Oroonoque — the river Orinoco, one of the longest in South America. Its drainage basin, an area known as Orinoquia covers 880,000 km², its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean was discovered by Columbus in his third voyage on August 1st, 1498. The name had the additional charm to allude to Aphra Behn’s “True History” Oroonoko: or, The Royal Slave (London: W. Canning, 1688).