As the European Space Agency’s Envisat satellite passed overhead during late morning, it captured the image to the right, which shows one of the planet’s more historic transportation routes.

A portion of the Irrawaddy River, which bisects the country from north to south, can be seen in the right of the image.

The entire length of the waterway snakes through about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) of fertile landscape before emptying into the Indian Ocean through the nine channels of the Irrawaddy Delta.

Before the age of railways and motorized traffic, it was known as the “Road to Mandalay.” The river was given that name in a poem by Rudyard Kipling because it provided a path for large vessels to travel deep into what was then known as Burma despite being littered with sand banks and islands that made the trip difficult to navigate.

Steam and diesel vessels today carry rice and teak logs down the river to be delivered to markets worldwide.

The flow of the Irrawaddy and its tributaries fluctuates throughout the year, mainly because of monsoon rainfall, which usually occurs between May and October. The volume of water is also affected by the rapid melting of mountain snow and glaciers during the summer.

Also visible in the Envisat image is the snowcapped Arakan Yoma Range (also called the Chin Hills), which can be seen in the far left. The highest peak is Nat Ma Taung (Mount Victoria), rising to 10,500 feet (3,053 metres) in elevation. The range is the source of significant glacial runoff to the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers.

Envisat data courtesy of European Space Agency