![]() 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. In the summer, moist winds from the Indian Ocean cool as they climb up the Ethiopian highlands, bringing torrential rains that fill the dry washes and canyons with rushing water that ultimately joins the Blue Nile or the Atbara.Īlthough 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 Gish Abbai at an altitude of approximately 5,905 feet (1,800 m). In the winter, when little rain falls in the highlands, the Blue Nile/Atbara rivers dry up. The annual flood in Egypt is a gift of the annual monsoon in Ethiopia. The river then loops across northwest Ethiopia through a series of deep valleys and canyons into Sudan. The Abbai portion of the Blue Nile rises at Lake Tana and flows for 19 miles (30 km) before plunging over the Tis Issat Falls. This stretch of the river is considered holy by many Ethiopians and is believed to be the Gihon River mentioned as flowing out of the Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis. The Blue Nile is also tapped to supply significant amounts of electric power not only for Ethiopia, the primary nation through which it flows, but also neighboring Kenya, Djibouti, and Sudan.Īlong its upper reaches in Ethiopia the river is called the Abbai. The Sudanese dams also help irrigate the Gezira Plain, which produces cotton, wheat, and other crops. ![]() ![]() Today, dams along the Blue Nile in Sudan produce 80 percent of that country's electric power. Having the Nile's floodwaters to depend on gave rise to stable early human settlements and the ancient Egyptian civilization. The river has played a significant role in human history by supplying the majority of the water for the Nile River, providing the means for the land through which it flowed to be agriculturally productive. The Blue Nile is a river originating in natural springs above Lake Tana in Ethiopia. Springs of Sakala above Lake Tana, Ethiopia, Africa
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