex social structures. Further research has hypothesized that this practice began around 11,000 years ago. Some say that its effects on forest ecology and regional climate explain the otherwise inexplicable band of lower rainfall through the Amazon basin.

Many indigenous tribes engaged in constant warfare. According to James S. Olson, "The Munduruku expansion (in the 18th century) dislocated and displaced the Kawahíb, breaking the tribe down into much smaller groups ... [Munduruku] first came to the attention of Europeans in 1770 when they began a series of widespread attacks on Brazilian settlements along the Amazon River."

Arrival of Europeans
In March 1500, Spanish conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón was the first documented European to sail up the Amazon River. Pinzón called the stream Río Santa María del Mar Dulce, later shortened to Mar Dulce, literally, sweet sea, because of its freshwater pushing out into the ocean. Another Spanish explorer, Francisco de Orellana, was the first European to travel from the origins of the upstream river basins, situated in the Andes, to the mouth of the river. In this journey, Orellana baptized some of the affluents of the Amazonas like Rio Negro, Napo and Jurua. The name Amazonas is thought to be taken from the native warriors that attacked this expedition, mostly women, that reminded De Orellana of the mythical female Amazon warriors from the ancient Hellenic culture in Greece (see also Origin of the name).

Exploration

Gonzalo Pizarro set off in 1541 to explore east of Quito into the South American interior in search of El Dorado, the "city of gold" and La Canela, the "valley of cinnamon". He was accompanied by his second-in-command Francisco de Orellana. After 170. km, the Coca River joined the Napo River (at a point now known as Puerto Francisco de Orellana); the party stopped for a few weeks to build a boat just upriver from this confluence. They continued downriver through an uninhabited area, where they could not find food. Orellana offered and was ordered to follow the Napo River, then known as Río de la Canela ("Cinnamon River"), and return with food for the party. Based on intelligence received from a captive native chief named Delicola, they expected to find food within a few days downriver by ascending another river to the north.

De Orellana took about 57 men, the boat, and some canoes and left Pizarro's troops on 26 December 1541. However, De Orellana missed the confluence (probably with the Aguarico) where he was searching supplies for his men. By the time he and his men reached another village, many of them were sick from hunger and eating "noxious plants", and near death. Seven men died in that village. His men threatened to mutiny if the expedition turned back to attempt to rejoin Pizarro, the party being over 100 leagues downstream at this point. He accepted to change the purpose of the expedition to discover new lands in the name of the king of Spain, and the men built a larger boat in which to navigate downstream. After a journey of 600 km down the Napo River, they reached a further major confluence, at a point near modern Iquitos, and then followed the upper Amazon, now known as the Solimões, for a further 1200. km to its confluence with the Rio Negro (near modern Manaus), which they reached on 3 June 1542.

Regarding the initial mission of finding cinnamon, Pizarro reported to the king that they had found cinnamon trees, but that they could not be profitably harvested. True cinnamon (Cinnamomum Verum) is not native to South America. Other related cinnamon-containing plants (of the family Lauraceae) are fairly common in that part of the Amazon and Pizarro probably saw some of these. The expedition reached the mouth of the Amazon on 24 August 1542, demonstrating the practical navigability of the Great River. In 1560, another Spanish conquistador, Lope de Aguirre, may have made the second descent of the Amazon. Historians are uncertain whether the river he descended was the Amazon or the Orinoco River, which runs more or less parallel to the Amazon further north.

Portuguese explorer Pedro Teixeira was the first European to travel up the entire river. He arrived in Quito in 1637, and returned via the same route.

From 1648 to 1652, Portuguese Brazilian bandeirante António Raposo Tavares led an expedition from São Paulo overland to the mouth of the Amazon, investigating many of its tributaries, including the Rio Negro, and covering a distance of over 10000 km.

In what is currently in Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela, several colonial and religious settlements were established along the banks of primary rivers and tributaries for trade, slaving, and evangelization among the indigenous peoples of the vast rainforest, such as the Urarina. In the late 1600s, Czech Jesuit Father Samuel Fritz, an apostle of the Omagus established some forty mission villages. Fritz proposed that the Marañón River must be the source of the Amazon, noting on his 1707 map that the Marañón "has its source on the southern shore of a lake that is called Lauricocha, near Huánuco." Fritz reasoned that the Marañón is the largest river branch one encounters when journeying upstream, and lies farther to the west than any other tributary of the Amazon. For most of the 18th–19th centuries and into the 20th century, the Marañón was generally considered the source of the Amazon.

Scientific exploration
Early scientific, zoological, and botanical exploration of the Amazon River and basin took place from the 18th century through the first half of the 19th century.
 * Charles Marie de La Condamine explored the river in 1743.
 * Alexander von Humboldt, 1799–1804
 * Johann Baptist von Spix and Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, 1817–1820
 * Georg von Langsdorff, 1826–1828
 * Henry Walter Bates and Alfred Russel Wallace, 1848–1859
 * Richard Spruce, 1849–1864

Post-colonial exploitation and settlement

The Cabanagem revolt (1835–1840) was directed against the white ruling class. It is estimated that from 30% to 40% of the population of Grão-Pará, estimated at 100,000 people, died.

The population of the Brazilian portion of the Amazon basin in 1850 was perhaps 300,000, of whom about 175,000 were Europeans and 25,000 were slaves. The Brazilian Amazon's principal commercial city, Pará (now Belém), had from 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, including slaves. The town of Manáos, now Manaus, at the mouth of the Rio Negro, had a population between 1,000 and 1,500. All the remaining villages, as far up as Tabatinga, on the Brazilian frontier of Peru, were relatively small.

On 6 September 1850, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil sanctioned a law authorizing steam navigation on the Amazon and gave the Viscount of Mauá (Irineu Evangelista de Sousa) the task of putting it into effect. He organised the "Companhia de Navegação e Comércio do Amazonas" in Rio de Janeiro in 1852; in the following year it commenced operations with four small steamers, the Monarca ('Monarch'), the Cametá, the Marajó and the Rio Negro.

At first, navigation was principally confined to the main river; and even in 1857 a modification of the government contract only obliged the company to a monthly service between Pará and Manaus, with steamers of 200 tons cargo capacity, a second line to make six round voyages a year between Manaus and Tabatinga, and a third, two trips a month between Pará and Cametá. This was the first step in opening up the vast interior.

The success of the venture called attention to the opportunities for economic exploitation of the Amazon, and a second company soon opened commerce on the Madeira, Purús, and Negro; a third established a line between Pará and Manaus, and a fourth found it profitable to navigate some of the smaller streams. In that same period, the Amazonas Company was increasing its fleet. Meanwhile, private individuals were building and running small steam craft of their own on the main river as well as on many of its tributaries.

On 31 July 1867, the government of Brazil, constantly pressed by the maritime powers and by the countries encircling the upper Amazon basin, especially Peru, decreed the opening of the Amazon to all countries, but they limited this to certain defined points: Tabatinga – on the Amazon; Cametá – on the Tocantins; Santarém – on the Tapajós; Borba – on the Madeira, and Manaus – on the Rio Negro. The Brazilian decree took effect on 7 September 1867.

Thanks in part to the mercantile development associated with steamboat navigation coupled with the internationally driven demand for natural rubber, the Peruvian city of Iquitos became a thriving, cosmopolitan center of commerce. Foreign companies settled in Iquitos, from where they controlled the extraction of rubber. In 1851 Iquitos had a population of 200, and by 1900 its population reached 20,000. In the 1860s, approximately 3,000 tons of rubber were being exported annually, and by 1911 annual exports had grown to 44,000 tons, representing 9.3% of Peru's exports. During the rubber boom it is estimated that diseases brought by immigrants, such as typhus and malaria, killed 40,000 native Amazonians.

The first direct foreign trade with Manaus commenced around 1874. Local trade along the river was carried on by the English successors to the Amazonas Company—the Amazon Steam Navigation Company—as well as numerous small steamboats, belonging to companies and firms engaged in the rubber trade, navigating the Negro, Madeira, Purús, and many other tributaries, such as the Marañón, to ports as distant as Nauta, Peru.

By the turn of the 20th century, the exports of the Amazon basin were India-rubber, cacao beans, Brazil nuts and a few other products of minor importance, such as pelts and exotic forest produce (resins, barks, woven hammocks, prized bird feathers, live animals) and extracted goods, such as lumber and gold.

20th-century development

Since colonial times, the Portuguese portion of the Amazon basin has remained a land largely undeveloped by agriculture and occupied by indigenous people who survived the arrival of European diseases.

Four centuries after the European discovery of the Amazon river, the total cultivated area in its basin was probably less than 65 km2, excluding the limited and crudely cultivated areas among the mountains at its extreme headwaters. This situation changed dramatically during the 20th century.

Wary of foreign exploitation of the nation's resources, Brazilian governments in the 1940s set out to develop the interior, away from the seaboard where foreigners owned large tracts of land. The original architect of this expansion was president Getúlio Vargas, with the demand for rubber from the Allied forces in World War II providing funding for the drive.

In the 1960s, economic exploitation of the Amazon basin was seen as a way to fuel the "economic miracle" occurring at the time. This resulted in the development of "Operation Amazon", an economic development project that brought large-scale agriculture and ranching to Amazonia. This was done through a combination of credit and fiscal incentives.

However, in the 1970s the government took a new approach with the National Integration Program (PIN). A large-scale colonization program saw families from northeastern Brazil relocated to the "land without people" in the Amazon Basin. This was done in conjunction with infrastructure projects mainly the Trans-Amazonian Highway (Transamazônica).

The Trans-Amazonian Highway's three pioneering highways were completed within ten years but never fulfilled their promise. Large portions of the Trans-Amazonian and its accessory roads, such as BR-317 (Manaus-Porto Velho), are derelict and impassable in the rainy season. Small towns and villages are scattered across the forest, and because its vegetation is so dense, some remote areas are still unexplored.

