Rio Grande ( or ; Spanish: RÃÆ'o Bravo del Norte , pronounced ['ri.o' ?? a? o ÃÆ' Â ° el 'norte] or just RÃÆ'o Bravo ) is one of the major rivers in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico (the other is the Colorado River). The Rio Grande begins in central-southern Colorado in the United States and flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, it forms part of the Mexican-American border. According to the International Border and Water Commission, the total length was 1,896 miles (3,051 km) in the late 1980s, although the shift alone sometimes resulted in lengthy changes. Depending on how it is measured, the Rio Grande is the fourth or fifth longest river system in North America.
The river serves as part of the natural border between the US state of Texas and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo LeÃÆ'³n, and Tamaulipas. A very short stretch of river serves as part of the boundary between the US states of Texas and New Mexico. Since the mid-20th century, heavy water consumption from agriculture and towns along with many large diversion dams in rivers has left only 20% of the natural discharge to flow into the Gulf. Near the mouth of the river, the high-irrigated Rio Grande Valley is an important agricultural area.
The Rio Grande basin covers 182,200 square miles (472,000 km 2 ). Many endorphic basins lie within, or adjacent to, the Rio Grande basin, and these are sometimes included in the total area of ​​the river, increasing its size to about 336,000 square miles (870,000 km 2 ).
Video Rio Grande
Geography
The Rio Grande rises in the western part of the Rio Grande National Forest in the US state of Colorado. The river is formed by the joining of several rivers at the base of Mount Canby in the San Juan Mountains, just east of the Continental Divide. From there, flow through San Luis Valley, then south to the Central Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico, past the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, then head for EspaÃÆ' Â ± ola, and take additional water from the San Juan-Chama Diversion Project from Rio Chama. It then continues on the southern route through the desert towns of Albuquerque, and Las Cruces to El Paso, Texas and Ciudad JuÃÆ'¡rez, Chihuahua. In the Albuquerque area, the river runs through a number of historic Pueblo villages, including Sandia Pueblo and Isleta Pueblo. Under El Paso, it serves as part of the border between the United States and Mexico.
The official river border measurements range from 889 miles (1,431 km) to 1,248 miles (2,008 km), depending on how the river is measured. The main tributary, Rio Conchos, enters into Ojinaga, Chihuahua, under El Paso, and supplies most of the water in the border segment. Other tributaries include Pecos and Little Devils, who joined the Rio Grande on the Amistad Dam site. Regardless of the name and length, the Rio Grande can not be navigated by a ship, or a smaller passenger boat or a cargo barge using it as a route. It can hardly be navigable at all, except by small boats in some places; at its deepest point, the depth of the river is 60 feet (18 m).
The Rio Grande rises on high mountains and flows for most of its length on the plateau; Albuquerque is 5,312 feet (1,619 m), and El Paso is 3,762 feet (1,147 m) above sea level. In New Mexico, rivers flow through the Rio Grande slit from a basin filled with sediment to another basin, cutting the valley between the valleys and supporting the bosque ecosystem in its floodplain. From El Paso to the east, the river flows through the desert. Although irrigated agriculture exists in most of its stretches, this farm is extensive in the subtropical Lower Rio Grande Valley. The river ends in a small sandy delta in the Gulf of Mexico. During 2001 and 2002, the mouth of the Rio Grande was blocked by sand dunes. In the fall of 2003, the sand dune was cleared by a high river stream of about 7,063 cubic feet per second (200 m 3 /s).
Maps Rio Grande
Navigation was active during most of the 19th century, with over 200 different steamers operating between the river mouth close to Brownsville, and Rio Grande City, Texas. Many steamships from Ohio and the Mississippi River were taken over by the US government and moved to the Rio Grande during the Mexican War in 1846. They provided transportation for the US Army, under General Zachary Taylor, to attack Monterrey, Mexico, through the Municipality of Camargo, Tamaulipas. Military engineers advocate that with minor repairs the river can easily be made navigable as far north of El Paso. The recommendations were never followed up.
