It is the second longest river in the world. Its waters led to the emergence and development of one of the most prolific civilizations on the planet. And it is shrouded in mystery that no one has been able to satisfactorily answer for three thousand years: Where does the Nile River come from?
Geography books try to quickly solve a problem that in reality is always confusing. The Nile arises from two tributaries: the Blue Nile from Ethiopia and the White Nile from the great African lakes, including Lake Victoria. But when you start researching African orography, you can see it. The answer is not that simple.
Of course, the first to try to solve this riddle were the Egyptians themselves. Their desire to know where the waters that fed their land and enabled them to travel the continent came from led them to Khartoum in Sudan. The first time they set up there, the great river It was fed by the Blue Nile from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian mountains.. This expedition was reportedly ordered by Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century BC. C.
Nero’s expedition
Centuries passed, and there were questions that remained unanswered, so much so that Roman everyday expressions reflected this complex challenge. And this the ancient romans used the phrase nili caput quaerer, meaning “to seek the head of the Nile”, referring to tasks that require great effort or trying to reach an unattainable goal.
Like this, The Romans began to look for the source of the river.. It was Emperor Nero who commissioned this task. It was carried out between 60 and 61 AD by a small group of personal guards with several Ethiopian guides.
They are said to have come to a place they believe to be the source, but it is unclear exactly where they went. Some say they reached a pass near Juba (present-day South Sudan), and others say they went as far south as Uganda., to Murchison Falls. Regardless, they were unable to solve the mystery and Nero committed suicide before they could complete the mission.
Although the ancient Egyptians managed to go much further in their research than the Romans, they seem to have firmly accepted that there was nothing beyond where they came from. The White Nile emerging from Lake Victoria was not even conceived as an option.
The rivers that feed Lake Victoria
Today it is accepted that the Nile comes from two sources: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. There is another key to this story, and that is that the White Nile comes from Africa’s largest lake, Victoria. Although often thought of as the main source of the Nile River, a closer look reveals that the problem is more complex than it seems. And this Lake Victoria is also fed by other rivers, some of which are quite long and flowing.
Among them Kagera River and Semliki River, It originates in the Ruwenzori Mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a matter of fact, the theory that the Nile is fed by these two branches is accepted as valid in recent years.
In fact, in recent years it has been determined that the Kagera River is the main source of the Nile. However, this river has two other sources, and therefore they are also from the Nile itself. Therefore, he determined that the sources of the Nile are at least two: one is the Nile. Coming near. Northern end of Lake Tanganyika, in the heart of the Nyungwe rainforest in western Rwanda. This source of Kagera is known as the Rukarara River. The other is the southern or southern source of the Nile, located at the eastern end of the Nile’s high mountains. south BurundiAbout 45 kilometers from Lake Tanganyika.
Continuing the social and economic activities of countless generations of Egyptians, this river has more and more familiar features. Today it can only be verified that there was a complex system of rivers and lakes flowing into the same place..
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