Many settlements grew along the road from Brasília to Belém with the highway and National Integration Program, however, the program failed as the settlers were unequipped to live in the delicate rainforest ecosystem. This, although the government believed it could sustain millions, instead could sustain very few.

With a population of 1.9 million people in 2014, Manaus is the largest city on the Amazon. Manaus alone makes up approximately 50% of the population of the largest Brazilian state of Amazonas. The racial makeup of the city is 64% pardo (mulatto and mestizo) and 32% white.

Although the Amazon river remains undammed, around 412 dams are in operation on the Amazon's tributary rivers. Of these 412 dams, 151 are constructed over six of the main tributary rivers that drain into the Amazon. Since only 4% of the Amazon's hydropower potential has been developed in countries like Brazil, more damming projects are underway and hundreds more are planned. After witnessing the negative effects of environmental degradation, sedimentation, navigation and flood control caused by the Three Gorges Dam in the Yangtze River, scientists are worried that constructing more dams in the Amazon will harm its biodiversity in the same way by "blocking fish-spawning runs, reducing the flows of vital oil nutrients and clearing forests". Damming the Amazon River could potentially bring about the "end of free flowing rivers" and contribute to an "ecosystem collapse" that will cause major social and environmental problems.

Origins

The most distant source of the Amazon was thought to be in the Apurímac river drainage for nearly a century. Such studies continued to be published even as recently as 1996, 2001, 2007, and 2008, where various authors identified the snowcapped 5597 m Nevado Mismi peak, located roughly 160 km west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km southeast of Lima, as the most distant source of the river. From that point, Quebrada Carhuasanta emerges from Nevado Mismi, joins Quebrada Apacheta and soon forms Río Lloqueta which becomes Río Hornillos and eventually joins the Río Apurímac.

A 2014 study by Americans James Contos and Nicolas Tripcevich in Area, a peer-reviewed journal of the Royal Geographical Society, however, identifies the most distant source of the Amazon as actually being in the Río Mantaro drainage. A variety of methods were used to compare the lengths of the Mantaro river vs. the Apurímac river from their most distant source points to their confluence, showing the longer length of the Mantaro. Then distances from Lago Junín to several potential source points in the uppermost Mantaro river were measured, which enabled them to determine that the Cordillera Rumi Cruz was the most distant source of water in the Mantaro basin (and therefore in the entire Amazon basin). The most accurate measurement method was direct GPS measurement obtained by kayak descent of each of the rivers from their source points to their confluence (performed by Contos). Obtaining these measurements was difficult given the class IV–V nature of each of these rivers, especially in their lower "Abyss" sections. Ultimately, they determined that the most distant point in the Mantaro drainage is nearly 80 km farther upstream compared to Mt. Mismi in the Apurímac drainage, and thus the maximal length of the Amazon river is about 80 km longer than previously thought. Contos continued downstream to the ocean and finished the first complete descent of the Amazon river from its newly identified source (finishing November 2012), a journey repeated by two groups after the news spread.

After about 700 km, the Apurímac then joins Río Mantaro to form the Ene, which joins the Perene to form the Tambo, which joins the Urubamba River to form the Ucayali. After the confluence of Apurímac and Ucayali, the river leaves Andean terrain and is surrounded by floodplain. From this point to the confluence of the Ucayali and the Marañón, some 1600 km, the forested banks are just above the water and are inundated long before the river attains its maximum flood stage. The low river banks are interrupted by only a few hills, and the river enters the enormous Amazon rainforest.

The Upper Amazon or Solimões
Although the Ucayali–Marañón confluence is the point at which most geographers place the beginning of the Amazon River proper, in Brazil the river is known at this point as the Solimões das Águas. The river systems and flood plains in Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela, whose waters drain into the Solimões and its tributaries, are called the "Upper Amazon".

The Amazon proper runs mostly through Brazil and Peru, and is part of the border between Colombia and Peru. It has a series of major tributaries in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, some of which flow into the Marañón and Ucayali, and others directly into the Amazon proper. These include rivers Putumayo, Caquetá, Vaupés, Guainía, Morona, Pastaza, Nucuray, Urituyacu, Chambira, Tigre, Nanay, Napo, and Huallaga.

At some points, the river divides into anabranches, or multiple channels, often very long, with inland and lateral channels, all connected by a complicated system of natural canals, cutting the low, flat igapó lands, which are never more than 5 m above low river, into many islands.

From the town of Canaria at the great bend of the Amazon to the Negro, vast areas of land are submerged at high water, above which only the upper part of the trees of the sombre forests appear. Near the mouth of the Rio Negro to Serpa, nearly opposite the river Madeira, the banks of the Amazon are low, until approaching Manaus, they rise to become rolling hills.

The Lower Amazon

The Lower Amazon begins where the darkly colored waters of the Rio Negro meets the sandy-colored Rio Solimões (the upper Amazon), and for over 6 km these waters run side by side without mixing. At Óbidos, a bluff 17 m above the river is backed by low hills. The lower Amazon seems to have once been a gulf of the Atlantic Ocean, the waters of which washed the cliffs near Óbidos.

Only about 10% of the Amazon's water enters downstream of Óbidos, very little of which is from the northern slope of the valley. The drainage area of the Amazon basin above Óbidos city is about 5000000 km2, and, below, only about 1000000 km2 (around 20%), exclusive of the 1400000 km2 of the Tocantins basin. The Tocantins River enters the southern portion of the Amazon delta.

In the lower reaches of the river, the north bank consists of a series of steep, table-topped hills extending for about 240 km from opposite the mouth of the Xingu as far as Monte Alegre. These hills are cut down to a kind of terrace which lies between them and the river.

On the south bank, above the Xingu, a line of low bluffs bordering the floodplain extends nearly to Santarém in a series of gentle curves before they bend to the southwest, and, abutting upon the lower Tapajós, merge into the bluffs which form the terrace margin of the Tapajós river valley.

Mouth
Belém is the major city and port at the mouth of the river at the Atlantic Ocean. The definition of where exactly the mouth of the Amazon is located, and how wide it is, is a matter of dispute, because of the area's peculiar geography. The Pará and the Amazon are connected by a series of river channels called furos near the town of Breves; between them lies Marajó, the world's largest combined river/sea island.

If the Pará river and the Marajó island ocean frontage are included, the Amazon estuary is some 325 km wide. In this case, the width of the mouth of the river is usually measured from Cabo Norte, the cape located straight east of Pracuúba in the Brazilian state of Amapá, to Ponta da Tijoca near the town of Curuçá, in the state of Pará.

A more conservative measurement excluding the Pará river estuary, from the mouth of the Araguari River to Ponta do Navio on the northern coast of Marajó, would still give the mouth of the Amazon a width of over 180. km. If only the river's main channel is considered, between the islands of Curuá (state of Amapá) and Jurupari (state of Pará), the width falls to about 15 km.

The plume generated by the river's discharge covers up to 1.3 million km2 and is responsible for muddy bottoms influencing a wide area of the tropical north Atlantic in terms of salinity, pH, light penetration, and sedimentation.

Lack of bridges
There are no bridges across the entire width of the river. This is not because the river would be too wide to bridge; for most of its length, engineers could build a bridge across the river easily. For most of its course, the river flows through the Amazon Rainforest, where there are very few roads and cities. Most of the time, the crossing can be done by a ferry. The Manaus Iranduba Bridge linking the cities of Manaus and Iranduba spans the Rio Negro, the second-largest tributary of the Amazon, just before their confluence.

Dispute regarding length

While debate as to whether the Amazon or the Nile is the world's longest river has gone on for many years, the historic consensus of geographic authorities has been to regard the Amazon as the second longest river in the world, with the Nile being the longest. However, the Amazon has been reported as being anywhere between 6275 km and 6992 km long. It is often said to be "at least" 6575 km long. The Nile is reported to be anywhere from 5499 to 7088 km. Often it is said to be "about" 6650 km long. There are several factors that can affect these measurements, such as the position of the geographical source and the mouth, the scale of measurement, and the length measuring techniques (for details see also List of rivers by length).

In July 2008, the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) published a news article on their webpage, claiming that the Amazon River was 140 km longer than the Nile. The Amazon's length was calculated as 6992 km, taking the Apacheta Creek as its source. Using the same techniques, the length of the Nile was calculated as 6853 km, which is longer than previous estimates but still shorter than the Amazon. The results were reached by measuring the Amazon downstream to the beginning of the tidal estuary of Canal do Sul and then, after a sharp turn back, following tidal canals surrounding the isle of Marajó and finally including the marine waters of the Río Pará bay in its entire length. According to an earlier article on the webpage of the National Geographic, the Amazon's length was calculated as 6800 km by a Brazilian scientist. In June 2007, Guido Gelli, director of science at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), told London's Telegraph Newspaper that it could be considered that the Amazon was the longest river in the world. However, according to the above sources, none of the two results was published, and questions were raised about the researchers' methodology. In 2009, a peer-reviewed article, was published, concluding that the Nile is longer than the Amazon by stating a length of 7088 km for the Nile and 6575 km for the Amazon, measured by using a combination of satellite image analysis and field investigations to the source regions. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, the final length of the Amazon remains open to interpretation and continued debate.

Watershed
The Amazon basin, the largest in the world, covers about 40% of South America, an area of approximately 7050000 km2. It drains from west to east, from Iquitos in Peru, across Brazil to the Atlantic. It gathers its waters from 5 degrees north latitude to 20 degrees south latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, just a short distance from the Pacific Ocean.

The Amazon River and its tributaries are characterised by extensive forested areas that become flooded every rainy season. Every year, the river rises more than 9 m, flooding the surrounding forests, known as várzea ("flooded forests"). The Amazon's flooded forests are the most extensive example of this habitat type in the world. In an average dry season, 110000 km2 of land are water-covered, while in the wet season, the flooded area of the Amazon basin rises to 350000 km2.