The Brownsville & amp; Matamoros International Bridge, a large swing bridge, dates back to 1910 and is still used today by cars linking Brownsville with Matamoros, Tamaulipas. It had not been opened since the early 1900s, though, when the last of the big steamers disappeared. At one point, the bridge also has rail traffic. Railways no longer use this bridge. The new Rail Rail (West Rail International Crossing) linking the US and Mexico was built about 15 miles west of Brownsville & Matamoros International Bridge. Inaugurated in August 2015. It moved all rail operations from downtown Brownsville and Matamoros. The West Rail International Crossing is the first international rail crossing between the US and Mexico in 105 years. The Brownsville & amp; Matamoros International Bridge is now operated by Brownsville and Matamoros Bridge Company, a joint venture between the Mexican government and Union Pacific Railroad.
At the mouth of the Rio Grande, on the Mexican side, is a large commercial port of Baghdad. During the American Civil War, this was the only legitimate Confederate port. European warships anchored offshore to maintain port neutrality, and managed to do so successfully throughout the conflict, despite the occasional boast with the blocking of ships from the US Navy. It is a shallow river port, with several small boats carrying cargo to and from deeper cargo vessels being transported to shore. These deeper ships could not cross the shallow sandbanks at the mouth of the river. Port trade is a European military supply, in return for cotton bales.
History
During the late 1830s and early 1840s, the river marked the disputed border between Mexico and the newborn Texan Republic; Mexico marks the border on the Nueces River. The disagreement gave part of the reason for the US invasion of Mexico in 1846, after Texas was recognized as a new state. Since 1848, the Rio Grande has marked the boundary between Mexico and the United States from the twin cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad JuÃÆ'¡rez, Chihuahua, to the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, crossing the river is the escape route used by some Texan slaves to seek freedom. Mexico has a liberal colonization policy and has abolished slavery in 1828.
In 1899, after a gradual change into the position of the river, a trench was dug for flood control that moved the river, creating what is called the Cordova Island, which became the center of Chamizal's dispute. Resolving the dispute took years and almost resulted in the killing of American and Mexican presidents.
In 1944, the US and Mexico signed a treaty on rivers, and in 1997, the US established the Rio Grande as one of the American Heritage Rivers. The two parts of the Rio Grande are designated as the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, one north of New Mexico and another in Texas, in Big Bend National Park.
In the summer of 2001, a 328-foot (100 m) sand dune formed at the river's mouth marked the first time in history that the Rio Grande failed to empty the Gulf of Mexico. The sand dune was dredged, but soon changed. The spring rains of the following year drowned sand dunes renewed into the sea, but returned in the summer of 2002. In the fall of 2003, the river once again reached the Gulf.
Stream modification
The United States and Mexico share river water under a series of agreements set by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), US-Mexico. The most important of these treaties was signed in 1906 and 1944. IBWC traced its institutional roots to 1889, when the International Boundary Committee was formed to defend the border. IBWC currently also allocates river water between the two countries, and provides flood control and water sanitation.
The use of water owned by the United States is governed by the Rio Grande Compact, an interstate agreement between Colorado, New Mexico and Texas. The Rio Grande water is too adjustable: that is, more water users are there than water in the river. Due to drought and overuse, part of El Paso downstream through Ojinaga has recently been marked "Forgotten River" by those who want to bring attention to the conditions of the deteriorating river.
