Rivers of Nigeria. River Niger or mystical river. Description, characteristics, photos, videos of the Niger River Niger River on an outline map
Guinea Guinea, Mali Mali, Niger Niger, Benin Benin, Nigeria Nigeria
The river's source is on the slopes of southeastern Guinea. The river flows through the territory of Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through the territory of Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the area of its confluence. The Niger's largest tributary is the Benue River.
Etymology
The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown and there has been a debate about this among researchers for a long time.
A popular belief is that the name of the river comes from Tuareg nehier-ren- “river, flowing water.” According to one hypothesis, the name of the river comes in turn from the words “Egerev n’Egerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “great river” or “river of rivers”. This was the name given to the Niger and some other peoples who lived on its banks.
There is also a hypothesis according to which the derivative of the name of the river is the Latin word niger, that is, “black.” This hypothesis assumes that historically the words “Niger” and “negro” are of the same root, since the latter also comes from the word “black”.
The aborigines living close to the banks call the river differently in certain sections of its course: Joliba (in the Mandingo language - “ big river"), Mayo, Eghirreu, Iso, Quorra (Quarra, Kowara), Baki-n-ruu, etc., but the vast majority of these names mean “river” when translated.
Hydrography
The source is on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. In its upper reaches the river is called Djoliba. The river flows northeast, crossing the border with Mali. In the upper and lower reaches of the Niger there are rapids, flowing mainly in a narrow valley. In its middle reaches, the Niger has the character of a flat river. From the Guinean city of Kourousa to the Malian capital of Bamako, and also below the city of Segou, the Niger flows through a wide valley and is navigable. Below the Malian city of Ke Masina, the Niger splits into several branches, forming an internal delta. In the inland delta region, the Niger Valley is heavily swamped. Previously, at this point, the Niger flowed into an endorheic lake. In the Timbuktu region, numerous branches are connected into one channel. The river then flows east along the southern border of the Sahara for 300 km. Near the town of Burem, the Niger turns southeast and flows in a wide valley all the way to its mouth, and is navigable. The river flows through the territory of Niger, where there are numerous dry riverbeds (wadis) that once flowed into Niger, along the border of Benin, then flows through Nigeria and flows into the Gulf of Guinea, forming a vast delta with an area of 24 thousand km². The longest branch of the delta is Nun, but the deeper Forcados branch is used for navigation.
The Niger is a relatively “clean” river; compared to the Nile, the turbidity of its water is about ten times less. This is due to the fact that the upper reaches of the Niger pass through rocky terrain and do not carry much silt. Like the Nile, the Niger floods every year. It begins in September, peaks in November, and ends by May.
An unusual feature of the river is the so-called internal Niger delta, formed at a site where the longitudinal channel gradient is greatly reduced. The area is an area of multi-channel channels, marshes and lakes the size of Belgium. It has a length of 425 km with an average width of 87 km. Seasonal floods make the inland delta extremely favorable for fishing and agriculture.
Niger loses approximately two-thirds of its flow in the inland delta section between Ségou and Timbuktu due to evaporation and seepage. Even the waters of the Bani River flowing into the delta near the city of Mopti are not enough to compensate for these losses. Average losses are estimated at 31 km 3 /year (their size varies greatly from year to year). After the inland delta, many tributaries flow into the Niger, but evaporation losses remain very high. The volume of water entering Nigeria in the Yola region was estimated at 25 km 3 /year before the 1980s and 13.5 km 3 /year during the eighties. The Niger's most important tributary is the Benue, which joins it at Lokoja. The volume of tributaries in Nigeria is six times greater than the volume of the Niger itself when it enters the country. Towards the delta, Niger's expenses increase to 177 km 3 /year (data before the 1980s, during the eighties - 147.3 km 3 /year.
Hydrological regime
Niger is fed by the waters of the summer monsoon rains. In the upper reaches, the flood begins in June and near Bamako reaches its maximum in September - October. In the lower reaches, the rise of water begins in June from local rains, and in September it reaches its maximum. The average annual water flow of the Niger at the mouth is 8630 m³/s, the annual flow is 378 km³, flow rates during floods can reach 30-35 thousand m³/s.
In 2005, Norwegian explorer Helge Hjelland undertook another expedition along the entire length of the Niger, starting his journey to Guinea-Bissau in 2005. He also made a documentary about his journey, which he called "Nightmare Journey" ( "The Cruellest Journey") .
River Bend
The Niger has one of the most unusual channel forms in the world. large rivers. Similar to a boomerang, this direction has baffled European geographers for almost two millennia. The source of the Niger is located only 240 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river begins its journey in exactly the opposite direction, into the Sahara, after which it turns sharply to the right near the ancient city of Timbuktu and flows southeast to the Gulf of Guinea. The ancient Romans thought that the river near Timbuktu was part of the Nile, as Pliny, for example, believed. The same point of view was shared by. The first European explorers believed that the upper Niger flows to the west and connects with the Senegal River.
This very unusual direction probably arose due to the combination of two rivers into one in ancient times. The Upper Niger, which began west of Timbuktu, ended approximately at the bend modern river, flowing into a now defunct lake, while the lower Niger began from the hills near that lake and flowed south into the Gulf of Guinea. After the development of the Sahara in 4000-1000. BC e., two rivers changed their directions and merged into one as a result of interception (eng. Stream capture ).
Economic use
The most fertile lands are in the inland delta and estuarine delta. The river brings 67 million tons of silt per year.
Many dams and waterworks have been built on the river. The Egrette and Sansanding dams raise water for irrigation canals. The largest waterworks on Niger, Kainji, was built in the 1960s. The power of the hydroelectric power station is 960 MW, the reservoir area is about 600 km².
Navigation on the river is developed only in some sections, especially from the city of Niamey to its confluence with the ocean. Lives in the river a large number of fish (perch, carp, etc.), so fishing is developed among local residents.
River transport
In September 2009, the Nigerian government allocated 36 billion naira for dredging of Niger from Baro. Baro (Nigeria) ) to Warri in order to clear the bottom of silt. Dredging was intended to facilitate the transport of goods to settlements located far from the Atlantic Ocean. Similar work was supposed to be carried out several decades ago, but it was postponed. Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua noted that the project will provide year-round navigation in Niger, and expressed hope that by 2020 Nigeria will become one of the twenty most industrialized countries in the world. Alhayi Ibrahim Bio, Nigeria's Minister of Transport, said the ministry will do everything possible to complete the project within the allotted time frame. Concerns have been raised that such work could have a negative impact on villages located in coastal areas. At the end of March 2010, the Niger dredging project was 50% complete.
Financing
Most investments in the development of Niger are made from aid funds. For example, the construction of the Kandaji Dam is financed by the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, and the development fund of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The World Bank confirmed a low interest loan in July 2007 for financing projects in the Niger Basin over a twelve year period. In addition to the goals of restoring dams in Niger, the loan also targets ecosystem restoration and economic capacity building.
Cities
downstream
Protected areas
- Niger Basin Management
- Upper Niger National Park
- Western National Park
- Kainji National Park
see also
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Notes
- F. L. Ageenko.. - M: ENAS, 2001.
- Gleick, Peter H. (2000), The World's Water, 2000-2001: The Biennial Report on Freshwater, Island Press, p. 33, ISBN 1-55963-792-7; online at
- Niger (river in Africa) / Muranov A.P. // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
- V.K. Gubarev.. retravel.ru. Retrieved March 7, 2012. .
