Amazon basin Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela. Most of the basin is covered by the Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia. With a area of dense tropical forest, this is the largest rainforest in the world. The Amazon River rises in the Andes Mountains at the west of the basin with its main
Amazon biome form barriers to the geodispersal of plants, animals and even insects. Thus the white-fronted capuchin ("Cebus albifrons") and hairy saki ("Pithecia hirsuta") are found west of the Tapajós, while the white-nosed saki ("Chiropotes albinasus") is only found east of the river. The World Wildlife Fund divides the biome into ecoregions, often defined as the regions lying between major tributaries of the Amazon. Most of the interior of the Amazon basin is covered by rainforest. The dense tropical Amazon rainforest is the largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers between of the Amazon biome. The somewhat vague numbers are because