By David A. Longanecker. Executive Director, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Although the federal government plays a secondary role in supporting and financing American higher education, this role remains quite substantial and clearly helps shape the enterprise.
The Orinoco is one of the longest rivers in South America at 2,140 kilometres (1,330 mi). Its drainage basin, sometimes called the Orinoquia, covers 880,000 square kilometres (340,000 sq mi), with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia.he Orinoco delta, and tributaries in the eastern llanos such as the Apure and Meta, were explored in the 16th century by German expeditions under Ambrosius Ehinger and his successors. In 1531 Diego de Ordaz, starting at the principal outlet in the delta, the Boca de Navios, sailed up the river to the Meta.
The river's source basin lies in the western United States in Colorado, specifically the Arkansas River Valley, where the headwaters derive from the snowpack in the Sawatch and Mosquito mountain ranges. Then it flows east into the Midwest via Kansas, and finally into the South through Oklahoma and Arkansas. At 1,469 miles (2,364 km), it is the sixth-longest river in the United States, the second-longest tributary in the MississippiâMissouri system, and the 45th longest river in the world.