Duration 15:57

The 2,000 Year Search for the Source of the Nile River

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Published 7 Jun 2023

The Nile River. Possibly the longest river in the world, but certainly the most storied in history. Without the Nile, the civilizaiton of Ancient Egypt would have never existed. To the Ancient Greeks and Romans the source of the Nile was a question that vexxed them for centuries. This quest to find the source of the river would be the longest running question in geographic history. And its answer wouldn't come until only 160 years ago. 🕐TIMESTAMPS🕖 👉0:00 Introduction, Titles 👉1:40 Overview of the Nile River 👉3:04 The Nile Delta 👉3:47 The Nile in Egypt 👉4:27 The Nile in Sudan, Blue and White Niles 👉4:57 The Blue Nile in Ethiopia 👉5:34 The While Nile, The Sudd 👉6:14 Lake Victoria, Uganda, The Source of the Nile 👉7:02 The Search for the Source of the Nile 👉7:26 Ancient Egypt and the Nile 👉8:22 The Nile in the Bible 👉8:43 Ancient Nubia and the Nile 👉9:13 The Romans and the Nile, 66AD Expedition 👉10:29 The "Mountains of the Moon" 👉11:20 British Discovery of the Source of the Nile 👉12:52 Aswan Dam, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam 👉14:58 Outro and Credits The Nile river begins with the Nile Delta at the Mediterranean Sea, and runs south through Egypt, with Cairo the capital on the river's banks. At Aswan, a dam has been constructed that regulates the flooding of the Nile downstream and providing electricity. Continuing, the Nile in Sudan forms the longest sections of the river, with the confluence of the Blue Nile and While Nile at the capital Khartoum. The Blue Nile rises into the highlands of Ethiopia, with its source at Lake Tana. The summer peak rains in Ethiopia are what drive the yearly flooding of the Nile that so puzzled the ancients of the Mediterranean, accustomed to peak rains in winter. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is currently being filled on the Blue Nile, and has caused tensions and dispute between Ethiopia and Egypt, the latter who feels their critical water supply is threatened by the project. The White Nile continues south until it meets the Sudd, a large swampy land that literally means "barrier", and acted as the barrier to all expeditions from the North, including a Roman expedition in 66AD ordered by the Emperor Nero and documented by the Roman historians Pliny and Seneca. Beyond the Sudd, the Mountain Nile rises until it reaches Lake Albert in Uganda, and then becomes the Victoria Nile, rising again through a series of rapids including Murchison Falls, until Lake Victoria is reached at Jinja. The second largest freshwater lake in the world, Lake Victoria is fed by many headwaters. But the furthest source is now believed to be the Kagera River in Burundi. 📷📹🎥 VIDEO & PHOTO CREDITS ❤️❤️❤️ https://geodiode.com/ig/nile#credits Please support the development of this channel by remembering to 👍 Like, 🔁 Share,🔴 Subscribe and JOIN! Narrated, Written and Produced by B.J.Ranson Opening Titles Music: Modern Classic by Cyril Nikitin You can contact me via the website at 👉 https://geodiode.com/contact Or you can send an email via this Youtube Channel page 👉 /c/geodiode1/about

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Comments - 454
  • @
    @Geodiode10 months ago What are your experiences of the world' s (possibly) longest, and most storied river? Have you travelled along it? Most likely in egypt. Or perhaps . ...Expand 36
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    @woutbasson89710 months ago I was in rwanda in the nyungwe forest where there are areas marked as sources of the nile. That is the most beautiful forest ive ever seen. Thanks for the great video! 166
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    @Eyob7978 months ago Blue nile which flows from ethiopia actually contributes ninety percent of the water and soil. The so called " white nile' s contribution is minimal. 27
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    @acanadianineurope81410 months ago You missed the most important part.
    james may and the top gear boys finding the real source of the nile.
    19
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    @ucheehQ7 months ago I was on holiday in egypt at 9 or 10 years old, and there' s two visual memories that stand out to me to this day. One is our train ride from luxor the other was, as we drove up from hurghada to luxor, the entire stretches of land surrounding the nile, a vibrant green landscape with crops and orchards and greenery, and its sudden and complete change into desolate sand and rock.
    awe-inspiring.
    without exaggeration, those two sights have shaped so much in my life; it would have been completely different had i never been to egypt
    .
    ...Expand
    16
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    @ZaasKenar10 months ago As a kid i lived in addis abeba in the 80s. I remember the summer rains at times being so heavy, that you could barely see across the street. 11
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    @papertoyss10 months ago The blue nile is one of my favourite bands.
    thank you for making this video!
    11
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    @sachinphatak19929 months ago This was such a detailed, well-narrated, well-designed video. Thank you for making this! 8
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    @justcallmedank10 months ago James may was the true discoverer of the nile. 516
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    @davidberlanny330810 months ago Very interesting story and really well narrated. I' ve never been but visiting egypt is certainly on my bucket list. Have a great week and good luck from spain! 27
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    @aanchaallllllll7 months ago : The Nile River is the most famous and longest river in the world, although it s title as the longest has recently been challenged by the Amazon River.