- Friedrich Hahn. Africa. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg: Printing house of the Enlightenment partnership, 1903. - P. 393-395. - 772 s. - (World Geography under the general editorship of Prof. V. Sivers.).
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
- , p. 191
- , pp. 191–192
- FAO: , 1997
- Baugh, Brenda
, Documentary Education Resources ,
- New encyclopedia of Africa, Volume 4. John Middleton, Joseph Calder Miller, p.36
- Niger // Dictionary of modern geographical names. - Ekaterinburg: U-Factoria. Under the general editorship of academician. V. M. Kotlyakova. 2006.
- . BBC (10 September 2009). Retrieved September 11, 2009. .
- Wole Ayodele. (inaccessible link - story) . This Day Online (September 9, 2009). Retrieved September 11, 2009. .
- (inaccessible link - story) . Punch on the web (March 25, 2010). Retrieved May 11, 2010. .
- Voice of America: July 4, 2007
- World Bank: , accessed on January 9, 2010
Literature
- // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
- Dmitrevsky Yu. D. Inland waters Africa and their use / Rep. ed. Doctor of Geography Sciences M. S. Rozin. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1967. - 384 p. - 800 copies.
- Zotova Yu. N., Kubbel L. E. In search of Niger. - M.: Science. Main editorial office of oriental literature, 1972. - 242 p. - (Travel to Eastern countries). - 15,000 copies.
- River studies and recommendations on improvement of Niger and Benue. - Amsterdam: North-Holland Pub. Co., 1959.
- Reader, John (2001), Africa, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, ISBN 0-620-25506-4
- Thomson, J. Oliver (1948), History of Ancient Geography, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, ISBN 0-8196-0143-8
- Welcomme, R.L. (1986), "The Niger River System", in Davies, Bryan Robert & Walker, Keith F., The Ecology of River Systems, Springer, pp. 9–60, ISBN 90-6193-540-7
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Excerpt characterizing the Niger (river)
– I spent the evening with her yesterday. Today or tomorrow morning she is going to the Moscow region with her nephew.- Well, how is she? - said Pierre.
- Nothing, I’m sad. But do you know who saved her? This is a whole novel. Nicholas Rostov. They surrounded her, wanted to kill her, wounded her people. He rushed in and saved her...
“Another novel,” said the militiaman. “This general elopement was decidedly done so that all the old brides would get married.” Catiche is one, Princess Bolkonskaya is another.
“You know that I really think that she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune homme.” [a little bit in love with a young man.]
- Fine! Fine! Fine!
– But how can you say this in Russian?..
When Pierre returned home, he was given two Rastopchin posters that had been brought that day.
The first said that the rumor that Count Rostopchin was prohibited from leaving Moscow was unfair and that, on the contrary, Count Rostopchin was glad that ladies and merchant wives were leaving Moscow. “Less fear, less news,” the poster said, “but I answer with my life that there will be no villain in Moscow.” These words clearly showed Pierre for the first time that the French would be in Moscow. The second poster said that our main apartment was in Vyazma, that Count Wittschstein defeated the French, but that since many residents want to arm themselves, there are weapons prepared for them in the arsenal: sabers, pistols, guns, which residents can get at a cheap price. The tone of the posters was no longer as playful as in Chigirin’s previous conversations. Pierre thought about these posters. Obviously, that terrible thundercloud, which he called upon with all the strength of his soul and which at the same time aroused involuntary horror in him - obviously this cloud was approaching.
“Should I enlist in the military and go to the army or wait? – Pierre asked himself this question for the hundredth time. He took a deck of cards lying on his table and began to play solitaire.
“If this solitaire comes out,” he said to himself, mixing the deck, holding it in his hand and looking up, “if it comes out, it means... what does it mean?” He didn’t have time to decide what it meant when a voice was heard behind the office door the eldest princess asking if she could come in.
“Then it will mean that I have to go to the army,” Pierre finished to himself. “Come in, come in,” he added, turning to the prince.
(One eldest princess, with a long waist and a petrified face, continued to live in Pierre's house; the two younger ones got married.)
“Forgive me, mon cousin, for coming to you,” she said in a reproachfully excited voice. - After all, we finally need to decide on something! What will it be? Everyone has left Moscow, and the people are rioting. Why are we staying?
“On the contrary, everything seems to be fine, ma cousine,” said Pierre with that habit of playfulness that Pierre, who always embarrassedly endured his role as a benefactor in front of the princess, acquired for himself in relation to her.
- Yes, it’s good... good well-being! Today Varvara Ivanovna told me how different our troops are. You can certainly attribute it to honor. And the people have completely rebelled, they stop listening; My girl started being rude too. Soon they will start beating us too. You can't walk on the streets. And most importantly, the French will be here tomorrow, what can we expect! “I ask one thing, mon cousin,” said the princess, “order me to be taken to St. Petersburg: whatever I am, I cannot live under Bonaparte’s rule.”
- Come on, ma cousine, where do you get your information from? Against…
- I will not submit to your Napoleon. Others want it... If you don't want to do it...
- Yes, I will do it, I’ll order it now.
The princess was apparently annoyed that there was no one to be angry with. She sat down on a chair, whispering something.
“But this is being conveyed to you incorrectly,” said Pierre. “Everything is quiet in the city, and there is no danger.” I was reading just now...” Pierre showed the princess the posters. – The Count writes that he answers with his life that the enemy will not be in Moscow.
“Oh, this count of yours,” the princess spoke angrily, “is a hypocrite, a villain who himself incited the people to rebel.” Wasn’t he the one who wrote in those stupid posters that whoever he was, drag him by the crest to the exit (and how stupid)! Whoever takes it, he says, will have honor and glory. So I was quite happy. Varvara Ivanovna said that her people almost killed her because she spoke French...
“Yes, it’s so... You take everything very much to heart,” said Pierre and began to play solitaire.
Despite the fact that the solitaire had worked out, Pierre did not go to the army, but remained in empty Moscow, still in the same anxiety, indecision, in fear and at the same time in joy, expecting something terrible.
The next day, the princess left in the evening, and his chief manager came to Pierre with the news that the money he required to outfit the regiment could not be obtained unless one estate was sold. The general manager generally represented to Pierre that all these undertakings of the regiment were supposed to ruin him. Pierre had difficulty hiding his smile as he listened to the manager’s words.
“Well, sell it,” he said. - What can I do, I can’t refuse now!
The worse the state of affairs, and especially his affairs, was, the more pleasant it was for Pierre, the more obvious it was that the catastrophe he was waiting for was approaching. Almost none of Pierre's acquaintances were in the city. Julie left, Princess Marya left. Of the close acquaintances, only the Rostovs remained; but Pierre did not go to them.
On this day, Pierre, in order to have fun, went to the village of Vorontsovo to see a large balloon that was being built by Leppich to destroy the enemy, and a test balloon that was supposed to be launched tomorrow. This ball was not ready yet; but, as Pierre learned, it was built at the request of the sovereign. The Emperor wrote to Count Rastopchin the following about this ball:
“Aussitot que Leppich sera pret, composez lui un equipage pour sa nacelle d"hommes surs et intelligents et depechez un courrier au general Koutousoff pour l"en prevenir. Je l"ai instruit de la chose.
