Top 15 Longest Rivers in Asia

  Top 15 Longest Rivers in Asia  

✔ Asia is a small continent that is the home of the largest to smallest rivers in the world.

✔ The river is one of the most important parts of human life which is the main source of water. We cannot imagine our life without water.

✔ Those rivers support billions of people, animals, and plants in Asia with water, transportation, and power.

✔ Among the many rivers in Asia, today we are going to learn about the top 10 longest rivers in Asia which are: the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Mekong River, Lena River, Irtysh River, Brahmaputra River, Ob River, Yenisei River, Ganges River, Amur River, Salween River, etc.

  1. Yangtze River  

✔ The Yangtze River is one of the longest rivers in Asia. Yangtze River is listed as the third longest River in the world at 6,300 Km in length.

✔ It is the world’s longest river to flow entirely within one country. According to Chinese Etymology, the Yangtze River is also known as “Changjiang” which means “long river”.

✔ The Yangtze River carries more water in China than any other river.

✔ It rises at Jari hills in Tanggula mountain of the Tibetan plateau and flows 6,300km in a generally easterly direction to the East China Sea. It is the 7th-largest in the world.

✔ It played a major role in the ancient time in China. For thousands of years, the river has been used for water in many different projects like shipment, irrigation, industry, bloodshed, boundary-marking, and sanitation.

  2. Yellow River  

✔ The Yellow River, also known as Huang He River, is Asia’s second longest river which is the birthplace of Chinese Civilization.

✔ Yellow River is also the sixth longest river in the world at an estimated length of 5,464km. 

✔ It flows through Nine provinces in China. Yellow River is also known as the “Mother River of China”.

✔ The Yellow River pool has an east-west intensity of around 1,900km and a north-south intensity of around 1,100.

✔ The overall total drainage area of the Yellow River is about 795,000 square km. It is also famous as the “World’s Muddiest River”.

✔ The Yellow River’s basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese by extension, East Asian civilization. 

✔ It was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. There are constant destructive waves and course changes formed by the frequent altitude of the river bed.

  3. Mekong River  

✔ The Mekong River is transboundary in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the third longest river in Asia with an estimated length of 4,909km.

✔ The Mekong was also known as Mae Nam Khong from a contracted form of Tai shortened to Mae Khong. From its headwaters in the Tibetan plateau.

✔ It runs or flows through southwest China to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and southern Vietnam.

✔ The river is important for the trade route between western China and Southeast Asia. Mekong River is also known as the “Mother of Waters”.

✔ The construction of hydroelectric dams has hampered rivers along the Mekong River in recent decades causing severe problems for the river’s ecosystem, including the worsening of drought.

  4. Lena River  

✔ The Lena is a river in the Russian Far East. It is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers flowing into the Arctic Ocean.

✔ The Lena is also listed as the eleventh-longest river in the world. According to Russian Etymology, the Lena River is 7,000 years old.

✔ It is also the fourth longest river in Asia and the longest river entirely within Russia, with a length of 4,294 km and a drainage basin of 2,490,000 km2.

✔ The Lena River is very important for the transport of cargo, excavated minerals, fur, food, and industrial products, from their respective production areas to the trade centers.

✔ Along the banks and the rest of the world by way of the Arctic Ocean routes. It completely freezes in December until late April.

  5. Irtysh River  

✔ Irtysh River is very famous in Russia, China, and Kazakhstan. Irtysh River is 3,700km.

✔ Irtysh River rises from the glaciers on the southwestern slopes of the Altai Mountains in the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in northwestern China.

✔ It flows west across the Chinese border through Lake and then northwest across Kazakhstan.

✔ The Irtysh is important in China because it helps to utilize industrial needs, agricultural purposes, fishing, and water consumption.

✔ It is important in Kazakhstan and Russia because the river serves as a significant transport route for war machines, passenger ships, and cargo ships during the ice-free season.

✔ Irtysh River is the main source of water for the people of Kazakhstan. It is also the major tributary of the Ob River. 

  6. Brahmaputra River  

✔ Brahmaputra River transboundary river which flows through Tibet, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh total length of this river is 3,848 km.

✔ Brahmaputra River is also known as Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan. It is also known as the “Deepest River in India”.

✔ It is also known as Siang in Arunachali lust and Brahmaputra in Assamese, Brahmaputra in Bengali in India, and Jamuna River in Bangla in Bangladesh.

✔ The Brahmaputra River originates from the Kailash ranges of the Himalayas at an elevation of 5300 M.

✔ After flowing through Tibet Brahmaputra enters India through Arunachal Pradesh and flows through Assam and Bangladesh before it joins the Bay of Bengal.

✔ It is also known as the Red River because the soil which is naturally rich in iron content gets mixed with the river.

  7. Ob River  

✔ The Ob River is the major river in Russia. The meaning Ob is a large natural stream of water with a 3,650 km length.

✔ It is in western Siberia and when it gets mixed with the Irtysh River it forms the seventh-longest river system in the world.

