river that rises in several headstreams on the central plateau in Goiás estado (state), Brazil. It flows northward through Goiás and then Tocantins states until it receives the Manuel Alves Grande River. Looping westward, it marks the boundary of Tocantins and Maranhão states as far as its junction with the Araguaia River. The Tocantins again turns northward and flows into the Pará River, a navigable arm of the Amazon River delta, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

Although the Tocantins-Araguaia system is popularly regarded as a tributary of the Amazon, it is technically a separate system, with a drainage basin of more than 300,000 square miles (800,000 square kilometres). The Tocantins is of limited use for navigation, for its 1,677-mile (2,699-kilometre) course is frequently interrupted by rapids and waterfalls as well as the massive hydroelectric facility at Tucuruí. In the 1990s work to bypass the dam was undertaken to improve the Tocantins's functionality as a main waterway.