The Atbarah River (;

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

: Nahr 'Atbarah), also referred to as the Red Nile and / or Black Nile, is a river in northeast

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It rises in northwest

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 ...

, approximately 50 km north of

Lake Tana Lake Tana (; previously transcribed Tsana) is the largest lake in Ethiopia and a source of the Blue Nile. Located in Amhara Region in the north-western Ethiopian Highlands, the lake is approximately long and wide, with a maximum depth of , and ...

and 30 km west of

Gondar Gondar, also spelled Gonder (Amharic: ጎንደር, ''Gonder'' or ''Gondär''; formerly , ''Gʷandar'' or ''Gʷender''), is a city and woreda in Ethiopia. Located in the North Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, Gondar is north of Lake Tana on ...

. It then flows about 805 km (500 mi) to 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 ...

in north-central

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 ...

, joining it at the city of Atbarah (). The river's

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''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 into which they ...

, the Tekezé (Setit) River, is perhaps the true upper course of the Atbarah, as the Tekezé follows the longer course prior to the

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the two rivers (at 14° 10' N, 36° E) in northeastern Sudan. The Atbarah is the last tributary of the Nile before it reaches the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

. For much of the year, it is little more than a stream. However, during the rainy season (generally July to October), the Atbarah rises some 18 ft (5 m) above its normal level. At this time, it forms a formidable barrier between the northern and central districts of the

Amhara Region The Amhara Region (), officially the Amhara National Regional State (), is a Regions of Ethiopia, regional state in northern Ethiopia and the homeland of the Amhara people, Amhara, Awi people, Awi, Xamir people, Xamir, Argobba people, Argobba, a ...

of Ethiopia. Besides the Tekezé, other important tributaries of the Atbarah include the Shinfa River which rises west of Lake Tana, and the Greater Angereb which has its source north of the city of

History

The earliest surviving mention of the Atbarah is by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

(16.4.8), who called the river ''Astaboras'' ().Claude Rilly, Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique, Peeters, Louvain 2010, p. 179 Other ancient authors mentioning the name include

Agatharchides Agatharchides or Agatharchus ( or , ''Agatharchos'') of Cnidus was a Greek historian and geographer (flourished 2nd century BC). Life Agatharchides is believed to have been born at Cnidus, hence his appellation. As Stanley M. Burstein notes, the ...

, who called it ''Astabaras'' (), and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

(

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

4.7). Richard Pankhurst and others have argued that the name should be understood as "River of the Boras people", where ''asta'' can be related to Proto- Nubian ''asti'' "water", while ''-boras'' can be linked to a number of Roman allusions to a tribe named the Bora (Bera), who lived near Meroe, and another tribe named the ''Megabares'' ( in Eratosthenes and Strabo, in

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

provides a slightly different etymology of Astaboras, stating that "in the language of the local people" the name means "water coming from the shades below" ('' N.H.'' 5.10). In April 1898 a major

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

was fought beside the river during the

Anglo-Egyptian invasion of Sudan 1896–1899 The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899 was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Khedivate of Egypt, Egypt in 1884–1885 during the Mahdist War. The British Empire, British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of ...

between Mahdist forces and an Anglo-Egyptian Army under the command of Lord Kitchener, which resulted in the destruction of the 20,000-strong Mahdist detachment. River War 1-13 Atbara Campaign

In 1964, the river was dammed by the Khashm el-Girba Dam 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. ...

in Sudan to provide irrigation to the newly built town of Halfa Dughaym in an otherwise fairly arid region and to resettle the Sudanese population driven away by the

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or 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. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatug ...

(Sad al-Aali) in Egypt, which flooded 500 km of the Nile Valley in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Construction on a $1.9 billion twin dam project about 20 km upstream from the confluence of the Upper Atbara and Setit rivers, the Rumela and Burdana dams, began in 2011 and was inaugurated by President

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

in February 2017.

Hydrology

Average monthly flow (1912–1982) of the Atbarah measured approximately 25 km upstream of its mouth, measured in m³/s: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.8) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.3) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.9) ImageSize = width:600 height:220 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:2010 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:250 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:Jan text:Jan. bar:Feb text:Feb. bar:Mar text:March bar:Apr text:April bar:May text:May bar:Jun text:June bar:Jul text:July bar:Aug text:August bar:Sep text:Sept. bar:Oct text:Oct. bar:Nov text:Nov. bar:Dec text:Dec. PlotData= color:barra width:30 align:left bar:Jan from:0 till: 7.5 bar:Feb from:0 till: 2.9 bar:Mar from:0 till: 0.3 bar:Apr from:0 till: 1.4 bar:May from:0 till: 2.9 bar:Jun from:0 till: 28.4 bar:Jul from:0 till: 569.5 bar:Aug from:0 till: 2002.7 bar:Sep from:0 till: 1291.0 bar:Oct from:0 till: 289.1 bar:Nov from:0 till: 61.1 bar:Dec from:0 till: 19.0 PlotData= bar:Jan at: 7.5 fontsize:S text: 7.5 shift:(-10,5) bar:Feb at: 2.9 fontsize:S text: 2.9 shift:(-10,5) bar:Mar at: 0.3 fontsize:S text: 0.3 shift:(-10,5) bar:Apr at: 1.4 fontsize:S text: 1.4 shift:(-10,5) bar:May at: 2.9 fontsize:S text: 2.9 shift:(-10,5) bar:Jun at: 28.4 fontsize:S text: 28.4 shift:(-10,5) bar:Jul at: 569.5 fontsize:S text: 569.5 shift:(-10,5) bar:Aug at: 2002.7 fontsize:S text: 2002.7 shift:(-10,5) bar:Sep at: 1291.0 fontsize:S text: 1291.0 shift:(-10,5) bar:Oct at: 289.1 fontsize:S text: 289.1 shift:(-10,5) bar:Nov at: 61.1 fontsize:S text: 61.1 shift:(-10,5) bar:Dec at: 19.0 fontsize:S text: 19.0 shift:(-10,5)

References

External links

Maps of Ethiopia
- Perry–Castañeda Library Map Collection,

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

{{Authority control International rivers of Africa Rivers of Ethiopia Rivers of Sudan Nile basin Tributaries of the Nile Articles which contain graphical timelines

History

Hydrology

See also

References

External links