| RIVER SYSTEM | LENGTH (miles to source of longest tributary, approx.) | LENGTH (km to source of longest tributary, approx.) | DRAINAGE AREA (sq. miles) | DRAINAGE AREA (1,000 sq. km) | DISCHARGE AT MOUTH (cu. meters per second) | DISTINCTION | NOTABLE TRIBUTARIES |
| Altamaha | 419 | 38 | 400 | Oconee, Ocmulgee | |||
| Amazon | 3,920 | 6,516 | 2,270,000 | 7,180 | 180,000 | the greatest flow , navigable for 2,000 miles | Negro, Tocantins |
| Amu Darya | 1,550 | 2,620 | 227 | 1,300 | |||
| Amur | 2,800 | 4,510 | 730,000 | 1,855 | 12,500 | Sungari | |
| Androscoggin | 171 | 273.6 | |||||
| Apalachicola- -Chattahoochee | 508 | 812.8 | Flint | ||||
| Brahmaputra (Tsangpo) | 1,700 | 2,900 | 938 | 20,000 | |||
| Brazos | 800 | 1280 | |||||
| Cape Fear | 202 | 323.2 | |||||
| Churchill | 1,000 | 1600 | 290 | ||||
| Colorado | 1,450 | 3,200 | 629 | 168 | cuts Grand Canyon | Gila, Salt | |
| Colorado | 970 | 1552 | bears same name as larger river to west | ||||
| Colorado | 550 | 880 | |||||
| Columbia | 1,210 | 2,250 | 669 | 6,650 | Snake, Willamette | ||
| Congo (Zaire) | 2,900 | 4,700 | 1,440,000 | 3,822 | 42,000 | the longest river flowing westward | |
| Connecticut | 380 | 608 | |||||
| Danube (Ister, Danarea, Dunav, Duna, Donau) | 1,750 | 2,850 | 320,000 | 805 | 6,450 | Drava, Tisa (Theiss), Sava, Pruth, Inn | |
| Daugava (Zapadnaja Dvina, Duena) | 635 | 1,020 | 84 | 700 | |||
| Delaware | 315 | 504 | provides food for migrating birds | Lehigh, Schulkill | |||
| Dnieper | 1,420 | 2,850 | 503 | 1,660 | Pripyat, Pina, Desna | ||
| Dniester | 875 | 1400 | |||||
| Don | 1,200 | 1,970 | 443 | 930 | |||
| Douro (Duero) | 475 | 776 | 98 | 650 | |||
| Dvina (Northern) | 465 | 1,302 | 360 | 3,560 | |||
| Ebro | 575 | 927 | 86 | 600 | |||
| Elbe | 725 | 1,165 | 144 | 750 | Moldau, Havel | ||
| Fraser | 850 | 1360 | 235 | 2,938 | |||
| Gambia | 600 | 960 | |||||
| Ganges | 1,560 | 2,700 | 1,073 | 15,000 | sacred river of India | Jumna, Brahmaputra | |
| Garonne | 400 | 650 | 56 | 680 | |||
| Glomma | 365 | 587 | 42 | 685 | |||
| Godavari | 900 | 1440 | |||||
| Göta (with Klarälven) | 720 | 50 | 585 | ||||
| Guadalquivir | 350 | 560 | Name from Arabic Wad-al-Kebir, "great river" | ||||
| Guadiana | 500 | 800 | |||||
| Housatonic | 130 | 208 | |||||
| Hudson | 315 | 504 | navigable to beyond mountains | Mohawk | |||
| Hwai | 675 | 1080 | |||||
| Indigirka | 1,100 | 1760 | |||||
| Indus | 1,800 | 3,180 | 960 | 3,850 | supported prehistoric civilization | Kabul, Ravi | |
| Irrawaddy | 1,000 | 2,150 | 431 | 14,000 | |||
| James | 340 | 544 | |||||
| Jordan | 230 | 368 | |||||
| Kemi | 345 | 494 | 51 | 525 | |||
| Kennebec | 164 | 262.4 | |||||
| Khatanga | 715 | 1144 | |||||
| Kistna | 800 | 1280 | |||||
| Klamath | 270 | 432 | |||||
| Kolmya | 1,500 | 2400 | crosses gold fields | ||||
| La Grande | 3,389 | ||||||
| Lena | 2,700 | 4,270 | 961,000 | 2,490 | 16,400 | ||
| Liao | 900 | 1440 | |||||
| Loire | 625 | 1,020 | 121 | 900 | |||
| Lule | 275 | 450 | 25 | 510 | Dams provide electricity to Sweden | ||
| Mackenzie | 2,640 | 4,250 | 697,000 | 1,805 | 7,500 | 9,856 | |
| Magdalena | 1,000 | 1600 | |||||
| Mekong | 2,500 | 4,500 | 795 | 15,900 | |||
| Merrimack | 110 | 176 | |||||
| Mezen | 565 | 857 | 76 | 840 | |||
| Mississippi- -Missouri | 3,870 | 6,019 | 1,247,000 | 3,221 | 17,545 | the longest river flowing southward | Yellowstone, Platte, Ohio, Wabash , Cumberland, Tennessee, Arkansas, Canadian, Red |
| Mobile- -Tombigbee | 454 | 726.4 | 1,900 | Alabama | |||
