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.
It originates in the southern Ural Mountains and ends at the Caspian Sea. At 2,428 kilometres (1,509 mi), it is the third-longest river in Europe after the Volga and the Danube, and the 18th-longest river in Asia. The Ural River is conventionally considered part of the boundary between the continents of Europe and Asia. The Ural River arises near Mount Kruglaya in the Ural Mountains, flows south parallel and west of the north-flowing Tobol River, through Magnitogorsk, and around the southern end of the Urals, through Orsk where it turns west for about 300 kilometres (190 mi), to Orenburg, when the Sakmara River joins.