Recommandez, je vous prie, a Leppich d"etre bien attentif sur l"endroit ou il descendra la premiere fois, pour ne pas se tromper et ne pas tomber dans les mains de l"ennemi. Il est indispensable qu"il combine ses mouvements avec le general en chef.”
[As soon as Leppich is ready, assemble a crew for his boat from the faithful and smart people and send a courier to General Kutuzov to warn him.
I informed him about this. Please instruct Leppich to pay careful attention to the place where he descends for the first time, so as not to make a mistake and not fall into the hands of the enemy. It is necessary that he coordinate his movements with the movements of the commander-in-chief.]
Returning home from Vorontsov and driving along Bolotnaya Square, Pierre saw a crowd at Lobnoye Mesto, stopped and got off the droshky. It was the execution of a French chef accused of espionage. The execution had just ended, and the executioner was untying a pitifully moaning fat man with red sideburns, blue stockings and a green camisole from the mare. Another criminal, thin and pale, stood right there. Both, judging by their faces, were French. With a frightened, painful look, similar to that of the thin Frenchman, Pierre pushed through the crowd.
- What is this? Who? For what? - he asked. But the attention of the crowd - officials, townspeople, merchants, men, women in cloaks and fur coats - was so greedily focused on what was happening at Lobnoye Mesto that no one answered him. The fat man stood up, frowning, shrugged his shoulders and, obviously wanting to express firmness, began to put on his doublet without looking around him; but suddenly his lips trembled, and he began to cry, angry with himself, as adult sanguine people cry. The crowd spoke loudly, as it seemed to Pierre, in order to drown out the feeling of pity within itself.
- Someone’s princely cook...
“Well, monsieur, it’s clear that Russian jelly sauce has set the Frenchman on edge... it’s set his teeth on edge,” said the wizened clerk standing next to Pierre, while the Frenchman began to cry. The clerk looked around him, apparently expecting an assessment of his joke. Some laughed, some continued to look in fear at the executioner, who was undressing another.
Pierre sniffed, wrinkled his nose, and quickly turned around and walked back to the droshky, never ceasing to mutter something to himself as he walked and sat down. As he continued on the road, he shuddered several times and screamed so loudly that the coachman asked him:
- What do you order?
-Where are you going? - Pierre shouted at the coachman who was leaving for Lubyanka.
“They ordered me to the commander-in-chief,” answered the coachman.
- Fool! beast! - Pierre shouted, which rarely happened to him, cursing his coachman. - I ordered home; and hurry up, you idiot. “We still have to leave today,” Pierre said to himself.
Pierre, seeing the punished Frenchman and the crowd surrounding Execution Place, so finally decided that he could not stay any longer in Moscow and was going to the army that day, that it seemed to him that he either told the coachman about this, or that the coachman himself should have known it .
Arriving home, Pierre gave an order to his coachman Evstafievich, who knew everything, could do everything, and was known throughout Moscow, that he was going to Mozhaisk that night to the army and that his riding horses should be sent there. All this could not be done on the same day, and therefore, according to Evstafievich, Pierre had to postpone his departure until another day in order to give time for the bases to get on the road.
On the 24th it cleared up after the bad weather, and that afternoon Pierre left Moscow. At night, after changing horses in Perkhushkovo, Pierre learned that there had been a big battle that evening. They said that here, in Perkhushkovo, the ground shook from the shots. No one could answer Pierre's questions about who won. (This was the battle of Shevardin on the 24th.) At dawn, Pierre approached Mozhaisk.
All the houses of Mozhaisk were occupied by troops, and at the inn, where Pierre was met by his master and coachman, there was no room in the upper rooms: everything was full of officers.
In Mozhaisk and beyond Mozhaisk, troops stood and marched everywhere. Cossacks, foot and horse soldiers, wagons, boxes, guns were visible from all sides. Pierre was in a hurry to move forward as quickly as possible, and the further he drove away from Moscow and the deeper he plunged into this sea of troops, the more he was overcome by anxiety and a new joyful feeling that he had not yet experienced. It was a feeling similar to the one he experienced in the Slobodsky Palace during the Tsar’s arrival - a feeling of the need to do something and sacrifice something. He now experienced a pleasant feeling of awareness that everything that constitutes people’s happiness, the comforts of life, wealth, even life itself, is nonsense, which is pleasant to discard in comparison with something... With what, Pierre could not give himself an account, and indeed she tried to understand for himself, for whom and for what he finds it especially charming to sacrifice everything. He was not interested in what he wanted to sacrifice for, but the sacrifice itself constituted a new joyful feeling for him.
On the 24th there was a battle at the Shevardinsky redoubt, on the 25th not a single shot was fired from either side, on the 26th the Battle of Borodino took place.
Why and how were the battles of Shevardin and Borodino given and accepted? Why was the Battle of Borodino fought? It didn’t make the slightest sense for either the French or the Russians. The immediate result was and should have been - for the Russians, that we were closer to the destruction of Moscow (which we feared most of all in the world), and for the French, that they were closer to the destruction of the entire army (which they also feared most of all in the world) . This result was immediately obvious, but meanwhile Napoleon gave and Kutuzov accepted this battle.
If the commanders had been guided by reasonable reasons, it seemed, how clear it should have been for Napoleon that, having gone two thousand miles and accepting a battle with the probable chance of losing a quarter of the army, he was heading for certain death; and it should have seemed just as clear to Kutuzov that by accepting the battle and also risking losing a quarter of the army, he was probably losing Moscow. For Kutuzov, this was mathematically clear, just as it is clear that if I have less than one checker in checkers and I change, I will probably lose and therefore should not change.
When the enemy has sixteen checkers, and I have fourteen, then I am only one-eighth weaker than him; and when I exchange thirteen checkers, he will be three times stronger than me.
Before the Battle of Borodino, our forces were approximately compared to the French as five to six, and after the battle as one to two, that is, before the battle one hundred thousand; one hundred and twenty, and after the battle fifty to one hundred. And at the same time, the smart and experienced Kutuzov accepted the battle. Napoleon, the brilliant commander, as he is called, gave battle, losing a quarter of the army and stretching his line even more. If they say that, having occupied Moscow, he thought how to end the campaign by occupying Vienna, then there is a lot of evidence against this. The historians of Napoleon themselves say that even from Smolensk he wanted to stop, he knew the danger of his extended position, he knew that the occupation of Moscow would not be the end of the campaign, because from Smolensk he saw the situation in which Russian cities were left to him, and did not receive a single answer to their repeated statements about their desire to negotiate.
In giving and accepting the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov and Napoleon acted involuntarily and senselessly. And historians, under the accomplished facts, only later brought up intricate evidence of the foresight and genius of the commanders, who, of all the involuntary instruments of world events, were the most slavish and involuntary figures.
The ancients left us examples of heroic poems in which the heroes constitute the entire interest of history, and we still cannot get used to the fact that for our human time a story of this kind has no meaning.
To another question: how were the Borodino and Shevardino battles that preceded it given? There is also a very definite and well-known, completely misrepresentation. All historians describe the matter as follows:
The Russian army allegedly, in its retreat from Smolensk, was looking for the best position for a general battle, and such a position was allegedly found at Borodin.
