The Rufiji River lies entirely within

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. It is also the largest and longest river in the country. The river is formed by the confluence of the Kilombero and Luwegu rivers. It is approximately long, with its source in southwestern Tanzania and its mouth on the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

opposite Mafia Island across the Mafia Channel, in Pwani Region. Its principal tributary is the Great Ruaha River. It is navigable for approximately . The Rufiji river is approximately south of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (, ; from ) is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of the Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over 7 million people, Dar es Salaam is the largest city in East Africa by population and the ...

. The river's delta contains the largest

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

in eastern Africa.

History

A branch of ancient sea routes led down the East African coast called "Azania" by the Greeks and Romans in the 1st century CE as described in the

Periplus of the Erythraean Sea The ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (), also known by its Latin name as the , is a Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman periplus written in Koine Greek that describes navigation and Roman commerce, trading opportunities from Roman Egyptian ports lik ...

(and, very probably, zh, 澤散, Zesan in the 3rd century by the Chinese), at least as far as the port known to the Romans as Rhapta, which was probably located in the delta of the Rufiji River in modern

. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, from October 1914 to July 1915, the river delta was the scene of a protracted naval operation. These were the attempts, and later achievement, by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

to neutralize and destroy the German cruiser ''Königsberg''.

Basin

The catchment basin for the Rufiji River complex is .

Hydroelectric Project

Tanzania president John Magufuli has approved the construction of a controversial new dam and

power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

on the river at Stiegler's Gorge. The power station is expected to provide 2,100 megawatts of electricity, more than triple Tanzania's existing installed hydropower capacity which is only 562 megawatts. Construction of the dam started on July 26, 2019, and it is expected be ready by 2022.

References

External links

Map of the Rufiji River basin at Water Resources eAtlas
{{Authority control Rivers of Tanzania

History

Basin

Hydroelectric Project

References

Further reading

External links