    : The Nile is a key waterway for transportation and is formed by the Blue and White Nile rivers in Sudan.
    : The Nile River has played a significant role in history, providing irrigation and unique agricultural opportunities in Egypt.
    : The search for the source of the Nile has led to various theories and imaginary mountains.
    : The construction of dams on the Nile has had both positive and negative impacts on Egypt and Ethiopia.
    Recap by Tammy AI
    ..
    ...Expand
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    @coolbeanstu10 months ago Just discovered your channel and am loving your stuff. Seriously well researched, objective yet not bleak narration, and extremely well edited. The music you put at the beginning pulls it together beautifully. 8
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    @zizogadolio10 months ago It is worth mentioning that muhammad ali pasha, the governor of egypt sent captain " salimto explore the sources of the nile between 1839 and 1842, and he made three consecutive trips. This trip aimed to explore the sources of the nile following the example of the famous ancient kings of egypt, and many describe it as the first fruits of the civilization that emanated in egypt.
    the expedition started from khartoum, november 16, 1839, and lasted 135 days. It consisted of 400 people led by him. He penetrated the sobat river in sudan and collected data on the white nile, which was still undiscovered. On his second trip in 1840, he reached gondokoro, and did not succeed in continuing his journey to the lower waters of the nile. As for the third trip, its purpose was to follow up the previous efforts, and it reached latitude 4 north of the equator. Perhaps the most important geographical results of these two expeditions were the study of the geography of the white nile, and the drawing of a map showing its course and the surrounding areas.
    this information stimulated the commercial and practical bodies and motivated them to discover the regions through which the nile river passes, and paved his travels for more scouting campaigns, although he did not reach the tropical headwaters of the nile. As for the importance of his travels, it proved that the white nile is the main nile, and that there is a long stream coming from the south. Different from the blue nile, which meets the white nile after its exit from lake tana in ethiopia.
    then john bathrak completed the efforts of selim the captain, especially after he entered the service of muhammad ali, then he made several trips between the years 1853 and 1854 in western sudan, and he reached the bahr al-ghazal region
    .
    ...Expand 51
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    @sethland10 months ago The nile is such a hydrologic oddity. In 100s of millions of years the ethiopian highlands have been capturing tropical rains, the river could not find one low path to the indian ocean or the red sea. 75
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    @melinakerifan10 months ago Wonderful video! I didn' t realise the nile extends eastwards as well into ethiopia. So fascinating to learn how long it took humans to figure out . ...Expand 16
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    @GuineaPigEveryday8 months ago I highly recommend the movie mountains of the moon, about the expedition for the source of the nile by burton & speke. I just discovered it last year, . ...Expand 4
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    @laetitiavisagie-gg6kk9 months ago One evening on a boat in cairo - it was a strange but awesome experience, it made me feel ancient (i am from south africa) 4
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    @hurricane79507 months ago Used to live in nairobi (kenya) and often stayed overnight on the banks of lake victoria.
    thanks for the extensive information.
    1
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    @solomon45549 months ago Ben, your use of poetic and metaphorical language is top-notch! 1
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    @user-vz9yi5ob4v9 months ago I luv geography it' s so interesting to learn that u go through so much finding the source hats off to you james. 3
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    @69ss9510 months ago I had the opportunity to travel by ship up lake taganika to rwanda years ago! Beautiful people and country! 4
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    @geraldarcuri93078 months ago Superbly done, beautifully narrated. Excellent visuals and pacing. Kudos!
  • @
    @jeremyjames26438 months ago Its amazing seeing rivers and bodies of water from their beginnings, where i live in california we have high enough mountains to where we have snow e id="hidden12"ven in the summer 100+ feet. Everywhere its dry but in the valleys and the lake its pristine, where the rivers and streams start ill never know its somewhere in that mountain. But to think its all from snowmelt yet when you see the river and lake you cannot comprehend how much ice it would take to make that much. ...Expand 3
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    @user-bh5ln7hs3p8 months ago Beautiful description, unbiased.
    thank you.
  • @
    @mehmetfatihcaliskan985410 months ago Hello geodiode, what an excellent work, congrats! By the way just one detail in turkish title cought my attention. I' ve no idea about who or what translated greetings from turkey. ...Expand 5
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    @jimmaybee632310 months ago Wow, just discovered your channel great stuff. Thanks. 1
  • @
    @Chris-op7yt10 months ago Very nice to see a little more of the nile and humanity' s development with.