✔ The source of the Ob River is the Katun River and Biya River. The mouth of the Ob River is the Kara Sea and Gulf of Ob.

✔ Wildlife is abundant for Bears, lynx, reindeer, snow leopards, and Siberian stags. Some of the local names of this river are Kuay, Yag, Kolta, Yema, and so on.

✔ Many other mammals can be found near the shore of the Ob River. Even closer are ducks, gulls, sea eagles, and other species of water animals living on the Ob River.

  8. Indus River  

✔ The Indus River is the eighth longest, Transboundary, and Trans-Himalayan river that is located in South and Central Asia. According to the Sanskrit Etymology Indus means “Sindhu” which means “the border river”.

✔ The total drainage basin of the Indus River is 1,120,000 km² (430,000 sq mi) and it is 3,610 km long(2,243 mi).

✔ The Indus River which is also known as the Sindhu River is historically and culturally important to many cultures of the region.

✔ The Indus River is also an important supplier of water resources to Punjab and Sindh Plains (It is the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan). 

  9. Yenisei River  

✔ Yenisei River is also known as Yenisey River. Yenisei River is the line of a large branch of the Russian Community. Yenisei River lies in Northern Russia and with 3,487 km in length.

✔ The Yenisei River is the largest of three major Siberian rivers that discharge into the Arctic Ocean. It is exactly located in Central Russia.

✔ Yenisei River is famous for fish, including grayling, trout, Lenok, roach, dace, goldilocks, whitefish, Siberian lamprey, Alpine char, carp, pike, and many others.

✔ It is very important in Russia for Agriculture, cattle ranching, and fishing.

  10. Nizhnyaya Tunguska  

✔ Nizhnyaya Tunguska, meaning “Lower Tunguska” is a river that flows through the Irkutsk Oblast and the Krasnoyarsk Krai that is located in Siberia, Russia.

✔ The right tributary of Nzihnyaya Tunguska Yenisey joining it at Turukhansk Settlements.

✔ Nizhnyaya Tunguska is 2,989 kilometres (1,857 mi) long. The overall drainage basin of this river is 473,000 square kilometers (183,000 sq mi).

  11. Ganges River  

✔ The Ganges River is a very famous transboundary river in Asia. The Ganges River spills through Bangladesh and Bharat (India). It’s 2,900 Km long (1,800 mi).

✔ The Ganges River emerges in the western Himalayas and flows down north into Bangladesh.

✔ The Ganges River is most important in the Hindu tradition for forgiveness for something we did badly.

✔ The Ganges River is famous in Asia for the personification of the Goddess Ganga.

✔ Hindu belief that bathing in the river on special or certain occasions causes forgiveness of transgressions and bad things that we have done and helps attain salvation.

  12. Yarlung Tsangpo  

✔ The Yarlung Tsangpo which is also sometimes known as the Yarlung Zhangbo River is located in Tibet Autonomous Region, China.

✔ It is the twelfth longest river in Asia. It is also the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River. 

✔ Yarlung River is one of the fifth longest rivers flowing in China and also the longest river in Tibet.

✔ This river is also known as the Brahmaputra River in India, Assam. The upper part of this river is also known as “Dark Horse” (Dangque Zhangbu). 

✔ Yarlung River is 2,840 km long( 1,765mi). After reaching the Arunachal Province of India

✔ This river is also known as the Siang River. In Chinese Yarlung Tsangpo River is known as “Yar Klung Gtsang Po”.

  13. Amur River  

✔ Amur River is also known as Heilong Jiang. Amur River is the world’s tenth longest river forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China.

✔ The Amur proper is 2,824 km long and has a drainage basin of 1,855,000 km2.

✔ The northern source of the Amur River is the Onon River in Mongolia and the southern source is the Argun River.

✔ Amur River is very important for the Economy. Fishing has remained the principal economic activity in the Amur River.

  14. Salween River  

✔ Salween River is a Southeast Asian river. Salween River is also known as Nu and Thanlwin. Salween River is about 2,800 km long (1,740 mi).

✔ It flows from the Tibetan plateau south into the Andaman Sea. There are altogether 140 species of fish in the Salween River.

✔ The Salween flows primarily within southwest China and eastern Myanmar with a section forming the border of Burma and Thailand.

✔ Its headwaters are in the Tibetan plateau to its estuary is in Burma.

✔ The Salween River supports over ten million people living their lives. People survive by fishing in rivers and using the water for agriculture.

  15. Euphrates  

✔ Euphrates is the fifteenth longest river that flows through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq.

✔ The name of this river Euphrates comes from the Greek Word “good announce”.

✔ The fifteenth longest river in Asia which is also known as Euphrates has run dry due to some problems of climatic change. The main reason for drying this river is Low rainfall. 

✔ The Euphrates River is about 2,760 km (1,715 mi) long. The overall drainage area of this river is 440,000 km² (170,000 sq km) which covers the area of six countries.

  ✔ Here’s the list of the longest rivers in Asia presented in a table format