Atbarah River

Atbarah River

river

Mouth of the watercourse	Nile
Tributary	Tekezé River, Angereb River, Shinfa River
Drainage basin	Nile basin
Country	Ethiopia, Sudan
Coordinate location	12°25′17″N 37°5′7″E, 17°40′42″N 33°58′19″E

De Atbarah River (Arabic: نهر عطبرة; transliterated: Nahr 'Atbarah), dem sanso refer am as de Red Nile den / anaa Black Nile, be river for northeast Africa insyd. E dey rise for northwest Ethiopia insyd, approximately 50 km north of Lake Tana den 30 km west of Gondar. E then dey flow about 805 km (500 mi) to de Nile for north-central Sudan insyd, wey e join am at de city of Atbarah (17.677°N 33.970°E / 17.677; 33.970). De river ein tributary, de Tekezé (Setit) River, perhaps be de true upper course of de Atbarah, as de Tekezé dey follow de longer course prior to de confluence of de two rivers (at 14° 10' N, 36° E) for northeastern Sudan insyd. De Atbarah ne de last tributary of de Nile before e dey reach de Mediterranean.

For much of de year, e be little more dan a stream. Howeva, during de rainy season (generally July to October), de Atbarah dey rise sam 18 ft (5 m) above ein normal level. At dis time, e dey form a formidable barrier between de northern den central districts of de Amhara Region of Ethiopia. Besides de Tekezé, oda important tributaries of de Atbarah dey include de Shinfa River wey dey rise west of Lake Tana, den de Greater Angereb wey get ein source north of de city of Gondar.

History

De earliest surviving mention of de Atbarah be by Strabo (16.4.8), wey bell de river Astaboras (Greek: Ασταβόρας). Oda ancient authors wey dey mention de name dey include Agatharchides, wey bell am Astabaras (Greek: Ασταβάρας), den Ptolemy (Geography 4.7). Richard Pankhurst den odas argue say dem go fi understand de name as "River of de Boras pippoe", wey dem fi relate asta to Proto-Nubian asti "water", while dem fi link -boras to a number of Roman allusions to a tribe wey dem bell am de Bora (Bera), wey live near Meroe, den anoda tribe wey dem name'em Megabares (Greek: Μεγάβαροι for Eratosthenes den Strabo insyd, Latin: Megabarri for Pliny de Elder insyd). Pliny de Elder dey provide a slightly different etymology of Astaboras, wey e state say "for de language of de local pippoe insyd" de name dey mean "water wey dey cam from de shades below" (N.H. 5.10).

For April 1898 insyd, dem fight a major battle beside de river during de Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan 1896–1899 between Mahdist forces den an Anglo-Egyptian Army under de command of Lord Kitchener, wey result for de destruction of de 20,000-strong Mahdist detachment insyd.

Atbara river campaign

For 1964 insyd, de Khashm el-Girba Dam dam de river near Kassala for Sudan insyd to provide irrigation to de newly built town of Halfa Dughaym insyd an otherwise fairly den region den to resettle de Sudanese population driven away by de Aswan High Dam (Sad al-Aali) for Egypt insyd, wey flood 500 km of de Nile Valley for southern Egypt den northern Sudan insyd.

Construction for a $1.9 billion twin dam project about 20 km upstream from de confluence of de Upper Atbara den Setit rivers, de Rumela den Burdana dams, wey begin for 2011 insyd den Presido Omar al-Bashir inaugurate am for February 2017 insyd.

Hydrology

Average monthly flow (1912–1982) of de Atbarah wey dem measure approximately 25 km upstream of ein mouth, dem measure am for m³/s insyd:

External links

• Maps of Ethiopia - Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas