Arte - Rivers of the World (2009) 5 Orinoco

Rivers are an essential source of life and food. The world's greatest cities have risen and fallen along their banks. They can be passages of commerce or crusade, untamed natural forces or generous energy suppliers. Rivers of the World is a beautifully shot series exploring the most spectacular rivers of the planet across all five continents. The names alone possess a legendary resonance - Niger, Okavango, Mekong, Urubamba, Colorado, Orinoco, and Nile. The great geographical diversity embodied by all these rivers is explored along with the people who live on and from these waters and who devote themselves to their protection. Long may they continue to flow.

Part 5: Orinoco
In Venezuela, one of the world's largest deltas forms a gateway to Latin America. After Christopher Columbus, the Orinoco was the course followed by the conquistadors who pushed ever further upriver in their search for the mythical Eldorado. Today, the descendants of the survivors of the Spanish invasion live on the banks of the river. Travelling up the Orinoco is like travelling through time, unearthing the secret roots of Latin America, from its founding myths in Ciudad Bolivar to the vestiges of its lost civilizations.

Related Documentary