The travels to ethiopia by the arrogant yet imposing aristocrat bruce, who found the source of the blue nile although 16th century portuguese arguably did that already a few centuries before 2. It reputedly rises as the abay from a spring 6,000 feet 1,800 metres above sea level, near lake tana in northwestern ethiopia. The blue nile is socalled because during flood times the water current is so high, it changes colour to an almost black and in the local sudanese language the word for black is also used for the. Journalist and author of the black nile, who spent six months travelling the famous river, discusses some of the turbulent times that the nile has witnessed and praises its extraordinary beauty. Both branches are named for the color of their water. This river has been important to africa for thousands of years and continues to be so today. The nile river has two major branches, the blue nile and the white nile.
List of books and articles about nile river online. This dam is newly being built on the blue nile, a transboundary river, and affects millions of people with potential for water conflict. The first, the white nile, covers about 1850 to 1890 or so, and the blue nile from. No one is using the river in the way it was used in colonial times, when a series of. The blue nile deluxe reissues with bonus tracks official full album streams videos play all the blue nile hats deluxe version official full album stream playlist. During the rainy season in ethiopia, the washing into the river causes the river to turn brown, well into sudan. The blue nile river, like the white nile, is a tributary of the worlds longest river, the nile. The name nile comes from the name neilos, a greek word for river. The blue nile features in the recommended further reading of that book, and clearly for all the right reasons. Buy a discounted paperback of the blue nile online from australias leading online bookstore. The blue nile by alan moorehead 9780060956400 booktopia.
Vivid in detail, vital in scholarship, alan moorehead waxes enthusiastic over the whole boom period of colonial warfare and dynastic breakups, from the desert arabs and the highland ethiopians to the. Travels to discover the source of the nile, volume 1 of 5 by james bruce free ebook project gutenberg. Ethiopias river of magic and mystery adventure press. The other book is more about european and turkish conquest in egypt, sudan, and ethiopia. The blue nile falls is a waterfall on the blue nile river in ethiopia.
This book is about the grand ethiopian renaissance dam newly being built on the blue nile, a transboundary river. With the white nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the nile. It wasnt a journey to be taken lightly many had perished in the river or disappeared within the interiors of this rugged terrain, never to be seen again. The blue nile and the white nile are located far to the south of the socalled fertile. The white nile is simply the better book, if only because the white nile itself is the better story. The nile river s basin spans across the countries of egypt, sudan, south sudan, eritrea, ethiopia, kenya, the democratic republic of the congo, burundi, rwanda, uganda, and tanzania. The first part of the book, which focuses mainly on ethiopian history, the history of blue nile expeditions and her personal history in ethopia is excellent. The blue nile alan moorehead a history of western penetration into the countries of ethiopia, sudan and egypt where the blue nile river flows, in the 18th and 19thcenturies.
Her description of the team members is brief in the beginning and really, the only members who receive focused attention are mr. The blue nile is known for the tisisat falls which locally translates to smoke of fire which is 148 feet high. Imagine spending five months paddling 5,000 kilometres 3,000 miles down a river where something bad happens almost every day. Albright 18911971, thought that pishon and gihon are what we refer to today as the blue nile and the white nile, the two major tributaries of the nile river. Speaks, the leader of the tour guides and their main. The river s predatory wildlife and the force of its waters are so daunting and perilous that as recently as 1962, no one had succeeded in journeying its length by boat. The trunk stream of the the nile is formed at khartoum, sudan, 1,857 mi 2,988 km from the sea, by the junction of the blue nile c.
Starting at the source of the blue nile near laka tana in ethiopia, journalist peter schwartzstein and photographers jonathan rashad and leyland cecco follow the water to the sudanese border, before continuing up. The legend of the blue nile falls is arguably the biggest reason to visit. The blue nile, locally known as abbay, is the major tributory of the great nile river the longest river in the world. The book rightly expands on the important slave trade from africa to the middle. The best books on the nile recommended by dan morrison. The historian waterson notes, the nile has played a vital part in the creation of egypt, a process which started about five million years ago when the river. In the first half of the nineteenth century, only a small handful of westerners had ventured into the regions watered by the nile river on its long journey f. The best books on the nile five books expert recommendations. The white nile, which is the longer of the two, begins at lake victoria in tanzania. In the first half of the nineteenth century, only a small handful of westerners had ventured into the regions watered by the nile river on its long journey from lake tana in abyssinia to the mediterraneanlands that had been forgotten since roman times, or had never been known at all.