The Russians allegedly strengthened this position forward, to the left of the road (from Moscow to Smolensk), at almost a right angle to it, from Borodin to Utitsa, at the very place where the battle took place.
Ahead of this position, a fortified forward post on the Shevardinsky Kurgan was supposedly set up to monitor the enemy. On the 24th Napoleon allegedly attacked the forward post and took it; On the 26th he attacked the entire Russian army standing in position on the Borodino field.
This is what the stories say, and all this is completely unfair, as anyone who wants to delve into the essence of the matter can easily see.
The Russians could not find a better position; but, on the contrary, in their retreat they passed through many positions that were better than Borodino. They did not settle on any of these positions: both because Kutuzov did not want to accept a position that was not chosen by him, and because the demand for a people’s battle had not yet been expressed strongly enough, and because Miloradovich had not yet approached with the militia, and also because other reasons that are innumerable. The fact is that the previous positions were stronger and that the Borodino position (the one on which the battle was fought) is not only not strong, but for some reason is not at all a position any more than any other place in the Russian Empire, which, if you were guessing, you could point to with a pin on the map.
The Russians not only did not strengthen the position of the Borodino field to the left at right angles to the road (that is, the place where the battle took place), but never before August 25, 1812 did they think that the battle could take place at this place. This is evidenced, firstly, by the fact that not only on the 25th there were no fortifications at this place, but that, begun on the 25th, they were not finished even on the 26th; secondly, the proof is the position of the Shevardinsky redoubt: the Shevardinsky redoubt, ahead of the position at which the battle was decided, does not make any sense. Why was this redoubt fortified stronger than all other points? And why, defending it on the 24th until late at night, all efforts were exhausted and six thousand people were lost? To observe the enemy, a Cossack patrol was enough. Thirdly, proof that the position in which the battle took place was not foreseen and that the Shevardinsky redoubt was not the forward point of this position is the fact that Barclay de Tolly and Bagration until the 25th were convinced that the Shevardinsky redoubt was the left flank of the position and that Kutuzov himself, in his report, written in the heat of the moment after the battle, calls the Shevardinsky redoubt the left flank of the position. Much later, when reports about the Battle of Borodino were being written in the open, it was (probably to justify the mistakes of the commander-in-chief, who had to be infallible) that unfair and strange testimony was invented that the Shevardinsky redoubt served as a forward post (while it was only a fortified point of the left flank) and as if the Battle of Borodino was accepted by us in a fortified and pre-chosen position, whereas it took place in a completely unexpected and almost unfortified place.
The thing, obviously, was like this: the position was chosen along the Kolocha River, which crosses the main road not at a right angle, but at an acute angle, so that the left flank was in Shevardin, the right near the village of Novy and the center in Borodino, at the confluence of the Kolocha and Vo rivers yn. This position, under the cover of the Kolocha River, for an army whose goal is to stop the enemy moving along the Smolensk road to Moscow, is obvious to anyone who looks at the Borodino field, forgetting how the battle took place.
Napoleon, having gone to Valuev on the 24th, did not see (as they say in the stories) the position of the Russians from Utitsa to Borodin (he could not see this position, because it did not exist) and did not see the forward post of the Russian army, but stumbled upon the Russian rearguard in pursuit to the left flank of the Russian position, to the Shevardinsky redoubt, and, unexpectedly for the Russians, transferred troops through Kolocha. And the Russians, not having time to engage in a general battle, retreated with their left wing from the position they intended to occupy, and took up a new position, which was not foreseen and not fortified. Having moved to the left side of Kolocha, to the left of the road, Napoleon moved the entire future battle from right to left (from the Russian side) and transferred it to the field between Utitsa, Semenovsky and Borodin (to this field, which has nothing more advantageous for the position than any another field in Russia), and on this field the entire battle took place on the 26th. In rough form, the plan for the proposed battle and the battle that took place will be as follows:
If Napoleon had not left on the evening of the 24th for Kolocha and had not ordered an attack on the redoubt immediately in the evening, but had launched an attack the next day in the morning, then no one would have doubted that the Shevardinsky redoubt was the left flank of our position; and the battle would take place as we expected. In this case, we would probably defend the Shevardinsky redoubt, our left flank, even more stubbornly; Napoleon would have been attacked in the center or on the right, and on the 24th a general battle would have taken place in the position that was fortified and foreseen. But since the attack on our left flank took place in the evening, following the retreat of our rearguard, that is, immediately after the battle of Gridneva, and since the Russian military leaders did not want or did not have time to begin a general battle on the same evening of the 24th, Borodinsky’s first and main action The battle was lost on the 24th and, obviously, led to the loss of the one fought on the 26th.
After the loss of the Shevardinsky redoubt, by the morning of the 25th we found ourselves without a position on the left flank and were forced to bend back our left wing and hastily strengthen it anywhere.
But not only did the Russian troops stand only under the protection of weak, unfinished fortifications on August 26, but the disadvantage of this situation was increased by the fact that the Russian military leaders did not recognize the completely accomplished fact (the loss of position on the left flank and the transfer of the entire future battlefield from right to left ), remained in their extended position from the village of Novy to Utitsa and, as a result, had to move their troops during the battle from right to left. Thus, throughout the entire battle, the Russians had against all French army, aimed at our left wing, twice the weaker forces. (Poniatowski’s actions against Utitsa and Uvarov on the French right flank were actions separate from the course of the battle.)
The Niger flows through the territory of: ,. The Niger is the third largest river after and the 2nd most abundant river in the west, bearing various names among the coastal natives, of which the name Joliba predominates in the upper reaches, in the middle - Eguirreu, in the lower reaches - Kvara or Quorry, the Arabs call it Nil-el -Abid (Nile of Slaves). Niger originates at 8°36` northern latitude and 10°33` West longitude (from Greenwich) in the East of the Kong Mountains, in Kuranko, at an altitude of 850 meters above sea level and at the beginning flows North towards , then turns to the South-East and South and, through several branches , of which the largest are: Sombrero, Nen, Brass and Forcado, pours into the Gulf of Guinea.
140 kilometers from its source, which, being sacred, is inaccessible to foreigners and precise definition, Niger, still called Tembi, receives on the left the wide Faliko River with its tributary Tamikon, after which, under the name Djoliba, it flows north to 10° north latitude. Turning to the North-East, it receives several small tributaries on the left, and significant tributaries on the right: Mifu and Yandan, or Nianna, turning again to the north it receives Milo and Tankisso; here the slope of the Niger is reduced to half (only 329 meters above sea level), its bed becomes wider, but shallower - and for 400 kilometers it flows to the northeast, forming the border line between and the kingdom of Ségou. At Bomak, the Niger in high water is up to 800 meters wide and forms rapids, capriciously changing the width of the channel; near Niamina it becomes navigable and turns south; its slope becomes even smaller, its bed lower; at Massino it divides into two main branches, which head north to Lake Debu. At Diafaraba, these branches are connected to each other by natural channels, which, intersecting, form an island network of Burgu of 200 square kilometers; on one of these islands lies the ancient Djenné, or Guineve, ch. The land of the blacks, from which the whole country received its name Guinea. Further, the Niger enters the territory of the fellahs, where it is called Issoy and heads to the North, crossing Lake Debo, receives many tributaries and is again divided into the Danko and Mayo Balleo branches; near Kabara, the harbor of the city, reaches 17° north latitude and flows east along the desert; on this route, the rapids of Tozaye impede navigation when slow flow and among the extremely low-lying banks of the Niger reaches the country of Ussa, where it bears the new name Gulbi-nkovary, or Kovara. At Burrum the river turns sharply to the Southeast and enters, after the lowlands of Massina and the rocky desert of Timbuktu, into a hilly country with a tropical one and again forms a whole network of branches near Gago, the ancient capital of the Sanray empire. Having broken through the rapids surrounding the island of Bornu Guntu, the Niger spreads out like a wide tablecloth and only at Akarambai, to the south of the island of Ansongo, it narrows again, constrained by the walls of rocks, to a width of 30 meters.