The quantity of water released by the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean is enormous: up to 300000 m3/s in the rainy season, with an average of 209000 m3/s from 1973 to 1990. The Amazon is responsible for about 20% of the Earth's fresh water entering the ocean. The river pushes a vast plume of fresh water into the ocean. The plume is about 400 km long and between 100 and 200 km wide. The fresh water, being lighter, flows on top of the seawater, diluting the salinity and altering the colour of the ocean surface over an area up to 2500000 km2 in extent. For centuries ships have reported fresh water near the Amazon's mouth yet well out of sight of land in what otherwise seemed to be the open ocean.

The Atlantic has sufficient wave and tidal energy to carry most of the Amazon's sediments out to sea, thus the Amazon does not form a true delta. The great deltas of the world are all in relatively protected bodies of water, while the Amazon empties directly into the turbulent Atlantic.

There is a natural water union between the Amazon and the Orinoco basins, the so-called Casiquiare canal. The Casiquiare is a river distributary of the upper Orinoco, which flows southward into the Rio Negro, which in turn flows into the Amazon. The Casiquiare is the largest river on earth that links two major river systems, a so-called bifurcation.

Discharge
Average discharge at the estuary; Period from 2003 to 2015: 7,200 km3/year Average discharge at Óbidos gauge station; Period from 1969 to 2018: 5,520 km3/year Average discharge (Q - 173,000 m3/s) and sediment load (S - 754 x 106 ton/year) at Óbidos gauge station (period from 1996 to 2007)

Average, minimum and maximum discharge at Itacoatiara and Santarém (Lower Amazon). Period from 1998/01/01 to 2022/12/31 (Source: The Flood Observatory):

Flooding
Not all of the Amazon's tributaries flood at the same time of the year. Many branches begin flooding in November and might continue to rise until June. The rise of the Rio Negro starts in February or March and begins to recede in June. The Madeira River rises and falls two months earlier than most of the rest of the Amazon river.

The depth of the Amazon between Manacapuru and Óbidos has been calculated as between 20 and 26 m. At Manacapuru, the Amazon's water level is only about 24 m above mean sea level. More than half of the water in the Amazon downstream of Manacapuru is below sea level. In its lowermost section, the Amazon's depth averages 20 to 50 m, in some places as much as 100 m.

The main river is navigable for large ocean steamers to Manaus, 1500 km upriver from the mouth. Smaller ocean vessels below 9000 tons and with less than 5.5 m draft can reach as far as Iquitos, Peru, 3600 km from the sea. Smaller riverboats can reach 780 km higher, as far as Achual Point. Beyond that, small boats frequently ascend to the Pongo de Manseriche, just above Achual Point in Peru.

Annual flooding occurs in late northern latitude winter at high tide when the incoming waters of the Atlantic are funnelled into the Amazon delta. The resulting undular tidal bore is called the pororoca, with a leading wave that can be up to 25 ft high and travel up to 500 mi inland.

Geology
The Amazon River originated as a transcontinental river in the Miocene epoch between 11.8 million and 11.3 million years ago and took its present shape approximately 2.4 million years ago in the Early Pleistocene.

The proto-Amazon during the Cretaceous flowed west, as part of a proto-Amazon-Congo river system, from the interior of present-day Africa when the continents were connected, forming western Gondwana. 80 million years ago, the two continents split. Fifteen million years ago, the main tectonic uplift phase of the Andean chain started. This tectonic movement is caused by the subduction of the Nazca Plate underneath the South American Plate. The rise of the Andes and the linkage of the Brazilian and Guyana bedrock shields, blocked the river and caused the Amazon Basin to become a vast inland sea. Gradually, this inland sea became a massive swampy, freshwater lake and the marine inhabitants adapted to life in freshwater.

Eleven to ten million years ago, waters worked through the sandstone from the west and the Amazon began to flow eastward, leading to the emergence of the Amazon rainforest. During glacial periods, sea levels dropped and the great Amazon lake rapidly drained and became a river, which would eventually become the disputed world's longest, draining the most extensive area of rainforest on the planet.

Paralleling the Amazon River is a large aquifer, dubbed the Hamza River, the discovery of which was made public in August 2011.

Fauna

More than one-third of all known species in the world live in the Amazon rainforest. It is the richest tropical forest in the world in terms of biodiversity. In addition to thousands of species of fish, the river supports crabs, algae, and turtles.

Mammals
Along with the Orinoco, the Amazon is one of the main habitats of the boto, also known as the Amazon river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis). It is the largest species of river dolphin, and it can grow to lengths of up to 2.6 m. The colour of its skin changes with age; young animals are gray, but become pink and then white as they mature. The dolphins use echolocation to navigate and hunt in the river's tricky depths. The boto is the subject of a legend in Brazil about a dolphin that turns into a man and seduces maidens by the riverside.

The tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis), also a dolphin species, is found both in the rivers of the Amazon basin and in the coastal waters of South America. The Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), also known as "seacow", is found in the northern Amazon River basin and its tributaries. It is a mammal and a herbivore. Its population is limited to freshwater habitats, and, unlike other manatees, it does not venture into saltwater. It is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The Amazon and its tributaries are the main habitat of the giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis). Sometimes known as the "river wolf," it is one of South America's top carnivores. Because of habitat destruction and hunting, its population has dramatically decreased. It is now listed on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which effectively bans international trade.

Reptiles
The Anaconda is found in shallow waters in the Amazon basin. One of the world's largest species of snake, the anaconda spends most of its time in the water with just its nostrils above the surface. Species of caimans, that are related to alligators and other crocodilians, also inhabit the Amazon as do varieties of turtles.

Fish
The Amazonian fish fauna is the centre of diversity for neotropical fishes, some of which are popular aquarium specimens like the neon tetra and the freshwater angelfish. More than 5,600 species were known, and approximately fifty new species are discovered each year. The arapaima, known in Brazil as the pirarucu, is a South American tropical freshwater fish, one of the largest freshwater fish in the world, with a length of up to 15 ft. Another Amazonian freshwater fish is the arowana (or aruanã in Portuguese), such as the silver arowana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum), which is a predator and very similar to the arapaima, but only reaches a length of 120 cm. Also present in large numbers is the notorious piranha, an omnivorous fish that congregates in large schools and may attack livestock. There are approximately 30 to 60 species of piranha. The candirú, native to the Amazon River, is a species of parasitic fresh water catfish in the family Trichomycteridae, just one of more than 1200 species of catfish in the Amazon basin. Other catfish 'walk' overland on their ventral fins, while the kumakuma (Brachyplatystoma filamentosum), aka piraiba or "goliath catfish", can reach 3.6 m in length and 200 kg in weight.

The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus) and more than 100 species of electric fishes (Gymnotiformes) inhabit the Amazon basin. River stingrays (Potamotrygonidae) are also known. The bull shark (Carcharhinus leucas) has been reported 4000 km up the Amazon River at Iquitos in Peru.

Microbiota
Freshwater microbes are generally not very well known, even less so for a pristine ecosystem like the Amazon. Recently, metagenomics has provided answers to what kind of microbes inhabit the river. The most important microbes in the Amazon River are Actinomycetota, Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Thermoproteota.

Challenges
The Amazon River serves as a vital lifeline for more than 47 million people in its basin and faces a multitude of challenges that threaten both its ecosystem and the indigenous communities dependent on its resources. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Yanomami, a tribe of approximately 29,000, struggles to preserve their land, culture, and traditional way of life due to encroaching illegal gold miners, malnutrition, and malaria. Meanwhile, in 2022, the region's severe drought, has led to a devastating increase in water temperatures, reaching 39.1 degrees Celsius, causing the tragic demise of 125 Amazon river dolphins. This unfortunate event serves as a poignant marker of the deteriorating environmental conditions, indicating the increasing vulnerability of the river's ecosystem. In recent years, the Amazon River has experienced historically low water levels, the lowest in over a century. Brazil, the primary custodian of this invaluable natural resource, grapples with the challenges of mitigating the effects of this drought on communities and ecosystems, further emphasizing the urgency of sustainable environmental management and conservation efforts.

Major tributaries
The Amazon has over 1,100 tributaries, twelve of which are over 1500 km long. Some of the more notable ones are:

 * Branco
 * Casiquiare canal
 * Caquetá
 * Huallaga
 * Putumayo (or Içá River)
 * Javary (or Yavarí)
 * Juruá
 * Madeira
 * Marañón
 * Morona
 * Nanay
 * Napo
 * Negro
 * Pastaza
 * Purús
 * Tambo
 * Tapajós
 * Tigre
 * Tocantins
 * Trombetas
 * Ucayali
 * Xingu
 * Yapura

List of major tributaries
The main river and tributaries are (sorted in order from the confluence of Ucayali and Marañón rivers to the mouth):

List by length

 * 1) 6400 km (6275 to 7025 km) – Amazon, South America
 * 2) 3250. km – Madeira, Bolivia/Brazil
 * 3) 3211 km – Purús, Peru/Brazil
 * 4) 2820. km – Japurá or Caquetá, Colombia/Brazil
 * 5) 2639 km – Tocantins, Brazil
 * 6) 2627 km – Araguaia, Brazil (tributary of Tocantins)
 * 7) 2400 km – Juruá, Peru/Brazil
 * 8) 2250 km – Rio Negro, Brazil/Venezuela/Colombia
 * 9) 1992 km – Tapajós, Brazil
 * 10) 1979 km – Xingu, Brazil
 * 11) 1900. km – Ucayali River, Peru
 * 12) 1749 km – Guaporé, Brazil/Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
 * 13) 1575 km – Içá (Putumayo), Ecuador/Colombia/Peru
 * 14) 1415 km – Marañón, Peru
 * 15) 1370. km – Teles Pires, Brazil (tributary of Tapajós)
 * 16) 1300. km – Iriri, Brazil (tributary of Xingu)
 * 17) 1240. km – Juruena, Brazil (tributary of Tapajós)
 * 18) 1130. km – Madre de Dios, Peru/Bolivia (tributary of Madeira)
 * 19) 1100. km – Huallaga, Peru (tributary of Marañón)

title: Amazon River


text:
Alfred of Beverley

Alfred of Beverley was an English chronicler, and sacrist of the collegiate church of St John the Evangelist and St John of Beverley wrote a history of Britain and England in nine chapters (c. 1148- c.1151) from its supposed foundation by the Trojan Brutus, down to the death of Henry I in 1135. Alfred's chief sources, in addition to Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica de Gentis Anglorum , are Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, Henry of Huntingdon's Historia Anglorum, The Chronicle of John of Worcester, and the Historia Regum, attributed to Symeon of Durham.

