Congo vs. Amazon

[Angrist]

Which tropical jungle river?

The African Congo river:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/CongoLualaba_watershed_topo.png/721px-CongoLualaba_watershed_topo.png

Length: 4,700 km or 3,000 miles.

http://www.change.org/photos/wordpress_copies/congo-river-nat-geo.jpg



The South-American Amazon river:

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/the-amazon-river0.gif

Length: 6,400 km or 4,000 miles.

http://www.latintrails.com/uploads/6b/b8/6bb8556d2b58c2ae010cf2fab6f6b27e/amazon_river.png

[Professor S]

Amazon, it supports the most primitive culture known to man, the Yanomamo tribe.

[Teuthida]

Just read up on them. Not sure how they'd be considered primitive.

Thought you might have been referring to the Piraha at first. They have no concept of numbers, unable to count higher than two (there's one, two, and many), no words for colors, no written language, no collective memory going back more than two generations, tell no fictional stories, have no art, no creation myths. A lot of other weird stuff too. Fascinating people. A number of articles about their lack of numbers, but this covers their culture pretty succinctly:

http://www.jcrows.com/withoutnumbers.html

[Angrist]

Michael Crichton says that the Congo is way more diverse than the Amazon. It houses more plants and animals.
Congo was a great moody book, so right now I want to see the Congo more.

[Combine 017]

I thought this was a monster vs thread at first.

[Angrist]

We could ask Typhoid to do a nature war. Machu Picchu vs the Himalayas. Vesuvius vs El Chichon. Snow vs Rain. Sun vs Moon.

[Swan]

What about Machhu vs Picchu?



That sounds like a pokebattle.



I voted Congo on account of the Crichton book as well. Oh killer apes

[Professor S]

Just read up on them. Not sure how they'd be considered primitive.

Thought you might have been referring to the Piraha at first. They have no concept of numbers, unable to count higher than two (there's one, two, and many), no words for colors, no written language, no collective memory going back more than two generations, tell no fictional stories, have no art, no creation myths. A lot of other weird stuff too. Fascinating people. A number of articles about their lack of numbers, but this covers their culture pretty succinctly:

http://www.jcrows.com/withoutnumbers.html

Not primtive? You're being sarcastic, right? You just described how primitive they are.

[Teuthida]

You said Yanomamo. I was describing the Piraha.

[Professor S]

You said Yanomamo. I was describing the Piraha.


Oh, thought you said Pirahna (sp?), like the fish.

Yeah, sound like the Piraha are more primitive. Keep in mind I learned about the Yanomamo in 1998(?) when I was in college, so opinion might have changed since then.

They WHISTLE THEIR LANGUAGE?? Thats just awesome.

[Angrist]

If they whistle their language, what do they use their tongue for?

Aah... :)

[Combine 017]

If they whistle their language, what do they use their tongue for?

Aah... :)

Uhhh... the tongue is used to whistle.

[Angrist]

Uhhh... the tongue is used to whistle.

I'm tired of you and your sick fascinations.

[Combine 017]

I'm tired of you and your sick fascinations.

Im not fascinated by it, its just the way whistling works. I dare you to try and whistle without your tongue. And you cant use your fingers either.

[jeepnut]

Amazon. Western Hemisphere loyalty.

[Seth]

I think I voted Amazon cuz of the tidal bore but i retro switch my vote to the Congo because of Heart of Darkness. We have to weigh all.

Since I'm attaching Conrad to this, does anyone have a definitive author in mind who writes about the Amazon River specifically? I can't think of any.

Just Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who has a fantasy style that I would like to compare with the narrator's style in HoD.

Herzog's Fitzcarraldo and Aquirre, the Wrath of God as a film supplement.

Congo wins.

Or should we add to the Poll,
Conquistadors of the Americas VS The Scramble for Africa ?

[Angrist]

Exactly! Michael Crichton turned the Congo into the Jurassic Park of rivers.