Iguazu Falls, are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian State of Paraná and the Argentine Province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River originates near the city of Curitiba. It flows through Brazil for most of its course. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the boundary between Brazil and Argentina.
The name "Iguazu" comes from the Guarani or Tupi words, meaning "big water". Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipi, who fled with her mortal lover Taroba in a canoe. In rage the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. The first European to find the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541, after whom one of the falls on the Argentine side is named.
Iguazu Falls is located where the Iguazu River tumbles over the edge of the Parana Plateau, 23 kilometres upriver from the Iguazu's confluence with the Parana River. Numerous islands along the 2.7-kilometre long edge divide the falls into about 275 separate waterfalls and cataracts, varying between 200 ft and 269 ft high. About half of the river's flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil's Throat. The Devil's Throat is U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide, and 700-meter-long. The border between Argentina and Brazil runs through the Devil's Throat. Of the many islands the most notable is Isla Grande San Martín, on the Argentine side. Individual falls on the Argentine side include Dos Hermanas ("Two Sisters"), Bozzetti, San Martín, Escondido ("Hidden"), and Rivadavia. Notable falls on the Brazil side include Benjamin Constant, Deodoro, and Floriano.
The falls can be reached from the two main towns on either side of the falls: Foz do Iguaçu in the Brazilian and Puerto Iguazú in the Argentine province of Misiones, as well as from Ciudad del Este, Paraguay on the other side of the Parana river from Foz do Iguaçu. The falls are shared by the Iguazú National Park (Argentina) and Iguaçu National Park (Brazil). The two parks were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1984 and 1987, respectively.