Biography
Alfred of Beverley, was a priest of Beverley, and is described in the preface to his book as "treasurer of the church of Beverley" and "Master Alfred, sacrist of the church of Beverley".

Alfred of Beverley speaks of himself as contemporary with the removal of the Flemings from the north of England to Ross in Herefordshire in 1112, and writes that he compiled his chronicle "when the church was silent, owing to the number of persons excommunicated under the decree of the council of London", an apparent reference to the council held at Mid-Lent, 1143. His attention, by his own account, was first drawn to history by the publication (before 1139) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and he looked forward to following up the chronicle which bears his name, and which largely depends on Geoffrey's work, with a collection of excerpts from the credible portions of the Historia Regum Britanniae, but no trace of such a work is extant.

Alfred of Beverley's chronicle is entitled ''Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales sive Historia de gestis Regum Britanniæ libris ix. ad annum 1129''. It is largely devoted to the fabulous history of Britain, and is mainly borrowed from Bede, Henry of Huntingdon, and Symeon of Durham, when Geoffrey of Monmouth is not laid under contribution. Alfred quotes occasionally from Suetonius, Orosius, and Nennius, and names many Roman authors whom he had consulted in vain for references to Britain. The chronicle is of no real use to the historical student, since it adds no new fact to the information to be found in well-known earlier authorities.

According to Sidney Lee (1885) the best manuscript of Alfred's Annales was among the Hengwrt MSS. belonging to W. W. E. Wynne, Esq., of Peniarth, Merionethshire, and had not been printed. Hearne printed the ‘Annales’ in 1716 from an inferior Bodleian MS. (Rawl. B. 200).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Alfred of Beverley


text:
April 22

Pre-1600

 * 1500 – Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral lands in Brazil (discovery of Brazil).
 * 1519 – Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés establishes a settlement at Veracruz, Mexico.
 * 1529 – Treaty of Zaragoza divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues (1250 km) east of the Moluccas.

1601–1900

 * 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Eckmühl: The Austrian army is defeated by the First French Empire army led by Napoleon and driven over the Danube in Regensburg.
 * 1836 – Texas Revolution: A day after the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under Texas General Sam Houston identify Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna among the captives of the battle when some of his fellow soldiers mistakenly give away his identity.
 * 1864 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permitted the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.
 * 1876 – The first National League baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia.
 * 1889 – At noon, thousands rush to claim land in the Land Rush of 1889. Within hours the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie are formed with populations of at least 10,000.
 * 1898 – Spanish–American War: President William McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to join the National Guard and fight in Cuba, while Congress more than doubles regular Army forces to 65,000.

1901–present

 * 1906 – The 1906 Intercalated Games open in Athens.
 * 1915 – World War I: The use of poison gas in World War I escalates when chlorine gas is released as a chemical weapon in the Second Battle of Ypres.
 * 1930 – The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
 * 1944 – The 1st Air Commando Group using Sikorsky R-4 helicopters stage the first use of helicopters in combat with combat search and rescue operations in the China Burma India Theater.
 * 1944  – World War II: Operation Persecution is initiated: Allied forces land in the Hollandia (currently known as Jayapura) area of New Guinea.
 * 1944  – World War II: In Greenland, the Allied Sledge Patrol attack the German Bassgeiger weather station.
 * 1945 – World War II: Prisoners at the Jasenovac concentration camp revolt. Five hundred twenty are killed and around eighty escape.
 * 1945  – World War II: Sachsenhausen concentration camp is liberated by soldiers of the Red Army and Polish First Army.
 * 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: The port city of Haifa is captured by Jewish forces.
 * 1951 – Korean War: The Chinese People's Volunteer Army begin assaulting positions defended by the Royal Australian Regiment and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry at the Battle of Kapyong.
 * 1954 – Red Scare: Witnesses begin testifying and live television coverage of the Army–McCarthy hearings begins.
 * 1969 – British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston wins the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race and completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.
 * 1969  – The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.
 * 1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated.
 * 1974 – Pan Am Flight 812 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, killing all 107 people on board.
 * 1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.
 * 1992 – A series of gas explosions rip through the streets in Guadalajara, Mexico, killing 206.
 * 1993 – Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.
 * 2005 – Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
 * 2016 – The Paris Agreement is signed, an agreement to help fight global warming.
 * 2020 – Four police officers are killed after being struck by a truck on the Eastern Freeway in Melbourne while speaking to a speeding driver, marking the largest loss of police lives in Victoria Police history.

Pre-1600

 * 1412 – Reinhard III, Count of Hanau (1451–1452) (d. 1452)
 * 1444 – Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk (d. 1503)
 * 1451 – Isabella I of Castile (d. 1504)
 * 1518 – Antoine of Navarre (d. 1562)
 * 1592 – Wilhelm Schickard, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1635)

1601–1900

 * 1610 – Pope Alexander VIII (d. 1691)
 * 1658 – Giuseppe Torelli, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1709)
 * 1690 – John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville, English politician, Lord President of the Council (d. 1763)
 * 1707 – Henry Fielding, English novelist and playwright (d. 1754)
 * 1711 – Paul II Anton, Prince Esterházy, Austrian soldier (d. 1762)
 * 1724 – Immanuel Kant, German anthropologist, philosopher, and academic (d. 1804)
 * 1732 – John Johnson, English architect and surveyor (d. 1814)
 * 1744 – James Sullivan, American lawyer and politician, 7th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1808)
 * 1766 – Germaine de Staël, French author and political philosopher (d. 1817)
 * 1812 – Solomon Caesar Malan, Swiss-English orientalist (d. 1894)
 * 1816 – Charles-Denis Bourbaki, French general (d. 1897)
 * 1830 – Emily Davies, British suffragist and educator, co-founder and an early Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge University (d. 1921)
 * 1832 – Julius Sterling Morton, American journalist and politician, 3rd United States Secretary of Agriculture (d. 1902)
 * 1844 – Lewis Powell, American soldier, attempted assassin of William H. Seward (d. 1865)
 * 1852 – William IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1912)
 * 1854 – Henri La Fontaine, Belgian lawyer and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
 * 1858 – Ethel Smyth, English composer (d. 1944)
 * 1858  – Fritz Mayer van den Bergh, Belgian art collector and art historian (d. 1901)
 * 1870 – Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary and founder of Soviet Russia (d. 1924)
 * 1872 – Princess Margaret of Prussia (d. 1954)
 * 1873 – Ellen Glasgow, American author (d. 1945)
 * 1874 – Wu Peifu, Chinese warlord, politician, and marshal of the Beiyang Army (d. 1939)
 * 1876 – Róbert Bárány, Austrian-Swedish otologist and physician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1936)
 * 1876  – Georg Lurich, Estonian wrestler and strongman (d. 1920)
 * 1879 – Bernhard Gregory, Estonian-German chess player (d. 1939)
 * 1884 – Otto Rank, Austrian-American psychologist and academic (d. 1939)
 * 1886 – Izidor Cankar, Slovenian historian, author, and diplomat (d. 1958)
 * 1887 – Harald Bohr, Danish mathematician and footballer (d. 1951)
 * 1889 – Richard Glücks, German SS officer (d. 1945)
 * 1891 – Laura Gilpin, American photographer (d. 1979)
 * 1891  – Vittorio Jano, Italian engineer (d. 1965)
 * 1891  – Harold Jeffreys, English mathematician, geophysicist, and astronomer (d. 1989)
 * 1891  – Nicola Sacco, Italian-American anarchist (d. 1927)
 * 1892 – Vernon Johns, African-American minister and activist (d. 1965)
 * 1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born novelist and critic (d. 1977)
 * 1900 – Nellie Beer, British politician, Lord Mayor of Manchester (d. 1988)

