The Blue Nile (; ) is a
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
originating at
Lake Tana
Lake Tana ( am, ጣና ሐይቅ, T’ana ḥāyik’i; previously Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wid ...
in
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and
Sudan
Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...
. Along with the
White Nile
The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
, it is one of the two major
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
of the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
and supplies about 85.6% of the water to the Nile during the
rainy season
The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs.
Rainy Season may also refer to:
* ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King
* "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni
* ''T ...
.
Course
The distance of the river from its
source
Source may refer to:
Research
* Historical document
* Historical source
* Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence
* Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...
to its
confluence
In geography, a confluence (also: ''conflux'') occurs where two or more flowing bodies of water join to form a single channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main stem); o ...
has been variously reported as being between and . This uncertainty might result from the fact that the river flows through a series of virtually impenetrable gorges cut in the
Ethiopian Highlands
The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...
to a depth of some . According to materials published by the
Central Statistical Agency
The Central Statistical Agency (CSA; Amharic: ማዕከላዊ ስታቲስቲክስ ኤጀንሲ) is an agency of the government of Ethiopia designated to provide all surveys and censuses for that country used to monitor economic and social growth ...
, the Blue Nile has a total length of , of which are inside Ethiopia.
In Ethiopia
The Blue Nile originates at
Lake Tana
Lake Tana ( am, ጣና ሐይቅ, T’ana ḥāyik’i; previously Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and the source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wid ...
in Ethiopia (where it is called the Abay River). The river flows generally south before entering a canyon about long, about from Lake Tana, which is a tremendous obstacle for travel and communication between north and south Ethiopia. The canyon was first referred to as the "Grand Canyon" in 1968 by a British team that accomplished the first descent of the river from Lake Tana to the end of the canyon; subsequent river rafting parties called it the "Grand Canyon of the Nile". The
Blue Nile Falls
The Blue Nile Falls is a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. It is known as Tis Abay in Amharic, meaning "great smoke". It is situated on the upper course of the river, about downstream from the town of Bahir Dar and Lake Tana. The f ...
(
Amharic
Amharic ( or ; (Amharic: ), ', ) is an Ethiopian Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas, and also serves as a lingua franca for all oth ...
: Tis Abay, literally "great smoke"), one of Ethiopia's biggest tourist attractions, is located at the start of the canyon.
The river loops across northwest Ethiopia before being fed by numerous tributaries between Lake Tana and the
Ethiopia–Sudan border
The Ethiopia–Sudan border ( ar, الحدود الإثيوبية السودانية; ''ye’ītiyo sudani diniberi'') is a disputed border between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of the Sudan since the 19th centur ...
. Those on its left bank, in downstream order, include the Wanqa River, the
Bashilo River
The Bashilo River (less often known as the Beshitta) is located in Ethiopia. Known for its canyon, which one source describes as almost as extensive as the canyon of its parent the Abay, also known as the Blue Nile, the river originates just wes ...
, the
Walaqa River
The Walaqa River is a tributary of the Blue Nile, is river in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Wegde is located to its north. Mida Woremo and Dera are to the south, while Kelala is to the northeast. The Walaqa River may have been the northern bound ...
, the
Wanchet River
Wanchet River is a river of central Ethiopia, and a tributary of the Jamma River. Along with the Adabay River, it defined the border of the former district of Marra Biete.
Its crossing "Aqui afagi" (''Aheya Fajj'', Amharic "destroyer of donkeys" ...
, the
Jamma River
The Jamma River (Amharic: ጃማ) is a river in central Ethiopia and a tributary to the Abay (or Blue Nile). It drains parts of the Semien Shewa Zones of the Amhara and Oromia Regions. The Upper Jamma flows through steep, deep canyons cut firs ...
, the
Muger River
The Muger River (or Mujer) is a north-flowing tributary of the Abay River in central Ethiopia, which is notable for its deep gorge. Its confluence with the Abay is at: . Tributaries of the Muger include the Labbu. The Muger has a drainage area of ...
, the
Guder River
The Guder is a river of central Ethiopia. It is a tributary of the Abay or Blue Nile on the left side; tributaries of the Guder include the Dabissa and the Taranta. The Guder River has a drainage area about 7,011 square kilometers in size.