A number of dams are located in the Rio Grande, including the Rio Grande Dam, Cochiti Dam, Butte Elephant Dam, Caballo Dam, Amistad Dam, Falcon Dam, Anzalduas Dam and Retamal Dam. In southern New Mexico and the upper part of the Texas border segment, river discharge is reduced. The diversion, especially for agricultural irrigation, has increased the natural decrease in flow so that when the river reaches the Presidio, little or no water remains. Under the Presidio, Rio Conchos restored the flow of water. Near the Presidio, the river's flow is often zero. The average debit is 178 cubic feet per second (5 m 3 /s), down from 945 cubic feet per second (27 m 3 /s) in the Butte Elephant Dam. Equipped by other tributaries, Rio Grande's discharge increases to an annual average of a maximum of 3,504 cubic feet per second (99 m 3 /s) near Rio Grande City. The large diversion for irrigation under Rio Grande City reduced the average flow of the river to 889 cubic feet per second (25 m 3 /s) in Brownsville and Matamoros.
Crossing
The main international border crossings along the river are in Ciudad JuÃÆ'¡rez and El Paso; Presidio, and Ojinaga; Laredo, and Nuevo Laredo; McAllen and Reynosa; and Brownsville and Matamoros. Other notable border towns are the Texas/Coahuila couples from Del Rio-Ciudad AcuÃÆ' Â ± a and Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras.
Name and pronunciation
RÃÆ'o Grande is Spanish for "Big River" and RÃÆ'o Grande del Norte means" Great River North ". In English, the Rio Grande is pronounced either or . Because rÃÆ'o means "stream" in Spanish, the phrase Rio Grande River is excessive.
In Mexico, this is known as Spanish RÃÆ'o Bravo or RÃÆ'o Bravo del Norte , bravo which means (among other things)" angry "or" anxious ".
Historically, the Pueblo and Navajo nations also have names for the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo:
- mets'ichi chena , Keresan, "Great River"
- posoge , Rent, "Big River"
- paslÃÆ'¡paane , Tiwa, "Great River"
- haÃÆ' Â ± appites , Towa, "Great Waters"
The four Pueblo names are likely to disable Spanish entrada for several centuries.
- Tó Ba'ÃÆ'¡adi , Navajo, "River Women" in Navajo cosmology)
Rio del Norte is most often used for the Rio Grande over (approximately, within the limits of New Mexico today) from the Spanish colonial period to the end of the Mexican period in the mid-19th century. This usage was first documented by Spain in 1582. Early American settlers in South Texas began using the modern British name of the Rio Grande. By the end of the 19th century, in the United States, the name of the Rio Grande had become the standard applied to the entire river, from Colorado to the ocean.
In 1602, RÃÆ'o Bravo has become the standard Spanish name for the lower rivers, under its encounter with Rio Conchos. RÃÆ'o Bravo
Tributary
The largest tributary of the Rio Grande with discharge is the Rio Conchos, which accounts for nearly twice as much water as the rest. In terms of drainage channel size, the Pecos River is the largest.
See also
Note
Further reading
- Dà ¢ ¡az, George T. Border Contraband: The History of Smuggling Crossing the Rio Grande (University of Texas Press, 2015) xiv, 241 pp.
- Horgan, Paul (1991). Great River: Rio Grande in North American History (4th ed.). Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press. ISBNÃ, 0-8195-6251-3. ; Pulitzer Prize
- Kearney, Milo; Anthony K. Knopp (1995). Boom and Bust: The Historical Cycles of Matamoros and Brownsville . Austin, Tex: Eakin Press. ISBN 978-0-89015-815-9.
- Kelley, Pat (1986). River of Lost Dreams: Navigate on the Rio Grande . Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN: 978-0-8032-2712-5.
- Lea, Tom (1957). The King Ranch . Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN: 978-0-316-51745-4. Primary source
- Coker, Caleb (1992). News from Brownsville: Mail Helen Chapman from Texas Military Frontier, 1848-1852 . Austin, Tex: The Texas State Historical Association. ISBN: 0-87611-115-0.
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External links
- Border Stories: the only ferry pulling ferry on the Rio Grande (video)
- 1854 map of the Rio Grande entrance (organized by Portal to Texas History).
- Rio Grande Cam - in Mission Texas. Mexico is on the left and the US is on the right.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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