Parana River
South America's second river, the heart of the Rio de la Plata basin
The Parana is South America's second-longest river and the spine of a basin that drains much of the continent's temperate heartland. Born where two great Brazilian rivers meet, it runs south and west through Paraguay and Argentina, gathering the Paraguay and finally the Uruguay before pouring into the vast estuary of the Rio de la Plata. Along its course lie some of the most powerful waterfalls and largest dams on Earth, and the farmland it waters feeds a large share of global grain exports.
The river extends some 4,880 kilometers from the confluence of the Grande and Paranaiba in southern Brazil. Its upper course once tumbled over the Guaira Falls, among the most voluminous cascades anywhere, now drowned beneath the reservoir of the Itaipu Dam. Below that the Parana settles into a broad, braided lowland river, splitting into channels and seasonal wetlands and finally building a sprawling delta of islands near Buenos Aires. There it merges with the Paraguay and Uruguay to form the funnel-shaped Rio de la Plata, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.
The Parana has been a corridor of trade and conflict since colonial times, its banks now lined with the ports through which Argentine and Brazilian soy, maize and beef reach the world. The binational Itaipu Dam, shared by Brazil and Paraguay, was for years the largest hydroelectric producer on the planet. In recent years the river has suffered historic low water, stranding barges and exposing how dependent regional agriculture and shipping have become on its flow.