The Atbara is a river in northeast Africa, which rises in northwest Ethiopia and flows about 805 km (500 miles) to the Nile in the east of Sudan. For much of the year, it is little more than a stream, except during the rainy season (generally June to October). The river is known in its early stages in Ethiopia as the Takazze and as the Setit in western Ethiopia and eastern Sudan. It is the last tributary of the Nile before it reaches the Mediterranean. In 1964, the river was dammed at Kashm-el-Girba in Sudan to provide irrigation in an otherwise fairly arid region.
A major battle was fought beside the river in April 1898 between forces of the Khalifa of Sudan and the British Empire, which resulted in the Khalifa's 20,000-strong detachment being destroyed by the British.
Atbara is also a town in northeastern Sudan, with a population of about 73,000 people, at the point where the Atbara river joins the Nile. It is an important railway junction and manufacturing centre.
This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page.
The Atbarah River (Arabic: نهر عطبرة; transliterated: Nahr 'Atbarah) in northeast Africa rises in northwest Ethiopia, approximately 50 km north of Lake Tana and 30 km west of Gondar.
Its tributary, the Tekezé River (Amharic: "Terrible"), is perhaps the true upper course of the Atbarah, as the Tekezé follows the longer course prior to the confluence of the two rivers (at 14° 10' N., 36° E) in northeastern Sudan.
A major battle was fought beside the river in April 1898 between forces of the Khalifa of Sudan and the British Empire, which resulted in the Khalifa's 20,000-strong detachment being destroyed by the British.
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