The Biri River is a river 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 ...

. It is a left tributary of the

Kuru River The Kuru River, or Chel River is a stream in the South Sudanese states of Western Bahr el Ghazal and Northern Bahr el Ghazal. It is a headwater of the Lol River. Course The Kuru or Chel River forms in the south of Western Bahr el Ghazal on the bo ...

, a headwater of the

Lol River The Lol River, or Loll River, is a stream in northern South Sudan that feeds the Bahr al-Arab, known locally as the Kiir River. Course The Lol River forms at the convergence of the Chel or Kuru River and the Magadhik River just west of Nyaml ...

Course

The Biri River rises in the south of the

Western Bahr el Ghazal Western Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of and as of 2020 has estimated 600,000 in population. It is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Its capital is Wau. The state shared international borders with Sudan to the north ...

near the border with

Haut-Mbomou Haut-Mbomou (, "Upper Mbomou") is one of the 20 prefectures 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 n ...

in the Central African Republic. It flows in a north-northeast direction past

Deim Zubeir Deim Zubeir, from the Arabic ديم الزبير Daim az-Zubayr" commonly translated as the "Camp of Zubeir", is the historically established but highly controversial name of Uyujuku town in the Western Bahr el Ghazal of the Republic of South ...

(which lies to the east), then northeast to the border with

Northern Bahr el Ghazal Northern Bahr el Ghazal (Arabic: ولاية شمال بحر الغزال) is a States of South Sudan, state in South Sudan. It has an area of 30,543 km2 and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal (region of South Sudan), Bahr el Ghazal region. It b ...

, where it joins the Chel or Kuru River from the left.

Historical

The first European to visit the river appears to have been Dr.

Georg August Schweinfurth Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic Germans, Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa. Life and explorations He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Emp ...

, who spent three years exploring the Bahr-el-Ghazal region before returning to Europe in the fall of 1871. He did not take any astronomical observation, so did not record latitude or longitude, but did keep an excellent dead reckoning of distances and direction. His map of the courses of rivers such as the Biri and Kuru are very accurate. Frank Lupton in his 1884 ''Geographical Observations in The Bahr-el-Ghazal Region'' showed the Biri river flowing northeast past Deim Zubeir, but then (incorrectly) shows it being joined by the Sabu (Sopo) River before flowing into the Boru (Boro) River before the Kuru River joined the Boru. In June 1894 a Belgian force under Xavier-Ernest Donckier de Donceel entered the region from the southwest. It crossed the Biri, Sopo and Cohoca (?) rivers and arrived at Liffi south of the Raja River on 25 June 1894.

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT: Rivers of South Sudan Western Bahr el Ghazal