A Greek ...
, the Agwel River, the Nedi River, the
Didessa River
The Didessa River (pronounced: ɗeɗ:e:s:a; om, Dhedheessa) is a river in western Ethiopia. A tributary of the Abay River, it rises in the mountains of Gomma, flowing in a northwestern direction to its confluence where the course of the Abay has ...
and the
Dabus River
The Dabus River is a north-flowing tributary of the Abay River in southwestern Ethiopia; it joins its parent stream at . The Dabus has a drainage area of about 21,032 square kilometers.
This river was formerly known as the Yabus, and local speaker ...
. Those on the right side, also in downstream order, include the Handassa, Tul, Abaya, Sade, Tammi, Cha, Shita, Suha,
Muga Muga or MUGA may refer to:
* Assam silk
* Bodegas Muga, a Rioja winery
* MUGA scan
* Muga, Nepal, village
* Muga (river), Spain
* Muga River (Ethiopia)
* Multi-use games area
* MUGA World Pro Wrestling
Dradition Pro-Wrestling (Dradition) is an i ...
,
Gulla
Gulla is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Alejandra Gulla (born 1977), Argentine field hockey player
*Bob Gulla, American music historian and musicologist, music encyclopedia author, and biographer and writer
*Joe Gulla
Joe ...
,
Temcha, Bachat, Katlan, Jiba, Chamoga, Weter and the
Beles.
[These lists are based on the compilation in G.W.B. Huntingford, ''Historical Geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704'' (London: British Academy, 1989), p. 34]
In Sudan
The Blue Nile then heads northwest into Sudan. It travels for approximately , flowing past
Er Roseires
Er Roseires ( ar, الروصيرص, al-Rūṣayriṣ) is a town in eastern Sudan 60 km from the border with Ethiopia.
Lord Prudhoe mentions this town in the 1829 diary he kept while travelling in the Sennar. At the time it was the reside ...
and receiving the
Dinder River
The Dinder River ( ar, نهر الدندر Nahr-ud-dindir, also spelled Dindar; ) is a tributary of the Blue Nile. It flows through Ethiopia and Sudan for .
Course
The Dinder River rises in the Ethiopian Highlands, west of Lake Tana in the Ethiopi ...
on its right bank at
Dinder
Dinder (which means "the house in the valley") is a small village 2½ miles west of Shepton Mallet, and 2 miles east of Wells in Somerset. It falls within the civil parish of St Cuthbert Out and the Mendip district.
The river Sheppey runs alo ...
. At
Khartoum
Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...
, the Blue Nile joins the
White Nile
The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...
and, as the
Nile
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
, flows through
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
to the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
at
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
.
Water flow
The flow of the Blue Nile reaches maximum volume in the rainy season from June to September, when it supplies 8086% of the water of the Nile proper. The river was a major source of the
flooding of the Nile
The flooding of the Nile has been an important natural cycle in Egypt since Ancient Egypt, ancient times. It is celebrated by Egyptians as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as ''Wafaa El-Nil''. It is also celebrated in the ...
in Egypt that contributed to the fertility of the Nile Valley and the consequent rise of
Ancient Egypt and
Egyptian mythology
Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyptia ...
. With the completion of the
Aswan Dam
The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan L ...
in 1970, these floods stopped occurring in lower Egypt. During the summer
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
season, the Blue Nile floods erode a vast amount of fertile soil from the Ethiopian Highlands and carry it downstream as
silt
Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...
, turning the water dark brown or almost black.
The Blue Nile is vital to the livelihood of Egypt: as the most significant tributary of the Nile, it contributes over 85% of the Nile's streamflow.
[Mohamed Helmy Mahmoud Moustafa Elsanabary] Though shorter than the White Nile, 59% of the water that reaches Egypt originates from the Ethiopian highlands via the Blue Nile. The river is also an important resource for Sudan, where the
Roseires Dam
The Roseires Dam ( ar, خزان الروصيرص) is a dam on the Blue Nile at Ad Damazin, just upstream of the town of Er Roseires, in Sudan. It consists of a concrete buttress dam 1 km wide with a maximum height of 68 m, and an earth dam ...
and
Sennar Dam
The Sennar Dam is an irrigation dam on the Blue Nile near the town of Sennar in the Al Jazirah region of Sudan. The dam is long and has a maximum height of . It was designed by the Scottish engineer Sir Murdoch MacDonald, begun in 1914 and com ...
contribute to the 80% of the country's electricity generation from hydropower. These dams also help irrigate the
Gezira Scheme
The Gezira Scheme ( ar, مشروع الجزيرة) is one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. It is centered on the Sudanese States of Sudan, state of Al Jazirah (state), Al Jazirah, just southeast of the confluence of the Blue Nile ...