1901–present

 * 1904 – J. Robert Oppenheimer, American physicist and academic (d. 1967)
 * 1905 – Robert Choquette, American-Canadian author, poet, and diplomat (d. 1991)
 * 1906 – Eric Fenby, English composer and educator (d. 1997)
 * 1906  – Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (d. 1947)
 * 1909 – Rita Levi-Montalcini, Italian neurologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2012)
 * 1909  – Indro Montanelli, Italian journalist and historian (d. 2001)
 * 1909  – Spyros Markezinis, Greek politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2000)
 * 1910 – Norman Steenrod, American mathematician and academic (d. 1971)
 * 1912 – Kathleen Ferrier, English operatic singer (d. 1953)
 * 1912  – Kaneto Shindo, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2012)
 * 1914 – Baldev Raj Chopra, Indian director and producer (d. 2008)
 * 1914  – Jan de Hartog, Dutch-American author and playwright (d. 2002)
 * 1914  – José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (d. 1941)
 * 1914  – Michael Wittmann, German SS officer (d. 1944)
 * 1916 – Hanfried Lenz, German mathematician and academic (d. 2013)
 * 1916  – Yehudi Menuhin, American-Swiss violinist and conductor (d. 1999)
 * 1917 – Yvette Chauviré, French ballerina (d. 2016)
 * 1917  – Sidney Nolan, Australian painter (d. 1992)
 * 1918 – William Jay Smith, American poet and academic (d. 2015)
 * 1918  – Mickey Vernon, American baseball player and coach (d. 2008)
 * 1919 – Donald J. Cram, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2001)
 * 1919  – Carl Lindner, Jr., American businessman and philanthropist (d. 2011)
 * 1922 – Richard Diebenkorn, American soldier and painter (d. 1993)
 * 1922  – Charles Mingus, American bassist, composer, and bandleader (d. 1979)
 * 1922  – Wolf V. Vishniac, American microbiologist and academic (d. 1973)
 * 1923 – Peter Kane Dufault, American soldier, pilot, and poet (d. 2013)
 * 1923  – Bettie Page, American model and actress (d. 2008)
 * 1923  – Aaron Spelling, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
 * 1924 – Nam Duck-woo, South Korean politician, 12th Prime Minister of South Korea (d. 2013)
 * 1926 – Charlotte Rae, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
 * 1926  – James Stirling, Scottish architect, designed the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart and Seeley Historical Library (d. 1992)
 * 1927 – Laurel Aitken, Cuban-Jamaican singer (d. 2005)
 * 1928 – Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (d. 2022)
 * 1929 – Michael Atiyah, English-Lebanese mathematician and academic (d. 2019)
 * 1929  – Robert Wade-Gery, English diplomat, British High Commissioner to India (d. 2015)
 * 1930 – Enno Penno, Estonian politician, Prime Minister of Estonia in exile (d. 2016)
 * 1931 – John Buchanan, Canadian lawyer and politician, 20th Premier of Nova Scotia (d. 2019)
 * 1931  – Ronald Hynd, English dancer and choreographer
 * 1933 – Anthony Llewellyn, Welsh-American chemist and astronaut (d. 2013)
 * 1935 – Christopher Ball, English linguist and academic
 * 1935  – Paul Chambers, African-American bassist and composer (d. 1969)
 * 1935  – Bhama Srinivasan, Indian-American mathematician and academic
 * 1936 – Glen Campbell, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (d. 2017)
 * 1936  – Pierre Hétu, Canadian pianist and conductor (d. 1998)
 * 1937 – Jack Nicholson, American actor and producer
 * 1937  – Jack Nitzsche, American singer-songwriter, pianist, and conductor (d. 2000)
 * 1938 – Alan Bond, English-Australian businessman (d. 2015)
 * 1938  – Gani Fawehinmi, Nigerian lawyer and activist (d. 2009)
 * 1938  – Issey Miyake, Japanese fashion designer (d. 2022)
 * 1938  – Adam Raphael, English journalist and author
 * 1939 – Mel Carter, American singer and actor
 * 1939  – John Foley, English general and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey
 * 1939  – Ray Guy, Canadian journalist and author (d. 2013)
 * 1939  – Jason Miller, American actor and playwright (d. 2001)
 * 1939  – Theodor Waigel, German lawyer and politician, German Federal Minister of Finance
 * 1941 – Greville Howard, Baron Howard of Rising, English politician
 * 1942 – Giorgio Agamben, Italian philosopher and academic
 * 1942  – Mary Prior, English politician, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol
 * 1943 – Keith Crisco, American businessman and politician (d. 2014)
 * 1943  – Janet Evanovich, American author
 * 1943  – Louise Glück, American poet (d. 2023)
 * 1943  – John Maples, Baron Maples, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (d. 2012)
 * 1943  – Scott W. Williams, American mathematician and professor
 * 1944 – Steve Fossett, American businessman, pilot, and sailor (d. 2007)
 * 1944  – Doug Jarrett, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
 * 1944  – Joshua Rifkin, American conductor and musicologist
 * 1945 – Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Indian civil servant and politician, 22nd Governor of West Bengal
 * 1945  – Demetrio Stratos, Greek-Egyptian singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
 * 1946 – Steven L. Bennett, American captain and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 1972)
 * 1946  – Paul Davies, English physicist and author
 * 1946  – Louise Harel, Canadian lawyer and politician
 * 1946  – Archy Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, Scottish lawyer and politician
 * 1946  – Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, English economist and academic
 * 1946  – John Waters, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1948 – John Pritchard, English bishop
 * 1949 – Spencer Haywood, American basketball player
 * 1950 – Peter Frampton, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1950  – Jancis Robinson, English journalist and critic
 * 1951 – Aivars Kalējs, Latvian organist, composer, and pianist
 * 1951  – Ana María Shua, Argentinian author and poet
 * 1957 – Donald Tusk, Polish journalist and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Poland
 * 1959 – Terry Francona, American baseball player and manager
 * 1959  – Ryan Stiles, American-Canadian actor and comedian
 * 1960 – Mart Laar, Estonian historian and politician, 9th Prime Minister of Estonia
 * 1961 – Jeff Hostetler, American football player
 * 1961  – Alo Mattiisen, Estonian composer (d. 1996)
 * 1962 – Jeff Minter, British video game designer and programmer
 * 1962  – Danièle Sauvageau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1963 – Rosalind Gill, English sociologist and academic
 * 1963  – Sean Lock, English comedian and actor (d. 2021)
 * 1966 – Mickey Morandini, American baseball player and manager
 * 1966  – Jeffrey Dean Morgan, American actor
 * 1967 – David J. C. MacKay, English physicist, engineer, and academic (d. 2016)
 * 1967  – Sherri Shepherd, American actress, comedian, and television personality
 * 1970 – Regine Velasquez, Filipino singer and actress
 * 1976 – Dan Cloutier, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1978 – Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Kenyan runner and coach
 * 1979 – Zoltán Gera, Hungarian international footballer and manager
 * 1979  – Daniel Johns, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1980 – Quincy Timberlake, Kenyan-Australian activist, engineer, and politician
 * 1982 – Kaká, Brazilian footballer
 * 1983 – Sam W. Heads, English-American entomologist and palaeontologist
 * 1983  – Shkëlzen Shala, Albanian entrepreneur and veganism activist
 * 1986 – Amber Heard, American actress
 * 1986  – Marshawn Lynch, American football player
 * 1987 – David Luiz, Brazilian footballer
 * 1988 – Dee Strange-Gordon, American baseball player
 * 1990 – Machine Gun Kelly, American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor
 * 1990  – Kevin Kiermaier, American baseball player
 * 1990  – Eve Muirhead, Scottish curler
 * 1991 – Danni Wyatt, English cricketer
 * 2011 – Violet McGraw, American actress

Pre-1600

 * 296 – Pope Caius
 * 536 – Pope Agapetus I
 * 591 – Peter III of Raqqa
 * 613 – Saint Theodore of Sykeon
 * 835 – Kūkai, Japanese Buddhist monk, founder of Esoteric (Shingon) Buddhism (b. 774)
 * 846 – Wuzong, Chinese emperor (b. 814)
 * 1208 – Philip of Poitou, Prince-Bishop of Durham
 * 1322 – Francis of Fabriano, Italian writer (b. 1251)
 * 1355 – Eleanor of Woodstock, countess regent of Guelders, eldest daughter of King Edward II of England (b. 1318)
 * 1585 – Henry of Saxe-Lauenburg, Prince-Archbishop of Bremen, Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück and Paderborn (b. 1550)

1601–1900

 * 1616 – Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright (b. 1547)
 * 1672 – Georg Stiernhielm, Swedish linguist and poet (b. 1598)
 * 1699 – Hans Erasmus Aßmann, German poet (b. 1646)
 * 1758 – Antoine de Jussieu, French botanist and physician (b. 1686)
 * 1778 – James Hargreaves, British inventor (b. 1720)
 * 1806 – Pierre-Charles Villeneuve, French admiral (b. 1763)
 * 1821 – Gregory V of Constantinople, Greek patriarch and saint (b. 1746)
 * 1833 – Richard Trevithick, English engineer and explorer (b. 1771)
 * 1850 – Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Estonian philologist and physician (b. 1798)
 * 1854 – Nicolás Bravo, Mexican general and politician, 11th President of Mexico (b. 1786)
 * 1871 – Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (b. 1806)
 * 1877 – James P. Kirkwood, Scottish-American engineer (b. 1807)
 * 1892 – Édouard Lalo, French violinist and composer (b. 1823)
 * 1893 – Chaim Aronson, Lithuanian businessman and author (b. 1825)
 * 1894 – Kostas Krystallis, Greek author and poet (b. 1868)
 * 1896 – Thomas Meik, English engineer, founded Halcrow Group (b. 1812)