In the middle reaches, the Niger receives: Gorajende, flowing from Libtako, Kassani, or Tederimt, Sirbia, or Chirba, and Gulbi-n-Sokoto at Gomba. From Gomba to the rapids of Bussa, the Niger is navigable; steamships sail between Rabba and Lokoja, although sandy shoals sometimes interfere with navigation here. Here Kaduna, or Liful, and a little further Gurara flow into the Niger; its most significant tributary, the Benue, flows into Lokoja, originating north of Ngawandare in Adamei, and in the rainy season it connects with the lake. From Lokoja at Ebo (at the head of the delta) the Niger, connected with the Benue, flows in a majestic stream, rushing south among the rocks and, sloping in gradual terraces, receives on the left the parallel tributary Amambaru. The width of the Niger is increasing, and it flows towards the Gulf of Guinea, into which it flows through the aforementioned branches. The Niger Delta covers an area of 25,000 square kilometers and is low-lying, marshy and covered with mangroves. The navigability of the Niger depends, in addition to rapids and waterfalls, on its high or shallow waters. In the upper reaches of the Niger to Timbuktu, high water occurs from July to early January, and here it is navigable from Bammako to Timbuktu; in the middle reaches of the Niger there is plenty of water and is navigable from the Gabba to Lokoja, from June to October; in the lower reaches from Lokoja to Akassa, thanks to the influx of Benue waters, the Niger is high from June to the end of September and has a secondary high from January to the end of April, depending on the high water in the upper reaches; Here it is navigable at all times of the year.
Niger's way of eating: The river is fed by summer waters.
Tributaries of the Niger: Milo (right), Bani (right), Sokoto (left), Kaduna (left), Benue (left).
Inhabitants of Niger: in Niger it is very developed, the main commercial fish species are: carp, perch, barbel (or barbel) and others.
Niger Freeze: doesn't freeze.
Where does the Niger River begin and where does it flow?, the third largest river in Africa? Perhaps in the history of world science there are not many problems that have occupied the minds for so long. The Niger problem dates back to the 5th century. BC e.Herodotus on his journey to southern Africa
Greek Herodotus, who was nicknamed the “father of history,” spoke about his journey from Libya to the southwest Africa five young nomads from Nasamon tribe. The Nasamons set off, trying to penetrate as far as possible into southern Africa. They crossed sandy deserts and reached fertile country, replete with various plants unfamiliar to them. But here they were captured by some short people with black skin, who spoke a language they did not understand, and took them away with them. The prisoners passed through vast swampy areas, beyond which they saw big river, flowing from west to east; they noticed a large number of crocodiles in its waters. After many adventures, the young Nasamons returned home safely.Herodotus's erroneous assumption that the Niger is a tributary of the Nile
It is hardly possible to say for sure whether the journey of the Nasamons took place in reality or was it a fiction. Based on the story of Herodotus, Europe first learned about the existence of a large river deep in West Africa, flowing from west to east. But at the same time, Herodotus made a mistake, understandable and justified given the then level of human knowledge about the world in which he lives, but finally refuted only in the 19th century. The Greeks had no idea about the actual size of the African continent, but they already knew quite well the Nile, in the valley of which a great civilization had developed Ancient Egypt, - Greece owed her a lot. It is natural therefore that Herodotus suggested, like the big river that was discussed in the story he recorded about the journey of the Nasamons - west tributary of the Nile . And this look lasted for more than two thousand years. Geographical ideas of Herodotus became the basis on which maps of the interior of Africa were created, appearing in the writings of such ancient scientists as the Roman Pliny the Elder(1st century AD) and especially the great geographer of the ancient world Claudius Ptolemy. Exactly Ptolemy's map for many centuries became a source geographical information for people of the Middle Ages. This map, with all its imperfections, was for its time biggest scientific achievement.Cultural Heritage of the Middle East
Medieval Europe received the knowledge accumulated by the scientists of antiquity mainly in the transmission of Arab scientists: on Middle East cultural heritage preserved much better than in the early medieval states of Europe, where the omnipotent Catholic Church was suspicious of most pagan monuments, and the closed subsistence economy of feudal society did not really encourage the development of geography. In the Middle East at that time there were huge flourishing cities with developed crafts and lively trade relations.The Arabs were attracted by the geographical work of Ptolemy
It is clear that Arabs were attracted by the geographical work of Ptolemy. A native of Central Asia, a great mathematician, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi in the 9th century revised Ptolemy's "Geography", supplementing it with the information that the Arabs were able to accumulate by this time. A century later, some Suhrab in turn, reworked the “Book of the Image of the Earth” by al-Khwarizmi, adding and enriching the appearance of the then known part with new features globe, drawn by Ptolemy.
But neither al-Khwarizmi nor Suhrab made any significant changes to the map of West Africa. Arab geography of that time was a “book” science and was based on ancient and Hellenistic theories. And Muslim merchants, by the 9th century. well mastered trade routes to Ghana - largest state West Africa of that period - were not very interested in the nature of this part of the continent: trade routes or the goods that could be obtained here absorbed all their attention. Real knowledge is being gained about the African interior
But gradually, as they accumulated real knowledge of the African interior, Arab geographers' ideas about these areas are beginning to become more complex. Of course, this does not mean that they could give a clear answer to the question of what, for example, the Nile and Niger basins look like. The complication of the picture was expressed mainly in the appearance (starting from the third quarter of the 10th century) in the works of Arab geographers and on the maps they compiled, along with the familiar and well-known “Nile of Egypt”, several more Nile: “Nile of Blacks”, “Nile of Zinj”, etc. At the same time, most Arab writers seemed to tacitly adhere to the old point of view of Herodotus: for them the connection West African Nile With Egyptian Nile was a given. In the same way, they had no doubt that the “big river” on the map of West Africa (“Black Country”) flows from west to east.Conflicting information about the Niger and Sinegal rivers
But as the Muslim merchants moved south, complications arose: having become acquainted with two different rivers - Niger and Senegal, merchants, and after them geographers begin to mix them up. For the first time, such a mixture of these large West African rivers appears in the “Book of Routes and States” by the Spanish-Arab geographer and historian al-Bekri in the middle of the 11th century. Al-Bekri himself wasn't in West Africa , he described it based on materials from the rich archives of Cordoba, where many reports of Muslim merchants from different cities of Spain were kept. These merchants traded more than any other with the peoples living south of the Sahara. And al-Bekri either did not pay attention to the contradiction between different documents that spoke of a large river in ancient Ghana and adjacent countries (some documents stated that the river flows from east to west, and in others - from west to east), or, as Arab historians and geographers of the Middle Ages often did, he cited information from both without criticism, relying on the usual formula in such cases: “Allah knows best!” But if al-Bekri simply recorded a contradiction, then the great geographer al-Idrisi(XII century) adopted a point of view that was directly opposite to the previously dominant one. He also mixes Niger and Senegal, but his West African “Nile” flows only from east to west. The scientific authority of al-Idrisi turned out to be great enough for this mistake (however, one of many) secure for several centuries. It could not be refuted by the very definite testimony of the traveler Ibn Battuta(XIV century) that the “Black Nile” flows from west to east. But Ibn Battuta was the first of the authors of Arab geographical works to personally visit Niger. At the same time, being a practical man, far from scientific discussions, he firmly adhered to the old point of view: the “Nile of Egypt” and the “Nile of the Blacks” are the same river. Of course, in the eyes of people involved in geographical science, the testimony of a simple merchant could not compete with the opinion of such a scientist as al-Idrisi.Lion of Africa saw Niger
Moreover, even when through one and a half centuries after Ibn Battuta, the areas along the Niger were visited twice by the North African traveler and scientist al-Hasan ibn Wazzaz al-Fasi, known in Europe under the name Lion of Africa, the authority of al-Idrisi remained decisive. African Lion Not only saw Niger with my own eyes; he swam along it more than once and went down this river from Timbuktu to Djenne. It seemed that he could not help but know which way the river flowed! But, unfortunately, in his “Description of Africa”, which glorified his name, Leo Africanus did not say a single word about the direction in which the Niger flows. And this silence was perceived as agreement with al-Idrisi.
