La Plata

La Plata, RIO DE, a wide estuary of South America, between Uruguay on the north and the Argentine Republic on the south, through which the waters of the Paraná and the Uruguay sweep down to the ocean. It is about 200 miles long, 28 wide at Buenos Ayres, and 140 miles broad at its mouth, between Maldonado and Cape San Antonio. The northern shore is somewhat steep and lofty, but that along the province of Buenos Ayres is low and flat, with wide sandbanks that prevent ships from approaching closely to the shore. The estuary has thus no shelter from the tempestuous storms that come from the southwest; and even the only good harbour, that at Montevideo, is open to the south-east. The affluents of the La Plata drain an area estimated at 1,600,000 sq. m., and the outflow of the estuary is calculated at about 52,000,000 cubic feet per minute—a volume exceeded only by that of the Amazons; the yellow, muddy stream is recognisable 60 miles out at sea. For the navigation of the affluents, see PARAGUAY, PARANÁ, and URUGUAY. The estuary was discovered in 1515 or 1516 by Diaz de Solís, who was shortly afterwards roasted and eaten by the Indians on its bank. See Sir Horace Rumbold's Great Silver River (2d ed. 1890).