Map of the Blue Nile (in Spanish)

The Blue Nile (Amharic: ዓባይ; transliterated: ʿAbbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق; transliterated: an-Nīl al-Āzraq) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Sometimes in Ethiopia the river—especially the upper reaches—is called the Abbai. The Abbai portion of the river is considered holy by many in Ethiopia, and is believed to be the Gihon river mentioned as flowing out of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2.^[1] The Abay portion of the Blue Nile rises at Lake Tana and flows for some thirty kilometers before plunging over the Tis Issat Falls. The river then loops across northwest Ethiopia through a series of deep valleys and canyons into Sudan, by which point it is only known as the Blue Nile... Blue Nile may refer to: The Blue Nile river in Ethiopia The Blue Nile, an alternative rock band Blue Nile Inc. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Niloazul. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Niloazul. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Arabic redirects here. ... Due to the fact that the Arabic language has a number of phonemes that have no equivalent in English or other European languages, a number of different transliteration methods have been invented to represent certain Arabic characters, due to various conflicting goals: A desire to stay consistent with traditional usage... For other uses, see River (disambiguation). ... Lake Tana (also spelled Tana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,Lake Tana, originally Tsana, Geez ጻና Ṣānā; sometimes called Dembiya after the region to the north of the lake) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. ... The Abay River is a river in Ethiopia. ... Gihon is the title of a river first mentioned in the second chapter of the Biblical book of Genesis. ... For other uses, see Garden of Eden (disambiguation). ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin) is the first book of the Torah (five books of Moses) and hence the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of the Christian Old Testament. ... Lake Tana (also spelled Tana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,Lake Tana, originally Tsana, Geez ጻና Ṣānā; sometimes called Dembiya after the region to the north of the lake) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. ... The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. ...

Although there are several feeder streams that flow into Lake Tana, the sacred source of the river is generally considered to be a small spring at Gishe Abbai at an altitude of approximately 1800 m (5940 ft). The Blue Nile much later joins the White Nile at Khartoum, Sudan and, as the Nile, flows through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. The Blue Nile is so-called because during flood times the water current is so high, it changes color to an almost black; since in the local Sudanese language the word for black is also used for the color blue. SACRED SACRED was a Cubesat built by the Student Satellite Program of the University of Arizona. ... This article is about the unit of length. ... The White Nile is a river of Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. ... Nickname: Khartoums location in Sudan Coordinates: , Government  - Governor Abdul Halim al Mutafi Population (2005)  - Urban Over 1 Million For other uses, see Khartoum (disambiguation). ... There is also Nile, a death metal band from South Carolina, USA. The Nile in Egypt Length 6 695 km Elevation of the source 1 134 m Average discharge 2 830 m³/s Area watershed 3 400 000 km² Origin Africa Mouth the Mediterranean Basin countries Uganda - Sudan - Egypt The... Mediterranean redirects here. ... This article is about the city in Egypt. ...

The distance from its source to its confluence is variously reported as 1460 and 1600 km (907 and 1000 mi). The uncertainty over its length might partially result from the fact that it flows through virtually impenetrable gorges cut in the Ethiopian highlands to a depth of some 1500 m (4950 ft)—a depth comparable to that of the Grand Canyon in the United States. Ethiopian Highlands with Ras Dashan in the background. ... This article is about the canyon in the southwestern United States. ...

The Blue Nile Falls fed by Lake Tana near the city of Bahir Dar, Ethiopia forms the upstream of the Blue Nile. It is also known as Tis Issat Falls after the name of the nearby village.

The Blue Nile flows generally south from Lake Tana and then west across Ethiopia and northwest into Sudan. Within 30 km (18.6 mi) of its source at Lake Tana, the river enters a canyon about 400 km long. This gorge is a tremendous obstacle for travel and communication from the north half of Ethiopia to the southern half. The power of the Blue Nile may best be appreciated at Tis Issat Falls, which are 45 m (148 ft) high, located about 40 km (25 mi) downstream of Lake Tana. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (900x565, 178 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Blue Nile Blue Nile Falls Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (900x565, 178 KB) File links The following pages link to this file: Blue Nile Blue Nile Falls Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it. ... The Blue Nile Falls fed by Lake Tana near the city of Bahar Dar The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. ... Lake Tana (also spelled Tana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,Lake Tana, originally Tsana, Geez ጻና Ṣānā; sometimes called Dembiya after the region to the north of the lake) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. ... Bahir Dar is a city in north western Ethiopia and the capital of the Amhara Administrative Region (kilil). ... The Blue Nile Falls are a waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. ...