, which is most famous for its high-quality
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
, as well as
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
and animal feed crop production in the area.
In November 2012, Ethiopia began construction of the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
, image =
, image_caption = The main dam after first filling
, image_alt =
, location_map_caption =
, coordinates =
, country = Ethiopia
, location = Guba, Benishangul-Gumuz Region
, purpose = Power
, status = UC
, construction_began ...
, a 6000-megawatt hydroelectric dam on the river. The dam is expected to be a boost for the Ethiopian economy. Sudan and Egypt, however, voiced their concerns over a potential reduction in water available. Electricity generation began in February 2022.
History
Early European exploration
The first European known to have seen the Blue Nile in Ethiopia and the river's source was
Pedro Páez
Pedro Páez Jaramillo, S.J. ( pt, Pêro Pais; 1564 – 20 May 1622) was a Spanish Jesuit missionary in Ethiopia. Páez is considered by many experts on Ethiopia to be the most effective Catholic missionary in Ethiopia. He is believed to be the ...
, a Spanish
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
who reached the river's source on 21 April 1618. However, the Portuguese João Bermudes, the self-described "Patriarch of Ethiopia," provided the first description of the Tis Abay River Falls in his memoirs published in 1565, and any number of Europeans who lived in Ethiopia in the late 15th century such as
Pêro da Covilhã
Pedro, or Pêro da Covilhã or (; c. 1460 – after 1526), sometimes written: Pero de Covilhăo, was a Portuguese diplomat and explorer.
He was a native of Covilhã in Beira. In his early life he had gone to Castile and entered the servic ...
could have seen the river long before Páez, but not reached its source. The source of the Nile proper was also reached in 1629 by the Portuguese Jesuit missionary
Jerónimo Lobo
Jerónimo Lobo (1595 – 29 January 1678) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary. He took part in the unsuccessful efforts to convert Ethiopia from the native Ethiopian church to Roman Catholicism until the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1643. Afte ...
and in 1770 by the Scottish explorer
James Bruce
James Bruce of Kinnaird (14 December 1730 – 27 April 1794) was a Scottish traveller and travel writer who confirmed the source of the Blue Nile. He spent more than a dozen years in North Africa and Ethiopia and in 1770 became the first Europ ...
.
Although European explorers contemplated tracing the course of the Nile from the Blue Nile's confluence with the White Nile to Lake Tana, the Blue Nile Canyon has discouraged all attempts since
Frédéric Cailliaud
Frédéric Cailliaud (9 June 1787 – 1 May 1869) was a French naturalist, mineralogist and conchologist. He was born, and died, in Nantes, where he was the curator of the Natural History Museum of Nantes from 1836 to 1869.
He travelled in E ...
's attempt in 1821. The first serious attempt by a non-local to explore this reach of the river was undertaken by the American W.W. Macmillan in 1902, assisted by the Norwegian explorer B.H. Jenssen; Jenssen proceeded upriver from Khartoum while Macmillan sailed downstream from Lake Tana. However, Jenssen's boats were blocked by the rapids at
Famaka short of the Sudan-Ethiopia border, and Macmillan's boats were wrecked shortly after they had been launched. Macmillan encouraged Jenssen to try to sail upstream from Khartoum again in 1905, but he was forced to stop short of Lake Tana.
Robert Cheesman, who records his surprise on arriving in Ethiopia at finding that the upper waters of "one of the most famous of the rivers of the world, and one whose name was well known to the ancients" was in his lifetime "marked on the map by dotted lines", managed to map the upper course of the Blue Nile between 1925 and 1933. He did this not by following the river along its banks and through its impassable canyon but by following it from the highlands above, travelling some by mule in the adjacent country.