The blue nile is a bright blue at its source, and begins to darken when it reaches the sudan, while the white nile s water is a whitishgray hoyt, 2008. Why is the blue nile river called the blue nile river. It is known as tis abay in amharic, meaning great smoke. It is over 4,000 miles long, which is even longer than the entire distance across the united states. Capturing in breathtaking prose the largerthanlife personalities of such notable figures as stanley, livingstone, burton and many others. This is an alternative high water option to the upper. They recorded their own single, i love this life, which was distributed by robert stigwoods rso records just before the company closed its doors. In the first half of the nineteenth century, only a small handful of westerners had ventured into the regions watered by the nile river on its long journey from lake. The blue nile river starts from ethiopias lake tana and merges with the smaller tributory white nile at khartoum sudan to form the nile river. In the blue nile, alan moorehead continues the classic, thrilling narration of adventure he began in the white nile, depicting this exotic place through the lives of four explorers so daring they can be considered among the worlds original adventurers each acting and reacting in separate expeditions against a bewildering background of. Travels to discover the source of the nile, volume 1 of 5. At khartoum the white nile is united with the blue nile, which provides the greater part of the annual flow of the united river and during flood season has twice the volume of the white nile. This book discusses the design, reservoir filling policy, operation, riparian countries response, environmental, human and social impact of the gerd. But both the the white nile and its companion, the blue nile, have the best.
The mysterious nile was long hidden from western geographers and explorers. The blue nile, together with the authors previously white nile, now completes a study of the history of the river and the bloodandthunder events along its boundaries during the 19th century. In the blue nile, alan moorehead continues the classic, thrilling narration of adventure he began in the white. The river contributes approximately 80% of river nile s proper waters during the rainy season. Due to rising population and increasing water demand in the nile basin, major projects raise interest and concern by millions with potential for water conflict. Bashilo blue nile 18 days, upper blue nile 1516 days, and lower blue nile 1516 days, described below. The blue nile supplies about 80% of the water in the nile during the rainy season. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Bruce claimed to have discovered the falls and named the blue nile river as the sole source of the mighty river nile.
It adopts the blue part of its name from the large amount of fertile soil it erodes from the highlands of ethiopia, giving the water a greybluish colour. Fishermen at the confluence of the blue right and white left nile rivers in khartoum, sudan. And then i came across mooreheads book, the white nile, and i thought, this. The blue nile is the title of alan mooreheads 1962 sequel to the white nile, the two books making up a history of the nile river. The nile river is not only the longest river in africa, but it is also the longest river in the whole world. Excellent book alan moorehead is to nilotic africa what peter hopkirk is to central asia, except that moorehead did it decades earlier. The blue nile s principal tributaries are the rahad and dinder rivers, which source their waters from the ethiopian highlands. Nile river basin the international water management. This is a delightful and wellpaced account of a national geographic teams successful 1999 journey by raft down the length of the blue nile one of the two rivers of the upper nile river from. Relive all the thrills and adventure of alan mooreheads classic bestseller the white nile the daring exploration of the nile river in the second half of the nineteenth century, which was at that time the most mysterious and impenetrable region on earth.
That said, i cannot give this the 5 stars it probably deserves unless i could upgrade mooreheads the white nile to 6. The groups early music was built heavily on synthesizers and electronic instrumentation and percussion, although later works featured guitar more prominently. It is situated on the upper course of the river, about 30 km downstream from the town of bahir dar and lake tana. Despite all the good qualities of white nile, the companion blue nile is actually a. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam on the blue nile. Blue nile river article about blue nile river by the. This book covers the years 1798 to 1868 and cover the blue nile branch of the river from its start in lake tana in ethiopia to its connection with the white nile. The blue nile rises in the headwaters of lake tana, nw ethiopia, a region of heavy summer rains, and is the source of floodwaters that reach.
Although western explorers have been drawn to the beauty and mystery of the blue nile since europeans first walked along the shores of lake tana centuries ago, the river was never fully mapped until thirty years ago. After reading the book, i really wanted to book a river raft trip down the blue nile. The blue nile are a musical group from glasgow, scotland. I give both his nile books 3 stars, but they are wellwritten and. They had high hopes of traversing the length of this river from its headwaters to the sudan where it joins the white nile, the nile that is most familiar to the rest of us. For history buffs like me, following in the footsteps of masterful embellisher james bruce holds significant appeal. Following early championing by established artists such as rickie lee jones and peter gabriel the band would later work with both acts, the blue nile gained critical acclaim. The river flows into and out of the lake, runs through a series of rapids, and then drops into a.