The flow of the Blue Nile reaches maximum volume in the rainy season (from June to September), when it supplies about two thirds of the water of the Nile proper. The Blue Nile, along with that of the Atbara River to the north, which also flows out of the Ethiopian highlands, were responsible for the annual Nile floods that contributed to the fertility of the Nile Valley and the consequent rise of ancient Egyptian civilization and Egyptian Mythology. With the completion in 1970 of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, the Nile floods ended. 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. ... Map of Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empire. ... Egyptian mythology or Egyptian religion is the succession of tentative beliefs held by the people of Egypt for over three thousand years, prior to major exposure to Christianity and Islam. ... Map of Egypt showing the location of Aswan and Lake Nasser. ...

The Blue Nile is vital to the livelihood of Egypt. Though shorter than the White Nile, 56% of the water that reaches Egypt originates from the Blue Nile branch of the great river; when combined with the Atbara River, which also has its source in the Ethiopian Highlands, the figure rises to 90% of the water and 96% of transported sediment.The river is also an important resource for Sudan, where the Roseires and Sennar dams produce 80% of the country's power. These dams also help irrigate the Gezira Plain, which is most famous for its high quality cotton. The region also produces wheat, and animal feed crops. 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. ... Ethiopian Highlands with Ras Dashan in the background. ... The Gezira Scheme is one of the largest irrigation projects in the world. ... For other uses, see Cotton (disambiguation). ... Species T. aestivum T. boeoticum T. dicoccoides T. dicoccon T. durum T. monococcum T. spelta T. sphaerococcum T. timopheevii References:   ITIS 42236 2002-09-22 Wheat Wheat For the indie rock group, see Wheat (band). ...

European Exploration

It is generally believed that the first European to have seen the Blue Nile in Ethiopia was Pedro Paez, a Spanish Jesuit who traveled to the area in the early 1600s; however, John Bermudez provided the first description of the Tis Issat Falls in his memoirs (published in 1565), and a number of Europeans who lived in Ethiopia in the late 15th century like Pero da Covilhã could have seen the river before Paez. Pedro Páez was a Jesuit missionary in Africa. ... The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu), commonly known as the Jesuits, is a Roman Catholic religious order. ... Many inventions and institutions are created, including Hans Lippershey with the telescope (1608, used by Galileo the next year), the newspaper Avisa Relation oder Zeitung in Augsburg, and Cornelius Drebbel with the thermostat (1609). ... Pedro or Pero da Covilhã (c. ...

Although a number of European explorers contemplated tracing the course of the Blue Nile from its confluence with the White Nile to Lake Tana, its gorge, which begins a few miles inside the Ethiopian border, has discouraged all attempts since Frédéric Cailliaud's attempt in 1821. The first serious attempt by a non-local to explore this reach of the river was undertaken by the American W.W. Macmillan in 1902, assisted by the Norwegian explorer B.H. Jenssen; Jenssen would proceed upriver from Khartoum while Macmillan sailed downstream from Lake Tana. However Jenssen's boats were blocked by the rapids at Famaka short of the Sudan-Ethiopian border, and Macmillan's boats were wrecked shortly after they had been launched. Macmilan encouraged Jenssen to try to sail upstream from Khartoum again in 1905, but he was forced to stop 300 miles short of Lake Tana. The British consul R E Cheesman managed to map the upper course of the Blue Nile between 1925-1933, but instead of following the course of the river and its impassible canyon, he mapped it from the highlands above, traveling some 5,000 miles by mule in the adjacent country.^[2]

On April 28, 2004, geologist Pasquale Scaturro and his partner, kayaker and documentary filmmaker Gordon Brown, became the first people to navigate the Blue Nile. Though their expedition included a number of others, Brown and Scaturro were the only ones to remain on the expedition for the entire journey. They chronicled their adventure with an IMAX camera and two handheld video cams, sharing their story in the IMAX film Mystery of the Nile and in a book of the same title.^[3] Despite this attempt, the team was forced to use outboard motors for most of their journey, and it was not until January 29, 2005, when Canadian Les Jickling and New Zealander Mark Tanner reached the Mediterranean Sea, that the river had been paddled for the first time under human power.its a big river.Hi is the 118th day of the year (119th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... IMAX theatre at the Melbourne Museum complex, Australia BFI London IMAX by night LHemisferic (Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències) Valencia, Spain IMAX (short for Image Maximum) is a film format created by Canadas IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display images of far greater... Mystery of the Nile is an IMAX film documenting the first successful expedition to navigate the entire length of the Blue Nile and Nile from its source in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean sea. ... Bolinders two cylinder Trim outboard engine. ...

See also

• List of rivers of Sudan

References

1. ^ Edward Ullendorff, Ethiopia and the Bible (Oxford: University Press for the British Academy, 1968), p. 2.
2. ^ Alan Moorehead, The Blue Nile, revised edition (New York: Harper and Row, 1972), pp. 319f
3. ^ Richard Bangs and Pasquale Scaturro, Mystery of the Nile. New York: New American Library, 2005

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Blue Nile

• The Tana Project
• The Blue Nile Falls
• Rafting Down the Blue Nile