The Mareb River (), also known as the Gash River (), is a river flowing out of central

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

. Its chief importance is defining part of the boundary between Eritrea and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, between the point where the Mai Ambassa enters the river at to the confluence of the Balasa with the Mareb at .

Course

According to the ''Statistical Abstract of Ethiopia for 1967/68'', the Mereb River is long. The Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources reports its Ethiopian catchment area as , with an annual runoff of 0.26 billion cubic meters. Other sources talking about a catchment of to over all, and a discharge of in average over the year, and in peaks. Its headwaters rise south-west of Asmara in central Eritrea. It flows south, bordering Ethiopia, then west through western Eritrea to reach the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

ese plains near

Kassala Kassala (, ) is the capital of the state of Kassala (state), Kassala in eastern Sudan. In 2003 its population was recorded to be 530,950. Built on the banks of the Mareb River, Gash River, it is a market city and is famous for its fruit gardens. ...

. Unlike the Setit or Takazze rivers, which flow out of Ethiopia and also forms a natural border with Eritrea, the waters of the Mareb do not usually reach the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

but dissipate in the sands of the eastern Sudanese plains, forming an inland delta. The Mareb is dry for much of the year, but like the Takazze is subject to sudden floods during the rainy season; only the left bank of the upper course of the Mareb is in Ethiopian territory. Its main tributaries are the Obel River on the right bank (in Eritrea) and the Sarana, Balasa, Mai Shawesh, and 'Engweya Rivers on the left (in Ethiopia).

History

The Mareb was important historically as the boundary between two separately governed regions in the area: the land of the ''

Bahr negash Medri Bahri (Tigrinya language, Tigrinya: ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: ''Land of the Sea'') or Mereb Melash (Tigrinya: መረብ ምላሽ, English: ''Beyond the Mareb River, Mereb''), also known as Baharanegash, Ma'ikele Bahr or Bambolo Melash wa ...

'' ( Tigrinya "kingdom of the sea", also known as

Medri Bahri Medri Bahri ( Tigrinya: ምድሪ ባሕሪ, English: ''Land of the Sea'') or Mereb Melash (Tigrinya: መረብ ምላሽ, English: ''Beyond the Mereb''), also known as Baharanegash, Ma'ikele Bahr or Bambolo Melash was a semi-autonomous province o ...

or "land of/by the sea") to the north of the river, and the Tigray to the south. The territories under the ''Bahr negash'' extended as far north as the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

coast, and as far south (and west) as

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

and the capital was at

Debarwa Debarwa ( ) is a market town in central Eritrea. It is situated about 25 kilometers south of the capital Asmara, and has a population of about 25,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Debarwa district (''Tsilima'') in the Debub ("Southern") ...

in modern Eritrea, about south of

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

Wildlife

The river's Eritrean floodplain was the location of a 2001 sighting of a sizable

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

herd, the first such sighting in Eritrea since 1955.BBC Wildlife magazine, July 2003, retrieved a

on 28 Sept 2007

References

{{coord, 14, 26, N, 38, 33, E, display=title Rivers of Eritrea Rivers of Ethiopia Rivers of Sudan International rivers of Africa Eritrea–Ethiopia border Border rivers

Course

History

Wildlife

See also

References