| Murray- -Darling | 2,300 | 2,570 | 410,000 | 1,072 | 391 | ||
| Narbada | 800 | 1280 | |||||
| Nelson | 400 | 640 | 1,093 | 2,633 | Saskatchewan, Assinibone | ||
| Neva | 46 | 74 | 281 | 2,530 | |||
| Niemen | 580 | 990 | 98 | 690 | Viliya | ||
| Niger | 2,600 | 4,030 | 850,000 | 2,092 | 5,700 | ||
| Nile | 4,180 | 6,484 | 1,170,000 | 2,881 | 1,584 | Egyptian agriculture depended on seasonal flooding. | White Nile, Blue Nile |
| Ob' | 3,459 | 5,570 | 1,154,000 | 2,975 | 12,600 | 25 miles wide at mouth | Irtysh, Tom |
| Oder | 562 | 912 | 119 | 580 | Neisse | ||
| Ogeechee | 250 | 400 | |||||
| Olenek | 1,350 | 2160 | |||||
| Onega | 250 | 405 | 58 | 575 | |||
| Orange | 1,300 | 2,250 | Vaal | ||||
| Orinoco | 2,200 | 2,500 | 373,000 | 1,086 | 28,000 | upper river branches to form Casiquiare, to Negro, to Amazon | |
| Parnaíba | 800 | 1280 | |||||
| Pechora | 1,120 | 1,809 | 327 | 4,060 | |||
| Pee Dee | 435 | 696 | Waccamaw, Little Pee Dee, Lynches, Yadkin | ||||
| Penobscot | 350 | 560 | |||||
| Po | 405 | 676 | 70 | 1,460 | |||
| Raritan | 75 | 120 | |||||
| Red (Song Koi) | 750 | 800 | 3,900 | Black | |||
| Rhine | 820 | 1,360 | 224 | 2,200 | commercially most important river of Europe | Main | |
| Rhône | 505 | 812 | 98 | 1,900 | Saone | ||
| Río de la Plata , Paraná , Uruguay | 2,795 | 4,700 | 1,197,000 | 2,650 | 19,500 | Paraguay, Pilcomayo | |
| Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte) | 1,885 | 2,870 | 570 (350-930) | 82 | waist-deep at mouth | Pecos | |
| Roanoke | 380 | 608 | |||||
| Saco | 105 | 168 | |||||
| Sacramento | 320 | 512 | |||||
| Saint Lawrence | 2,350 | 3,100 | 1,030 | 10,400 | follows straight fault line , drains Great Lakes | Rainy, Maumee, Niagara, Ottawa, Richelieu, Saguenay | |
| Saltilla | 9 | 85 | |||||
| Salween (Saluen, Chiama Ngu Chu) | 1,750 | 3,200 | 280 | 1,500 | |||
| San Joaquin | 350 | 560 | |||||
| Santee | 143 | 228.8 | Wateree, Catawba, Congaree, Saluda, Broad, Enoree, Tyger | ||||
| São Francisco | 1,900 | 2,900 | 610 | 3,300 | |||
| Savannah | 314 | 502.4 | 29 | 360 | |||
| Seine | 482 | 776 | 79 | 500 | |||
| Senegal | 1,000 | 1600 | |||||
| Shannon | 220 | 352 | |||||
| Shatt el Arab , Euphrates , Tigris | 1,795 | 2,900 | 808 | 856 | home of ancient Mesopotamian civilization | ||
| St. John | 400 | largest river of New Brunswick | |||||
| St. Johns | 280 | 448 | largest river of Florida | ||||
| St. Mary's | 175 | 280 | 4 | 20 | |||
| Susquehanna | 450 | 720 | Drowned lower valley became Chesapeake Bay. | ||||
| Tagus | 625 | 1000 | |||||
| Tarim- -Khotan | 1,300 | 2,000 | 1,000 | ||||
| Thames | 210 | 336 | |||||
| Tiber | 251 | 401.6 | |||||
| Trinity | 500 | 800 | |||||
| Ural | 1,550 | 2,534 | 220 | 347 | Orenburg, Magnitogorsk | ||
| Vistula | 663 | 1,095 | 194 | 1,100 | Bug | ||
| Volga | 2,300 | 3,688 | 533,000 | 1,380 | 8,000 | flows to landlocked Caspian Sea | Kama, Vyatkai, Oka, Moskva |
| Volta | 1,000 | 1600 | |||||
| Waikato | 264 | 425 | longest river in New Zealand | Waipa, Poutu | |||
| Yalu | 500 | 800 | |||||
| Yangtze (Chang Jiang) | 3,900 | 5,800 | 698,000 | 1,970 | 35,000 | the lifeline of China | |
| Yellow (Huang He) | 3,400 | 4,845 | 290,000 | 745 | 1,365 | Silt deposits have raised portions of river bed 70 ft. (20m) above surrounding land. | |
| Yenisei- -Angara | 3,440 | 5,550 | 996,000 | 2,605 | 19,600 | drains Lake Baikal | |
| Yukon | 2,200 | 3,185 | 855 | 7,000 | Tanana, Porcupine | ||
| Zambezi | 2,200 | 2,660 | 548,000 | 1,330 | 2,500 | flows over Victoria Falls |