The Bahr el Ghazal () or Naam River ( Nuer) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. The South Sudanese region of Bahr el Ghazal takes its name from the river. The Bahr el Ghazal is the main western

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 ...

of 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 ...

. It is long, flowing through the

Sudd The Sudd (, Nuer: Baki̱ec, Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's '' Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The Arabic word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The term "the sudd" has come to ref ...

wetlands to Lake No, where it joins the

White Nile The White Nile ( ') is a river in Africa, the minor of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the larger being the Blue Nile. The name "White" comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. In the stri ...

Hydrology

The Bahr al Ghazal's

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is the largest of any of the Nile's subbasins, measuring 520,000 km (200,800 mi) in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about 2 m³/s (70 ft³/s) annually, due to tremendous volumes of water being lost in the Sudd wetlands. Seasonally, the river's discharge ranges from nothing to 48 m³/s (1,700 ft³/s). According to some sources, the river is formed by the confluence of the Jur River and Bahr al-Arab rivers. However other more recent sources say the river rises in the

wetlands with no definitive source, that the Jur River joins at Lake Ambadi, and the Bahr al-Arab joins below that.; online a
Google Books
/ref> The river's

, including its tributaries, is and reaches west to the border of the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

and northwest to the

Darfur Darfur ( ; ) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju () while ruled by the Daju, who migrated from Meroë , and it was renamed Dartunjur () when the Tunjur ruled the area. ...

region.

History

The river was first mapped in 1772 by French geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville, although it was vaguely known to early Greek geographers.

References

External links

*
Bahr-el-Ghazal
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Baḩr al Ghazāl
,

GEOnet Names Server The GEOnet Names Server (GNS), sometimes also referred to in official documentation as Geographic Names Data or geonames in domain and email addresses, is a service that provides access to the United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency ...

{{Authority control Rivers of South Sudan Bahr el Ghazal Nile basin Tributaries of the Nile White Nile

Hydrology

History

See also

References

External links