1901–present

 * 1908 – Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1836)
 * 1925 – André Caplet, French composer and conductor (b. 1878)
 * 1929 – Henry Lerolle, French painter and art collector (b. 1848)
 * 1932 – Ferenc Oslay, Hungarian-Slovene historian and author (b. 1883)
 * 1933 – Henry Royce, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (b. 1863)
 * 1945 – Wilhelm Cauer, German mathematician and academic (b. 1900)
 * 1945  – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (b. 1867)
 * 1950 – Charles Hamilton Houston, American lawyer and academic (b. 1895)
 * 1951 – Horace Donisthorpe, English myrmecologist and coleopterist (b. 1870)
 * 1978 – Will Geer, American actor (b. 1902)
 * 1980 – Jane Froman, American actress and singer (b. 1907)
 * 1980  – Fritz Strassmann, German chemist and physicist (b. 1902)
 * 1983 – Earl Hines, American pianist and bandleader (b. 1903)
 * 1984 – Ansel Adams, American photographer and environmentalist (b. 1902)
 * 1985 – Paul Hugh Emmett, American chemist and academic (b. 1900)
 * 1985  – Jacques Ferron, Canadian physician and author (b. 1921)
 * 1986 – Mircea Eliade, Romanian historian and author (b. 1907)
 * 1987 – Erika Nõva, Estonian architect (b. 1905)
 * 1988 – Grigori Kuzmin, Russian-Estonian astronomer and academic (b. 1917)
 * 1988  – Irene Rich, American actress (b. 1891)
 * 1989 – Emilio G. Segrè, Italian-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1905)
 * 1990 – Albert Salmi, American actor (b. 1928)
 * 1994 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States (b. 1913)
 * 1995 – Jane Kenyon, American poet and author (b. 1947)
 * 1996 – Erma Bombeck, American journalist and author (b. 1927)
 * 1996  – Jug McSpaden, American golfer and architect (b. 1908)
 * 1999 – Munir Ahmad Khan, Pakistani nuclear engineer (b. 1926)
 * 2003 – Felice Bryant, American songwriter (b. 1925)
 * 2005 – Erika Fuchs, German translator (b. 1906)
 * 2005  – Philip Morrison, American physicist and academic (b. 1915)
 * 2005  – Eduardo Paolozzi, Scottish sculptor and artist (b. 1924)
 * 2006 – Henriette Avram, American computer scientist and academic (b. 1919)
 * 2006  – Alida Valli, Italian actress (b. 1921)
 * 2007 – Juanita Millender-McDonald, American educator and politician (b. 1938)
 * 2009 – Jack Cardiff, British cinematographer, director and photographer (b. 1914)
 * 2010 – Richard Barrett, American lawyer and activist (b. 1943)
 * 2012 – George Rathmann, American chemist, biologist, and businessman (b. 1927)
 * 2013 – Richie Havens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1941)
 * 2013  – Lalgudi Jayaraman, Indian violinist and composer (b. 1930)
 * 2013  – Robert Suderburg, American pianist, composer, and conductor (b. 1936)
 * 2014 – Oswaldo Vigas, Venezuelan painter (b. 1926)
 * 2015 – Dick Balharry, Scottish environmentalist and photographer (b. 1937)
 * 2017 – Donna Leanne Williams, Australian writer, artist, and activist (b. 1963)
 * 2020 – Shirley Knight, American actress (b. 1936)
 * 2021 – Adrian Garrett, American professional baseball player (b. 1943)
 * 2022 – Guy Lafleur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1951)
 * 2023 – Len Goodman, English ballroom dancer and television personality (b. 1944)

Holidays and observances

 * Christian feast day:
 * Acepsimas of Hnaita and companions (Catholic Church)
 * Arwald
 * Epipodius and Alexander
 * Hudson Stuck (Episcopal Church)
 * John Muir (Episcopal Church)
 * Opportuna of Montreuil
 * Pope Caius
 * Pope Soter
 * St Senorina
 * April 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Fighter Aviation Day (Brazil)
 * Discovery Day (Brazil)
 * Earth Day (International observance) and its related observance: International Mother Earth Day
 * Holocaust Remembrance Day (Serbia)
 * From 2018 onwards, a national day of commemoration for the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence (United Kingdom)

title: April 22


text:
August 31

Pre-1600

 * 1056 – After a sudden illness a few days previously, Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.
 * 1057 – Abdication of Byzantine Emperor Michael VI Bringas after just one year.
 * 1218 – Al-Kamil becomes sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty.
 * 1314 – King Haakon V of Norway moves the capital from Bergen to Oslo.
 * 1420 – The 8.8–9.4 Caldera earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunami in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan.
 * 1422 – King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France. His son, Henry VI, becomes King of England at the age of nine months.
 * 1535 – Pope Paul III excommunicates English King Henry VIII from the church. He drew up a papal bull of excommunication which began Eius qui immobilis.

1601–1900

 * 1776 – William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey, begins serving his first term.
 * 1795 – War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.
 * 1798 – Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.
 * 1813 – Peninsular War: Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.
 * 1864 – During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta.
 * 1876 – Ottoman Sultan Murad V is deposed and succeeded by his brother, Abdul Hamid II.
 * 1886 – The 7.0 Charleston earthquake affects southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme). Sixty people killed with damage estimated at $5–6 million.
 * 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims.
 * 1895 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.

1901–present

 * 1907 – Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not to interfere in Tibet.
 * 1918 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.
 * 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
 * 1933 – The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.
 * 1935 – In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.
 * 1936 – Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.
 * 1939 – Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.
 * 1940 – Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.
 * 1941 – World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.
 * 1943 – USS Harmon (DE-678), the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.
 * 1949 – The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.
 * 1950 – TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard.
 * 1957 – The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
 * 1959 – A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
 * 1962 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
 * 1963 – Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self governance.
 * 1972 – Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard.
 * 1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
 * 1986  – The Soviet passenger liner SS Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.
 * 1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.
 * 1988 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14.
 * 1988  – CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people.
 * 1991 – Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
 * 1993 – Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.
 * 1994 – Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.
 * 1996 – Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.
 * 1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.
 * 1999 – The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.
 * 1999  – A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.
 * 2002 – Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, made landfall, killing at least 236 people.
 * 2005 – The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people.
 * 2006 – Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
 * 2016 – Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.
 * 2019 – A sightseeing helicopter crashes in the mountains of Skoddevarre in Alta Municipality in Northern Norway killing all 6 occupants.

Pre-1600

 * 12 – Caligula, Roman emperor (d. 41)
 * 161 – Commodus, Roman emperor (d. 192)
 * 1018 – Jeongjong II, Korean ruler (d. 1046)
 * 1168 – Zhang Zong, Chinese emperor (d. 1208)
 * 1542 – Isabella de' Medici, Italian princess (d. 1576)
 * 1569 – Jahangir, Mughal emperor (d. 1627)

1601–1900

 * 1652 – Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Italian nobleman (d. 1708)
 * 1663 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (d. 1705)
 * 1721 – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1775)
 * 1741 – Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, French composer and educator (d. 1816)
 * 1748 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, French ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, and playwright (d. 1820)
 * 1767 – Henry Joy McCracken, Irish businessman and activist, founded the Society of United Irishmen (d. 1798)
 * 1775 – Agnes Bulmer, English poet and author (d. 1836)
 * 1797 – Ramón Castilla, Peruvian military leader and politician, President of Peru (d. 1867)
 * 1797  – Stephen Geary, English architect, inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1854)
 * 1802 – Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (d. 1834)
 * 1811 – Théophile Gautier, French poet and critic (d. 1872)
 * 1821 – Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (d. 1894)
 * 1823 – Galusha A. Grow, American lawyer and politician, 28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1907)
 * 1834 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and educator (d. 1886)
 * 1842 – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, American journalist, publisher, and activist (d. 1924)
 * 1843 – Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (d. 1919)
 * 1870 – Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator (d. 1952)
 * 1871 – James E. Ferguson, American banker and politician, 26th Governor of Texas (d. 1944)
 * 1875 – Rosa Lemberg, Namibian-born Finnish American teacher, singer and choral conductor (d. 1959)
 * 1878 – Frank Jarvis, American sprinter and lawyer (d. 1933)
 * 1879 – Alma Mahler, Austrian-American composer and author (d. 1964)
 * 1879  – Taishō, Emperor of Japan (d. 1926)
 * 1880 – Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands (d. 1962)
 * 1884 – George Sarton, Belgian-American historian of science (d. 1956)
 * 1885 – DuBose Heyward, American author and playwright (d. 1940)
 * 1890 – August Alle, Estonian poet and author (d. 1952)
 * 1890  – Nätti-Jussi, Finnish lumberjack and forest laborer (d. 1964)
 * 1893 – Lily Laskine, French harp player (d. 1988)
 * 1894 – Albert Facey, Australian soldier and author (d. 1982)
 * 1896 – Brian Edmund Baker, English Air Marshal (d. 1979)
 * 1896  – Félix-Antoine Savard, Canadian priest and author (d. 1982)
 * 1897 – Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)
 * 1900 – Gino Lucetti, Italian anarchist, attempted assassin of Benito Mussolini (d. 1943)