For two and a half centuries, the book of Leo Africanus remained in Europe the main source of information about the African continent. And it never occurred to anyone to refute al-Idrisi’s opinion about the direction of the Niger. Of course, it cannot be said that the accumulation of information about the geography of the interior of West Africa has completely stopped. European scientists heard vague rumors about the existence of a huge lake somewhere far off the coast, which could be reached through the lands of the Hausa people, that is, through what is now Northern Nigeria. And a major geographer of the late 16th century. Ortelius connected with this lake - real Lake Chad- current of the Niger. On his map, the river begins south of the equator, crosses it, flows into Chad, and from there flows west, to a certain “Lake Guber.” After passing this supposed lake, the Niger flows into the Atlantic Ocean at the actual mouth of the Senegal. Ortelius's ideas are interesting, by the way, because they contain a lot of very real, but absolutely fantastically mixed material. Portuguese knowledge of West Africa
to the Portuguese probably already at the end of the 15th century. it became known about the existence of several lakes along the upper reaches of the Niger above Timbuktu - lake Debo, Fagibin, Tanda etc. Something also became known about the rich Hausan cities further to the east; one of the most important among them was Gobir. And in 1564, on the map of the Italian Giacomo di Castaldi appears in the depths West Africa the huge “Lake Guber” (by the way, Europeans first learned about Guber from the same “Description of Africa” by Leo Africanus). “Lake Guber” was regularly reproduced on their maps by everyone who studied the geography of Africa until the end of the 18th century. And almost all this time continued to consider Niger and Senegal as one river. True, there was also a certain positive side to these erroneous views: already did not confuse Niger with the Nile, and the name “Niger” itself since the 16th century. firmly established on European maps.Expanding geographical knowledge of Africa
But in general expanding geographical knowledge of Africa in the period between the appearance in 1550 of the first Italian edition of the Description of Africa and the first expedition Mungo Park in the mid-90s of the 18th century. went much slower than at the beginning of the era of the Great geographical discoveries XV - first quarter of the XVI century. The discovery of America and the successful penetration of Europeans into the South Seas led to the fact that the leading role in the European economy passed from the Mediterranean countries to the countries of the Atlantic coast. At the same time, the seizure of almost all North Africa The Ottoman Empire contributed to an even greater weakening of the usual contacts between Southern Europe and the Middle East. And in Africa itself, the main connections with Europeans moved to the west coast: from here to New World the main export product was sent - slaves for plantations and mines. Africa was turning, in the words of K. Marx, into a “reserved hunting ground for blacks.”Slave trade
In search of new sources of this terrible product, European sailors quickly explored the Atlantic coast of Africa and mapped it quite accurately. But with the deep regions the situation was different. Since slaves were brought to the coast by African rulers, there was no need for Europeans to move away from coastal markets and penetrate deeper into the continent. Besides, slave trade was so profitable for the African rulers themselves that they would hardly have favorably accepted the penetration of Europeans into the interior of the country. Therefore, the difficulties and obstacles on the way of those who tried to move at least a little away from the coastal fort-factories were great. For some time, this situation more or less suited European merchants and African leaders. But in the second half of the 18th century. circumstances began to change rapidly. In European countries, the positions of those who sought to ban the slave trade. Many reasons contributed to this, not the least of which was the desire of British merchants and industrialists to prevent the development of the economy of the former North American colonies, which was largely built on mass use plantation slavery.The Industrial Revolution triumphed in England
In the same time in England finally the industrial revolution won I; The capitalist mode of production became undividedly dominant in the country's economy. The strengthened British bourgeoisie needed new sources of raw materials, new strongholds in all parts of the world. After the successful end for England of the Seven Years' War in 1763 the question of ownership of India was resolved in favor of the British. British colonial interests moved east from North America and the West Indies. But this did not at all mean a weakening of attention to other areas of the globe. It is no coincidence that just at this time in England, interest in geographical studies of overseas lands is growing unusually quickly, and among these lands Africa ranks first. But discoveries could only be expected with a certain level of organizational and financial support for research enterprises. Well, the British bourgeoisie was rich enough, enterprising enough, and far-sighted enough to provide such support to their compatriots who would decide to take on the difficult task of exploring unknown lands.Creation of the African Society
In 1788 in London there was organized African society (Society for Promoting the Discovery of the African Interior). It is characteristic that, when announcing the creation of the society, its founders specifically drew attention to the fact that European ideas about the interior of Africa were almost entirely based on information reported by al-Idrisi and Leo Africanus. And in the first place among the tasks to be resolved, it was put to determine where does the Niger begin and where does it flow?. The message about the founding meeting of the company said:“The course of the Niger, the places of its source and end, and even its existence as an independent river have not yet been determined.”Thus, from the end of the 18th century systematic exploration of inner Africa begins. Already in the first year of its existence, the society sent two researchers to Africa who had to cross the continent in different directions. First, John Ledyard, it was prescribed to go “from east to west along the latitude of Niger.” Second, Simon Lucas, had
"cross the Sahara Desert, moving from Tripoli to Fezzan",and then return to England
"via Gambia or via the Guinean coast."Neither Ledyard nor Lucas failed to complete these tasks. The first died before he could even leave Cairo, and the second, having landed in Tripoli in October 1788, could not wait for the end of the war that was waged between the nomadic tribes living along the main caravan road to the Fezzan. And without this there was no point in even thinking about traveling. In July 1789 Lucas returned to England. Then the leaders of the society decided to try another route to Niger - through Gambia (this route was shorter, although they did not yet know about it).
Houghton's Journey to Africa
It was from here that he began his journey into the hinterlands Africa retired major Houghton, who served for several years in the colonial forces on the coast of West Africa. In November 1790, he moved from the mouth of the Gambia to the east with the task of visiting"the cities of Timbuktu and Hausa". He managed to reach the Bamboo region in the upper Senegal, and Houghton hoped to reach Timbuktu. But, having crossed Senegal, near the present Malian city of Nioro, Houghton died. Scientific results of the Houghton expedition, despite his death, were very important. Houghton established:
- that the Niger flows from west to east.