Present day
In the 1950s and 1960s, several kayakers paddled parts of the canyon. In 1968, at the request of
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia (' ...
, a team of 60 British and Ethiopian servicemen and scientists made the first full descent of the river from Lake Tana to a point near the Sudanese border led by explorer
John Blashford-Snell
Colonel John Nicholas Blashford-Snell (born 22 October 1936) is a former British Army officer, explorer and author. He founded Operation Raleigh and the Scientific Exploration Society.
Early life and education
John Nicholas Blashford-Snell was ...
. The team used specially-built
Avon Inflatables
Avon Inflatables, Ltd is a manufacturer of inflatable boats, Rigid-hulled inflatable boat, RIBs and marine safety equipment. The company is based in Dafen, Carmarthenshire, Dafen, near the town of Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales, and supplies t ...
and modified
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
assault boat
An assault boat is a boat used for landing in combat, meant for inland waters. Assault boats are light enough to be carried by multiple men and paddled, or fitted with an outboard motor for high-speed operation, manually portable or not. Some ass ...
s to navigate the formidable rapids. Subsequent rafting expeditions in the 1970s and 1980s generally only covered parts of the river canyon.
In 1999, writer Virginia Morell and photographer Nevada Wier made the journey by raft from Lake Tana to Sudan, publishing a documentary about their journey afterwards. In 2000, American and National Geographic reader, Kenneth Frantz, saw a photo taken by Nevada Wier for ''National Geographic'' which would lead him to found the charity
Bridges to Prosperity
Bridges to Prosperity is a United States-based nonprofit organization that partners with local governments to connect communities via pedestrian bridges. Bridges to Prosperity is based in Denver, Colorado, with staff around the world.
Footbrid ...
. This photo showed a bridge broken during World War II, with 10 men on either side of the broken span pulling each other across the dangerous gap by rope. This historic bridge was built by Emperor
Fasilides
Fasilides ( Ge'ez: ፋሲልደስ; ''Fāsīladas''; 20 November 1603 – 18 October 1667), also known as Fasil, Basilide, or Basilides (as in the works of Edward Gibbon), was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1632 to his death on 18 October 1667, and a m ...
in approximately 1660 with Roman bridge technology brought to Ethiopia by Portuguese soldiers during the battle with the Muslim invaders in 1507.
In both 2001 and 2009, Bridges to Prosperity volunteers travelled from the United States to repair the broken bridge across the Blue Nile and later built a new
suspension bridge
A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...
not susceptible to flood.
On 28 April 2004, geologist Pasquale Scaturro and his partner, kayaker and documentary filmmaker Gordon Brown, became the first known people to navigate the Blue Nile in its entirety. Though their expedition included several others, Brown and Scaturro were the only ones to remain on the expedition for the entire journey. They chronicled their adventure with an
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
camera and two handheld video cameras, sharing their story in the film ''
Mystery of the Nile
''Mystery of the Nile'' is a 2005 IMAX film documenting the first successful expedition to navigate the entire length of the Blue Nile and Nile from its source in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. The expedition was led by geologist
A geolo ...
'' and in a book of the same title.
On 29 January 2005, Canadian Les Jickling and his teammate New Zealander Mark Tanner completed the first fully human-powered transit of the entire Blue Nile and the Nile in the Sudan and Egypt. Their journey of over took five months and traveled through Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt. They recount that they paddled through civil war conflict zones, regions known for bandits, and encountered multiple hazards and rapids.
See also
*
List of rivers of Ethiopia
This is a list of streams and rivers in Ethiopia, arranged geographically by drainage basin. There is an alphabetic list at the end of this article.
Flowing into the Mediterranean
*''Nile (Egypt, Sudan)''
Atbarah River
*Mareb River (or G ...
*
List of rivers of Sudan
This is a list of streams and rivers in Sudan, arranged geographically by drainage basin. There is an alphabetic list at the end of this article.
Flowing into the Mediterranean
*Nile
**Atbarah River
***Mareb River (or Gash River) (only reaches ...
References
External links
The Tana ProjectPaddling the Blue Nile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nile, Blue
Tributaries of the Nile
Rivers of Ethiopia
Rivers of Sudan
International rivers of Africa
Lake Tana