The Yellow River is the second-longest river in China, and the sixth longest in the world. It drains a basin area of 740,000 square kilometers. It has been the cradle of Chinese civilization; but frequent devastating floods have also earned it the name of China's Sorrow. Historical maps from ~200BCE indicate the Yellow River was then flowing considerably north of its present course. A major course change in 1194 took over the Huai River drainage system throughout the next 700 years. The Yellow River adopted its present course in 1897 after the latest course change occurred in 1855. Currently, the Yellow River ends in the Bohai Sea, yet its eastern terminus continues to oscillate from points north and south of the Shandong Peninsula in its many dramatic shifts over time. The two ASTER images, acquired in 2001 (left) and 2009 (right), dramatically show the changes. The images cover an area of 36.5 x 41.4 km, and are located near 37.6 degrees north latitude, 119 degrees east longitude. Caption information from Wikipedia.