- His news from Africa contained confirmation that the river in its middle course passes through areas inhabited by the Hausa people.
Mungo Park Expedition
And only in 1795 a young Scottish doctor offered his services to the society Mungo Park. In May 1795 he went from the mouth of the Gambia by the same route as Houghton. It took him more than a year to reach the city of Segou (in the modern Republic of Mali), where he first saw Niger. It was July 20, 1796.“I,” wrote Park, “with great pleasure saw the main goal of my expedition - the majestic Niger, about which I had been thinking for so long, wide as the Thames at Westminster, sparkling in the morning sun and flowing to the east.”. Park was the first modern European to see with his own eyes that the river, after all, flows from west to east(Houghton’s data was based on numerous interviews with local residents who had a good idea of the real picture). Of course it was a great success. However, no less successful was the fact that Park managed to return to England and in 1799 published a report on his journey. The book was accompanied by a voluminous note from the largest geographer of England at that time James Rennell, dedicated to the scientific results of Park’s journey. In it, Rennell hypothesized that the Niger flows into “vast lakes” in eastern Africa, from where excess water evaporates due to the large area of the water surface. This theory has received almost universal acceptance.
Notes by Friedrich Hornemann
However, some researchers still preferred to believe that the Niger is connected to the Nile. The confluence of the Niger into the Nile was also mentioned in the diaries of Friedrich Hornemann, a young German scientist sent from Fezzan, who was invited by the African Society to try to approach the Niger from the north. Latest records in the diary he kept Horneman, which suggests the connection of the Niger with the Nile, dates back to April 1800, after which there was no information about Horneman. Later it became known that he managed to reach the state of Nupe on the lower Niger and died there. After great success Park expeditions science had only hypotheses regarding the sources of the Niger and its mouth. And only new travels could confirm or refute them. By this time in the organization geographical research British scientists to Africa experienced a significant change. Under pressure from the English bourgeoisie, interested in opening new markets, the British government is decisively involved in the planning and financing of expeditions.Second Mungo Park Expedition
The list of government expeditions was opened Mungo Park's second expedition, which set off for Africa from England in January 1805. Park should have reached the Niger and descended along it to the mouth, wherever it might be. The traveler was going to repeat the route he took ten years ago. He intended to build a ship in Segou and go down the river (it was for this purpose that he included shipbuilders in the expedition). In total, Park's group included forty-four Europeans and one African guide. Perhaps this choice of companions largely predetermined the tragic failure of the entire enterprise: Park’s last letter, written in November 1805, reported that only five Europeans remained alive - the unusual climate and tropical diseases had taken their toll. And although Park managed to travel down the Niger more than one and a half thousand kilometers (to the city of Busa in modern Nigeria), the expedition ended a complete disaster: on the rapids near Busa, Park and three of his companions who had survived by that time died. The expedition did not produce any scientific results. All of Park's records died with him..
Before Park's departure on the second expedition, a new hypothesis was put forward that Niger and Congo - one river(V early XIX V. European sailors knew only the mouth of the third great river of Africa, although the first Portuguese ships reached this mouth more than three hundred years earlier). The British government tried to test the hypothesis that the Niger and Congo were one river in 1816. Captain Takka's Expedition
Captain Takka's Expedition was supposed to climb up the Congo, and the second expedition, led by Major Peddy, go to the Niger and go down its current. But almost all the participants in both expeditions died from disease during the trip, and these expeditions also remained fruitless. Then in England for some time they abandoned attempts to reach Niger from the ocean, and the northern direction again came to the fore.Ritchie and Lyon Expedition
The very next year it moved south from Tripoli Ritchie and Lyon expedition, whose task was to achieve Timbuktu. But she also failed to do this. The travelers only reached Murzuka, center Fezzan region: Ritchie died here, and Lyon, who tried to continue his journey, soon had to return due to lack of funds. However, Lyon, having interviewed a large number of Africans involved in one form or another in the caravan trade across the Sahara, came to the conclusion that the waters of the Niger are connected to the great Nile of Egypt.Dr. Audney's Expedition
The first successful attempt to explore the interior of West Africa from the Mediterranean coast belonged to an expedition that set off in 1821. It was led by Dr. Audney, the expedition included Major Denham and Navy Lieutenant Clapperton. Coming out of Tripoli, the expedition, after many months of struggle with harsh nature and obstacles posed by warlike tribes roaming the desert, reached Lake Chad. True, this did not bring Denham and his comrades any closer to solving the Niger problem, although Denham really hoped that a solution would be found here. But already that the first time Europeans reached Lake Chad was no small event. Denham remained in the state of Bornu on the banks of Chad, while Clapperton and Oudney moved west, intending to explore the regions of the Hausa people and, if possible, reach the Niger. But only Clapperton arrived in Kano, the largest of the Hausa cities; Audney died on the road. In Kano, Clapperton first heard that Quorra(as the Niger was called here) flows into the ocean in the Yoruba country (in the southwest of present-day Nigeria), where European ships come. True, this idea in itself was not unexpected: after all, at the beginning of the century, the German geographer Karl Reichard wrote about such a possibility. But then his point of view did not meet with support: it was believed that the river’s path to the Bay of Benin was blocked by a chain of granite mountains.
From Kano, Clapperton moved further west. In Sokoto, the capital of the huge sultanate that the Fulani people had just created, he was warmly received by the Sultan Muhammad Bello. In conversations with a European, the Sultan confirmed that it was indeed possible to reach the sea along the large river. However, on the map that Muhammad Bello drew for his guest, the Niger was connected to the Nile, and in order to avoid misunderstandings, an explanation was given to the map: “This is the river Quorra, which reaches Egypt and which is called the Nile.”Now it is difficult to say how the unexpected contradiction between the Sultan’s words and his map can be explained: admiration for the traditional ideas of Muslim geographers or sober political calculations. After all, Muhammad Bello had enough information to fear the penetration of the British into his country. The Sultan was fully aware that in addition to the loss of benefits from mediation in trade, the penetration of the guest's compatriots into his country could lead to unpleasant political consequences. It is not for nothing that during Clapperton’s second visit to Sokoto in 1827, he was told:
“If the English are encouraged too much, they will certainly come to the Sudan one after another until they are strong enough to take over the country... as they did in India, which was wrested from the hands of the Muslims.”Perhaps it was difficult to say more clearly. Be that as it may, Clapperton was not allowed to visit Niger. He had to return to Borna. Denham, who remained here, also collected information about the Niger and heard confirmation that this river merges with the Nile. Thus, the expedition, despite its undoubted success, did not establish the main thing - where the Niger begins and where it flows: neither the source nor the mouth of the Niger were still found. In 1824 Denham and Clapperton returned to their homeland. After their journey, the erroneous view regarding the connection of the Niger and the Nile. But essentially by this time it had already been irrefutably proven that merging with Neil Niger can't, no matter which direction it flows. Moreover, this was proven not speculatively, but strictly experimentally, based on barometric altitude measurements of the most likely source of the great West African river. The man who made this discovery was called
The Niger River is the most important river in West Africa. Length 4,180 km, basin area 2,118 thousand km², the third according to these parameters in Africa after the Nile and Congo. Flows through the territory of Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin, Nigeria. Source: Guinean Highlands, southeast Guinea. Estuary-Atlantic Ocean. The basin area is 2,117,700 km².