1901–present

 * 1902 – Géza Révész, Hungarian general and politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (d. 1977)
 * 1903 – Arthur Godfrey, American radio and television host (d. 1983)
 * 1903  – Vladimir Jankélévitch, French musicologist and philosopher (d. 1985)
 * 1905 – Robert Bacher, American physicist and academic (d. 2004)
 * 1905  – Sanford Meisner, American actor and educator (d. 1997)
 * 1907 – Valter Biiber, Estonian footballer (d. 1977)
 * 1907  – Augustus F. Hawkins, American lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
 * 1907  – Ramon Magsaysay, Filipino captain, engineer, and politician, 7th President of the Philippines (d. 1957)
 * 1907  – William Shawn, American journalist (d. 1992)
 * 1907  – Altiero Spinelli, Italian theorist and politician (d. 1986)
 * 1908 – William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (d. 1981)
 * 1909 – Ferenc Fejtő, Hungarian-French journalist and political scientist (d. 2008)
 * 1911 – Edward Brongersma, Dutch journalist and politician (d. 1998)
 * 1911  – Arsenio Rodríguez, Cuban-American tres player, composer, and bandleader (d. 1970)
 * 1913 – Helen Levitt, American photographer and cinematographer (d. 2009)
 * 1913  – Bernard Lovell, English physicist and astronomer (d. 2012)
 * 1914 – Richard Basehart, American actor (d. 1984)
 * 1915 – Pete Newell, American basketball player and coach (d. 2008)
 * 1916 – Danny Litwhiler, American baseball player and coach (d. 2011)
 * 1916  – Daniel Schorr, American journalist and author (d. 2010)
 * 1916  – John S. Wold, American geologist and politician (d. 2017)
 * 1918 – Alan Jay Lerner, American songwriter and composer (d. 1986)
 * 1919 – Amrita Pritam, Indian poet and author (d. 2005)
 * 1921 – Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (d. 2014)
 * 1921  – Raymond Williams, Welsh author and academic (d. 1988)
 * 1924 – John Davidson, American physician and politician (d. 2012)
 * 1924  – Buddy Hackett, American actor and singer (d. 2003)
 * 1924  – Herbert Wise, Austrian-English director and producer (d. 2015)
 * 1925 – Moran Campbell, English-Canadian physician and academic, invented the venturi mask (d. 2004)
 * 1925  – Maurice Pialat, French actor and director (d. 2003)
 * 1928 – James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)
 * 1928  – Jaime Sin, Filipino cardinal (d. 2005)
 * 1930 – Big Tiny Little, American pianist (d. 2010)
 * 1931 – Jean Béliveau, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2014)
 * 1931  – Rolf Just Nilsen, Norwegian singer and actor (d. 1981)
 * 1931  – Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
 * 1932 – Allan Fotheringham, Canadian journalist (d. 2020)
 * 1932  – Roy Castle, English dancer, singer, comedian, actor, television presenter and musician (d. 1994)
 * 1935 – Eldridge Cleaver, American activist and author (d. 1998)
 * 1935  – Bryan Organ, English painter
 * 1935  – Frank Robinson, American baseball player and manager (d. 2019)
 * 1936 – Vladimir Orlov, Russian journalist and author (d. 2014)
 * 1937 – Warren Berlinger, American actor (d. 2020)
 * 1937  – Bobby Parker, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
 * 1938 – Martin Bell, English journalist and politician
 * 1939 – Jerry Allison, American drummer and songwriter (d. 2022)
 * 1940 – Robbie Basho, American guitarist, pianist, and composer (d. 1986)
 * 1940  – Wilton Felder, American saxophonist and bass player (d. 2015)
 * 1940  – Larry Hankin, American actor, director, and producer
 * 1940  – Roger Newman, English-American actor and screenwriter (d. 2010)
 * 1940  – Jack Thompson, Australian actor
 * 1941 – William DeWitt, Jr., American businessman
 * 1941  – Emmanuel Nunes, Portuguese-French composer and educator (d. 2012)
 * 1942 – Isao Aoki, Japanese golfer
 * 1943 – Leonid Ivashov, Russian general
 * 1944 – Roger Dean, English illustrator and publisher
 * 1944  – Liz Forgan, English journalist
 * 1944  – Christine King, English historian and academic
 * 1944  – Clive Lloyd, Guyanese cricketer
 * 1945 – Van Morrison, Northern Irish singer-songwriter
 * 1945  – Itzhak Perlman, Israeli-American violinist and conductor
 * 1945  – Bob Welch, American singer and guitarist (d. 2012)
 * 1946 – Ann Coffey, Scottish social worker and politician
 * 1946  – Jerome Corsi, American conspiracy theorist and author
 * 1946  – Tom Coughlin, American football player and coach
 * 1947 – Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Italian businessman
 * 1947  – Yumiko Ōshima, Japanese author and illustrator
 * 1947  – Somchai Wongsawat, Thai lawyer and politician, 26th Prime Minister of Thailand
 * 1948 – Harald Ertl, Austrian race car driver and journalist (d. 1982)
 * 1948  – Lowell Ganz, American screenwriter and producer
 * 1948  – Ken McMullen, English director, producer, and screenwriter
 * 1948  – Holger Osieck, German footballer and manager
 * 1948  – Rudolf Schenker, German guitarist and songwriter
 * 1949 – Richard Gere, American actor and producer
 * 1949  – Stephen McKinley Henderson, American actor
 * 1949  – Hugh David Politzer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
 * 1949  – Rick Roberts, American country-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1951 – Grant Batty, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1952 – Kim Kashkashian, American viola player and educator
 * 1952  – Herbert Reul, German politician
 * 1953 – Marcia Clark, American attorney and author
 * 1953  – Miguel Ángel Guerra, Argentinian race car driver
 * 1953  – György Károly, Hungarian poet and author (d. 2018)
 * 1953  – Pavel Vinogradov, Russian astronaut and engineer
 * 1954 – Julie Brown, American actress and screenwriter
 * 1955 – Aleksander Krupa, Polish-American actor
 * 1955  – Julie Maxton, Scottish lawyer and academic
 * 1955  – Edwin Moses, American hurdler
 * 1955  – Anthony Thistlethwaite, English saxophonist and bass player
 * 1955  – Gary Webb, American journalist and author (d. 2004)
 * 1956 – Mária Balážová, Slovak painter and illustrator
 * 1956  – Kent Nilsson, Swedish ice hockey player
 * 1956  – Masashi Tashiro, Japanese singer, actor, and director
 * 1956  – Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese politician and the President of the Republic of China
 * 1957 – Colm O'Rourke, Irish footballer and sportscaster
 * 1957  – Gina Schock, American drummer
 * 1957  – Glenn Tilbrook, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1958 – Serge Blanco, Venezuelan-French rugby player and businessman
 * 1958  – Stephen Cottrell, English bishop
 * 1959 – Ralph Krueger, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1959  – Jessica Upshaw, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
 * 1960 – Vali Ionescu, Romanian long jumper
 * 1960  – Chris Whitley, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2005)
 * 1960  – Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese politician, 3rd Secretary-General of Hezbollah
 * 1961 – Kieran Crowley, New Zealand rugby player
 * 1961  – Magnus Ilmjärv, Estonian historian and author
 * 1962 – Dee Bradley Baker, American voice actor
 * 1963 – Reb Beach, American guitarist
 * 1963  – Rituparno Ghosh, Indian actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
 * 1963  – Sonny Silooy, Dutch footballer and manager
 * 1964 – Raymond P. Hammond, American poet and critic
 * 1965 – Zsolt Borkai, Hungarian gymnast and politician
 * 1965  – Susan Gritton, English soprano and actress
 * 1966 – Lyuboslav Penev, Bulgarian footballer and manager
 * 1967 – Gene Hoglan, American drummer
 * 1967  – Anita Moen, Norwegian skier
 * 1968 – Valdon Dowiyogo, Nauruan politician (d. 2016)
 * 1968  – Hideo Nomo, Japanese baseball player
 * 1968  – Jolene Watanabe, American tennis player (d. 2019)
 * 1969 – Nathalie Bouvier, French skier
 * 1969  – Jonathan LaPaglia, Australian actor and physician
 * 1969  – Jeff Russo, American musician
 * 1969  – Javagal Srinath, Indian cricketer and referee
 * 1970 – Debbie Gibson, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress
 * 1970  – Nikola Gruevski, Macedonian economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
 * 1970  – Greg Mulholland, English politician
 * 1970  – Queen Rania of Jordan
 * 1970  – Arie van Lent, Dutch-German footballer and manager
 * 1970  – Zack Ward, Canadian actor and producer
 * 1971 – Kirstie Allsopp, British TV presenter
 * 1971  – Pádraig Harrington, Irish golfer
 * 1971  – Vadim Repin, Belgian-Russian violinist
 * 1971  – Chris Tucker, American comedian and actor
 * 1973 – Scott Niedermayer, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
 * 1974 – Andriy Medvedev, Ukrainian-Monégasque tennis player
 * 1975 – Craig Cumming, New Zealand cricketer and sportscaster
 * 1975  – John Grahame, American ice hockey player and coach
 * 1975  – Sara Ramirez, Mexican-American actor and musician
 * 1976 – Vincent Delerm, French singer-songwriter and pianist
 * 1976  – Shar Jackson, American actress and singer
 * 1976  – Roque Júnior, Brazilian footballer and manager
 * 1976  – Radek Martínek, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1977 – Jeff Hardy, American wrestler and singer
 * 1977  – Ian Harte, Irish footballer
 * 1977  – Craig Nicholls, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
 * 1977  – Arzu Yanardağ, Turkish actress and model
 * 1978 – Philippe Christanval, French footballer
 * 1978  – Ido Pariente, Israeli mixed martial artist and trainer
 * 1978  – Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model
 * 1978  – Craig Stapleton, Australian rugby league player
 * 1978  – Sandis Valters, Latvian basketball player
 * 1978  – Morten Qvenild, Norwegian pianist and composer
 * 1979 – Clay Hensley, American baseball player
 * 1979  – Mark Johnston, Canadian swimmer
 * 1979  – Yara Martinez, Puerto Rican-American actress
 * 1979  – Simon Neil, Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
 * 1979  – Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian Tamil singer-songwriter and producer
 * 1979  – Ramón Santiago, Dominican baseball player
 * 1979  – Mickie James, American wrestler
 * 1980 – Joe Budden, American broadcaster and former rapper
 * 1981 – Ahmad Al Harthy, Omani race car driver
 * 1981  – Dwayne Peel, Welsh rugby player
 * 1981  – Steve Saviano, American ice hockey player
 * 1982 – Ian Crocker, American swimmer
 * 1982  – Chris Duhon, American basketball player
 * 1982  – Lien Huyghebaert, Belgian sprinter
 * 1982  – Christopher Katongo, Zambian footballer
 * 1982  – Josh Kroeger, American baseball player
 * 1982  – Alexei Mikhnov, Ukrainian-Russian ice hockey player
 * 1982  – Pepe Reina, Spanish footballer
 * 1982  – Michele Rugolo, Italian race car driver
 * 1982  – G. Willow Wilson, American journalist and author
 * 1983 – Deniz Aydoğdu, German-Turkish footballer
 * 1983  – Milan Biševac, Serbian footballer
 * 1983  – Larry Fitzgerald, American football player
 * 1984 – Matti Breschel, Danish cyclist
 * 1984  – Ryan Kesler, American ice hockey player
 * 1984  – Ted Ligety, American skier
 * 1984  – Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer
 * 1985 – Rolando, Portuguese footballer
 * 1985  – Andrew Foster, Australian footballer
 * 1985  – Mabel Matiz, Turkish singer
 * 1985  – Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia
 * 1986 – Ryan Kelley, American actor
 * 1986  – Johnny Wactor, American actor (d. 2024)
 * 1986  – Blake Wheeler, American ice hockey player
 * 1987 – Xavi Annunziata, Spanish footballer
 * 1987  – Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer
 * 1987  – Ondřej Pavelec, Czech ice hockey player
 * 1988 – Matt Adams, American baseball player
 * 1988  – Trent Hodkinson, Australian rugby league player
 * 1988  – David Ospina, Colombian footballer
 * 1988  – Ember Moon, American wrestler
 * 1989 – Dezmon Briscoe, American football player
 * 1990 – Tadeja Majerič, Slovenian tennis player
 * 1991 – António Félix da Costa, Portuguese race car driver
 * 1991  – Cédric Soares, Portuguese footballer
 * 1992 – Holly Earl, British actress
 * 1992  – Tyler Randell, Australian rugby league player
 * 1993 – Pablo Marí, Spanish football player
 * 1993  – Ilnur Alshin, Russian football player
 * 1993  – Anna Karnaukh, Russian water polo player
 * 1994 – Alex Harris, Scottish footballer
 * 1994  – Can Aktav, Turkish football player
 * 1996 – Jalen Brunson, American basketball player
 * 1998 – Jaylen Barron, American actress
 * 2000 – Sauce Gardner, American football player
 * 2001 – Amanda Anisimova, American tennis player
 * 2004 – Jang Won-young, South Korean singer and model