Niger is fed by the waters of the summer monsoon rains. In the upper reaches, the flood begins in June and near Bamako reaches its maximum in September - October. In the lower reaches, the rise of water begins in June from local rains, and in September it reaches its maximum. The average annual water flow of the Niger at the mouth is 8630 m³/s, the annual flow is 378 km³, flow rates during floods can reach 30-35 thousand m³/s.
The water supply along the current is not traditionally distributed. The lower and upper reaches of the river are located in places with high rainfall. but in the middle reaches of the river the climate is already dry.
The main tributaries of the Niger are the Bani, Sokoto, Milo, Kaduna, and Benue rivers.
Niger also has an internal delta. Locals call it Masina. This vast territory is located in the middle reaches of the river. It is a large, heavily swampy floodplain valley. The river there has a large number of branches, oxbow lakes, and lakes. Downstream they join into one channel. The delta has a length of four hundred twenty-five kilometers and a width of eighty-seven kilometers.
To date, the origin of the name of the river has not been established. One version says that the name of the river comes from the Latin word niger - “black”. But the indigenous people call the river in their own way. In the upper reaches it is called Joliba, in the middle - Eguirreu, and in the lower reaches - it is Quara. The Arabs also call it differently - Nil el-Abid, which translated means “Nile of Slaves”.
According to one hypothesis, the name of the river comes in turn from the words “Egerev n’Egerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “great river” or “river of rivers”. This was the name given to the Niger and other peoples who lived on its banks.
The source is in Guinea, then the river flows through Mali, Niger, along the Benin border, then flows through Nigeria and flows into the Gulf of Guinea.
It originates under the name Djoliba on the slopes of the Leon-Liberian Upland, flows into the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta. The main tributaries are: on the right - Milo and Bani, on the left - Sokoto, Kaduna and Benue. From the sources to approximately 10° N. w. The N. flows to the north-east. in the mountains, mostly in a narrow valley, and then opens onto the plains of Sudan. From Kurusa to Bamako and below the city of Ségou the valley is wide; here the river significantly increases its water content due to the confluence of tributaries; navigable. Between the years Ke-Masina and Timbuktu N. is divided into many branches and flows in a wide, heavily swampy valley with an abundance of channels, oxbow lakes and lakes. This area is the inner delta of N.; here the river once flowed into a large drainless lake. In the Timbuktu region, the branches join into one channel. Further, the river flows eastward for approximately 300 km along the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, without receiving significant tributaries. From the village of Burem the river turns south-east, below the town of Elva it crosses the North Guinea Upland, where it receives many small tributaries. Further, up to the mouth (about 750 km), the river flows in a wide valley and is accessible for navigation. Having received its largest tributary from the city of Lokoja - the river. Benue, N. turns into a mighty stream up to 3 km wide and up to 20 m deep and more. The N. delta (24 thousand km2) begins 180 km from the ocean (near the city of Aba). In terms of length, the longest branch is Nun; for navigation, the deeper Forcados branch is used. Sea tides cover most of the delta and only 35 km do not reach its top; their height on Forcados is about 1.2 m.
The Niger River flows through five countries. The main current passes through the territory of Mali. This river is the main waterway of this state. In these arid lands, without Niger, existence would be very difficult. The local population still believes that various spirits live in the river.
The Niger River originates just east of the Kong Mountains. There the altitude above sea level is eight hundred and fifty meters. First it heads north, towards the desert, then the river turns southeast, and then south. The river flows into the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean. A large delta with an area of twenty-five thousand kilometers is formed there. This area is covered dense thickets and swampy.
In the upper reaches of the Niger there are often rapids, and already in the middle reaches it has the calm character of a flat river.
At the point where the Niger merges with the tributary of the Bani, there was once a large drainless lake. But today this lake is formed only during wet season when there is a lot of precipitation. During a flood, the total area of the delta can increase from four to twenty thousand square kilometers.
Niger is rich in fish. The river is home to carp, perch, barbel and other types of fish. In the countries where the Niger flows, fishing is very developed. Often, fishing is the only source of food for the local population.
There is a large amount of oil in the Niger delta. Wise use of oil resources could help lift people out of poverty to the local population. But due to pollution environment oil and its products, the situation only becomes more complicated.
28-08-2015, 21:08
- Benue
River in West Africa (Cameroon, Nigeria). The largest left tributary of the Niger River. Length 1400 km (according to other sources 960 km). The basin area is 441 thousand km². Average flow rate 3170 m³/sec. Navigable from the town of Ibi (during the rainy season from the town of Garwah). By its nature it is a flat river flowing in a wide valley. It flows through densely populated areas of wet savannas. - Weme
River in West Africa. For a significant extent, it forms a natural border between the states of Benin and Nigeria. The length of the river is 480 km. The area of the river basin is 46,990 km². Average annual water consumption is 170 m³/s. - Kaduna
A river in Nigeria, a left tributary of the Niger. The total length of the river is about 550 km. The river got its name from the crocodiles that lived in the river area. Kaduna means "crocodiles, crocodile place" in the Hausa language. - Komadugu-Yobe
A river in Nigeria and Niger that flows into the closed Lake Chad. The source is located on the territory of Nigeria, the lower course is the natural border between Nigeria and Niger. - Cross
A river in West Africa, originating in Cameroon, flows through the Manyu department west to Nigeria. Turning south and separating the Nigerian state of Cross River from the more western Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom, it flows into the Gulf of Guinea. One of the main peoples inhabiting the banks of the Cross River is the Efik. - Niger
The most important river in West Africa. The length is 4180 km, the basin area is 2,117,700 km², the third according to these parameters in Africa after the Nile and the Congo. The source of the river is on the slopes of the Leon-Liberian Upland in southeastern Guinea. The river flows through the territory of Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through the territory of Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of the Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the area of its confluence. The largest tributary of the Niger is the Benue River. - Nun
The river is the most long sleeve Niger and is therefore considered the main continuation of the Niger, in contrast to the other branches: Forcados, Brass, Bonny and Sombrerio. Nun crosses the Niger Delta from north to south through Bayelsa State. The river originates approximately 32 km south of the city of Abo, where the Niger divides into Nun and Forcados. Flows through sparsely populated swampy areas and mangroves, emptying into the Gulf of Guinea at settlement Akassa. The length of the river is approximately 160 km. - Sokoto
A river flowing in northwestern Nigeria. The source of the river is located in Funtua County, Katsina State. The river flows through four states: Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto and Kebbi. Along the banks of the river, local residents grow cotton, tobacco, peanuts, sugar cane, rice and other crops. The irrigation system has been developed. - Forcados
The Forcados River is one of the branches of the Niger, used for shipping since the beginning of the 20th century. Forcados crosses the Niger Delta from north to south through Rivers State. Its source is considered to be the bifurcation of the Niger into Nun and Forcados, 32 km south of the village of Aboh. The Forcados, flowing through sparsely populated marshy areas and mangroves, flows into the Atlantic Ocean west of the Bight of Benin. The length of the river is approximately 198 km. The tributaries of Forcados are the Ace and Warri rivers (right tributaries).