Pre-1600

 * 318 – Liu Cong, emperor of the Xiongnu state
 * 577 – John Scholasticus, Byzantine patriarch and saint
 * 651 – Aidan of Lindisfarne, Irish bishop and saint
 * 731 – Ōtomo no Tabito, Japanese poet (b. 665)
 * 894 – Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Ta'i, Muslim governor
 * 1054 – Kunigunde of Altdorf, Frankish noblewoman (b. c. 1020)
 * 1056 – Theodora, Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire (b. 981)
 * 1115 – Turgot of Durham (b.c. 1050)
 * 1158 – Sancho III of Castile (b. 1134)
 * 1234 – Emperor Go-Horikawa of Japan (b. 1212)
 * 1287 – Konrad von Würzburg, German poet
 * 1324 – Henry II of Jerusalem (b. 1271)
 * 1372 – Ralph de Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford, English soldier (b. 1301)
 * 1422 – Henry V of England (b. 1386)
 * 1450 – Isabella of Navarre, Countess of Armagnac (b. 1395)
 * 1502 – Thomas Wode, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
 * 1528 – Matthias Grünewald, German artist (b. 1470)

1601–1900

 * 1645 – Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet (b. 1566)
 * 1654 – Ole Worm, Danish physician and historian (b. 1588)
 * 1688 – John Bunyan, English preacher, theologian, and author (b. 1628)
 * 1730 – Gottfried Finger, Czech-German viol player and composer (b. 1660)
 * 1741 – Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German academic and jurist (b. 1681)
 * 1772 – William Borlase, English geologist and historian (b. 1695)
 * 1795 – François-André Danican Philidor, French-English chess player and composer (b. 1726)
 * 1799 – Nicolas-Henri Jardin, French architect and academic, designed the Bernstorff Palace and Marienlyst Castle (b. 1720)
 * 1811 – Louis Antoine de Bougainville, French admiral and explorer (b. 1729)
 * 1814 – Arthur Phillip, English admiral and politician, 1st Governor of New South Wales (b. 1738)
 * 1817 – Sir John Duckworth, 1st Baronet, English admiral and politician, 39th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1747)
 * 1818 – Robert Calder, Scottish admiral (b. 1745)
 * 1858 – Chief Oshkosh, Menominee chief (b. 1795)
 * 1867 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (b. 1821)
 * 1864 – Ferdinand Lassalle, Prussian-German jurist and philosopher (b. 1825)
 * 1869 – Mary Ward, Irish astronomer and entomologist (b. 1827)
 * 1884 – Robert Torrens, Irish-Australian politician, 3rd Premier of South Australia (b. 1814)

1901–present

 * 1908 – Leslie Green, English architect (b. 1875)
 * 1910 – Emīls Dārziņš, Latvian composer, conductor, and music critic (b. 1875)
 * 1912 – Jean, duc Decazes, French sailor (b. 1864)
 * 1920 – Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, psychologist, and philosopher (b. 1832)
 * 1924 – Todor Aleksandrov, Bulgarian soldier (b. 1881)
 * 1927 – Andranik, Armenian general (b. 1865)
 * 1937 – Ruth Baldwin, British socialite (b. 1905)
 * 1940 – Georges Gauthier, Canadian archbishop (b. 1871)
 * 1940  – DeLancey W. Gill, American painter (b. 1859)
 * 1941 – Thomas Bavin, New Zealand-Australian politician, 24th Premier of New South Wales (b. 1874)
 * 1941  – Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet and author (b. 1892)
 * 1945 – Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (b. 1892)
 * 1948 – Andrei Zhdanov, Russian civil servant and politician (b. 1896)
 * 1951 – Paul Demel, Czech actor (b. 1903)
 * 1952 – Henri Bourassa, Canadian publisher and politician (b. 1868)
 * 1954 – Elsa Barker, American author and poet (b. 1869)
 * 1963 – Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (b. 1882)
 * 1965 – E. E. Smith, American engineer and author (b. 1890)
 * 1967 – Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian journalist and author (b. 1891)
 * 1968 – John Hartle, English motorcycle racer (b. 1933)
 * 1969 – Rocky Marciano, American boxer (b. 1923)
 * 1973 – John Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (b. 1894)
 * 1974 – William Pershing Benedict, American soldier and pilot (b. 1918)
 * 1974  – Norman Kirk, New Zealand engineer and politician, 29th Prime Minister of New Zealand (b. 1923)
 * 1978 – John Wrathall, Rhodesian accountant and politician, 2nd President of Rhodesia (b. 1913)
 * 1979 – Sally Rand, American actress and dancer (b. 1904)
 * 1979  – Tiger Smith, English cricketer and coach (b. 1886)
 * 1984 – Audrey Wagner, American baseball player, obstetrician, and gynecologist (b. 1927)
 * 1985 – Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1899)
 * 1986 – Elizabeth Coatsworth, American author and poet (b. 1893)
 * 1986  – Urho Kekkonen, Finnish journalist, lawyer, and politician, 8th President of Finland (b. 1900)
 * 1986  – Henry Moore, English sculptor and illustrator (b. 1898)
 * 1990 – Nathaniel Clifton, American basketball player and coach (b. 1922)
 * 1991 – Cliff Lumsdon, Canadian swimmer and coach (b. 1931)
 * 1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
 * 1997  – Dodi Fayed, Egyptian film producer (b. 1955)
 * 2000 – Lucille Fletcher, American screenwriter (b. 1912)
 * 2000  – Dolores Moore, American baseball player and educator (b. 1932)
 * 2002 – Lionel Hampton, American pianist, composer, and bandleader (b. 1908)
 * 2002  – Farhad Mehrad, Persian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and pianist (b. 1944)
 * 2002  – George Porter, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1920)
 * 2005 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1908)
 * 2006 – Mohamed Abdelwahab, Egyptian footballer (b. 1983)
 * 2006  – Tom Delaney, English race car driver and businessman (b. 1911)
 * 2007 – Gay Brewer, American golfer (b. 1932)
 * 2007  – Jean Jacques Paradis, Canadian general (b. 1928)
 * 2007  – Sulev Vahtre, Estonian historian and academic (b. 1926)
 * 2008 – Ken Campbell, English actor and screenwriter (b. 1941)
 * 2008  – Ike Pappas, American journalist (b. 1933)
 * 2008  – Victor Yates, New Zealand rugby player (b. 1939)
 * 2010 – Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (b. 1960)
 * 2011 – Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1976)
 * 2012 – Max Bygraves, English actor (b. 1922)
 * 2012  – Joe Lewis, American martial artist and actor (b. 1944)
 * 2012  – Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (b. 1927)
 * 2012  – Kashiram Rana, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1938)
 * 2012  – John C. Shabaz, American judge and politician (b. 1931)
 * 2012  – Sergey Sokolov, Russian commander and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for The Soviet Union (b. 1911)
 * 2013 – Alan Carrington, English chemist and academic (b. 1934)
 * 2013  – David Frost, English journalist and game show host (b. 1939)
 * 2013  – Jimmy Greenhalgh, English footballer and manager (b. 1923)
 * 2013  – Jan Camiel Willems, Belgian mathematician and theorist (b. 1939)
 * 2014 – Bapu, Indian director and screenwriter (b. 1933)
 * 2014  – Ștefan Andrei, Romanian politician, 87th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (b. 1931)
 * 2014  – Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (b. 1932)
 * 2014  – Carol Vadnais, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1945)
 * 2015 – Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, English politician, founded the National Motor Museum (b. 1926)
 * 2015  – Tom Scott, American football player (b. 1930)
 * 2018 – Carole Shelley, British-American actress (b. 1939)
 * 2019 – Anthoine Hubert, French race car driver (b. 1996)
 * 2019  – Alec Holowka, Canadian game developer (b. 1983)
 * 2020 – Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India (b. 1935)
 * 2020  – Tom Seaver, American baseball player (b. 1944)
 * 2021 – Mahal, Filipino comedian and actress (b. 1974)
 * 2021  – Francesco Morini, Italian footballer (b. 1944)
 * 2021  – Michael Constantine, Greek-American actor (b. 1927)
 * 2021  – Geronimo, British alpaca (b. 2013)

Holidays and observances

 * Baloch-Pakhtun Unity Day (Balochs and Pashtuns, International observance)
 * Christian feast day:
 * Aidan of Lindisfarne
 * Aristides of Athens
 * Cuthburh
 * Dominguito del Val
 * Joseph of Arimathea
 * Nicodemus
 * Paulinus of Trier
 * Raymond Nonnatus
 * Wala of Corbie
 * Waltheof, Earl of Northumbria
 * August 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
 * Day of Solidarity and Freedom (Poland)
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991.
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malaya from the United Kingdom in 1957.
 * Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom in 1962.
 * Romanian Language Day (Romania, Moldova)
 * North Borneo Self-government Day (Sabah, Borneo)

title: August 31