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    @afshanisrar886210 months ago Enjoyed the documentary, river nile origin mystry solved, 1
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    @Inflorescensse7 months ago I went on the whitewater at the head of the nile in jinja, uganda. It was absolutely the least safe and most fun i' ve ever had!
    boat flipped a few days after we left several new zealanders died. ...Expand
    5
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    @rukundodavid68367 months ago Lake victoria in uganda is where the saurce of river nile begins. 1
  • @
    @Ibuki017 months ago Wonderful video. Short and too the point.
  • @
    @Eyob7978 months ago Ethiopia' s lake tana ( is the source of abay/ nile river. 6
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    @wescarlson354410 months ago Nice video. I dont think burton ever made it to lake victoria. He was sick and speke explored lake victoria on his own. Burton thought the source was lake tanganyika. 9
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    @miles12pega8 months ago Respect to everybody for making that section the most replayed. 1
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    @whosaidthat523610 months ago Clarkson hammond and may found it a long time ago lol. 5
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    @BKaneNp810 months ago Would love to see the nile im from philadelphia usa and i grew up along the delaware river. 3
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    @MrChunkerton200110 months ago James may found it along with richard hammond and jeremy clarkson. 5
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    @totwallybaba10 months ago A nice addition would have been conductivity measurements on the blue, white, victoria nile, and at the entrance to the delta. 2
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    @lilmike271010 months ago Where is ever any rivers
    it seems clear that the nile has no one single source, but a network of streams, brooks and rivers that feed a lake that feeds the nile.
    8
  • @
    @nancymagpantay38077 months ago Lm very shocked this blogs so amazing and lm super believe this vloggers he descover the beauty of the world.
  • @
    @gutemaenabiru10 months ago Nice video. But you forgot to mention the name( the origin of nile (abay in amharics) 7
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    @slypen745010 months ago Elevation at the source was the primary concern of the victorian explorers. All fe proponents know exactly why. Lol! The euphrates has been in news a lot . ...Expand
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    @hoseahitmansingende7 months ago I remember doing my mass communication course from 1991 to early 1992 and learning that the source of the nile was in two countries i. E. Ethiopia and sudan. The blue and white nile.
  • @
    @melakumehari66317 months ago Deliberately little is mentioned about the blue nile since the blue nile contribution is huge more than 85 % of the water nile and fertile soil started from an ethiopian highlands. 2
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    @markberman67089 months ago Jinja, uganda right at lake victoria. There is a monument to ghandi there where they spread some of his ashes into the nile. 2
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    @roberttreppleton89797 months ago John hanning speke stated that the true source of the nile is just upstream from the dam at jinja where lies an engraved stone tablet on the side of the . ...Expand 1
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    @pdruiz20057 months ago At . The Romans also highly prized Egypt because it produced the most taxes, by far and away, of any of their provinces. The taxes not only came from those bumper crops of wheat produced by the Nile. Taxes also came from the intensive trade Egyptian merchants had with India and the rest of Asia through the Red Sea routes that led to the Indian Ocean trade network. It's estimated that Egypt at times represented 25% to 30% of the annual tax amounts taken in by the whole of the Roman Empire from around 0 AD to 250 AD. Egypt was that important to the budgetary viability of the Roman Empire. .. ...Expand
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    @Siloguy5 months ago I don' t think burton ever saw lake victoria, speke made that side expedition on his own. Burton also didn' t think lake victoria was the source of the nile but that it had many feeder sources.
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    @Maatson_8 months ago What is a lake victoria? You mean nyanza, nam lolwe, and nnalubaale depending on which country you are in. By the way it had been discovered by locals . ...Expand 2
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    @nathancardel55768 months ago Maybe the true source of the nile was the friends we made along the way. 1
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    @klubmusix38488 months ago Rain. How rain top height or any area fall?
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    @zigzag42737 months ago At the dawn of recorded history, i was there.
    without me your great civilisation would have been but a lifeless desert.
    i have witnessed i am both blue and white, sluggish and rapid.
    and yet despite my importance.
    you did not know from whence i came.
    my journey is not just across half a continent, but a journey through centuries of time
    .
    ...Expand
    1
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    @lancebarnes904410 months ago Maybe the real nile river is the friends we made along the way. 1
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    @LIZZIE-lizzie7 months ago What were the names on the lakes and falls before the british seized up it?
    that' s quite interesting. They should bring them back to their original names.
  • @
    @michaelhaywood82627 months ago A third contender for the world' s longest river, besides the amazon and the nile is the mississippi - missouri in the us. If the missouri and lower mississippi are regarded a single river they rival the other two. 1
  • @
    @TheDavidlloydjones8 months ago Now it can be told: river water starts out as rain!
    the source of the nile is the sky.
    you' re welcome.
    1
  • @
    @TeagueChrystie10 months ago Random, but i love that song at the beginning. Lol.
  • @
    @JimSuperwhite439 months ago Author richard grant' s book crazy river details his modern day search for the source of the nile. He ends up in rwanda just after the genocide.
  • @
    @about2mount7 months ago Esther 1; 10 now in the days of ahasuerus, that is, the ahasuerus who ruled over 127 provinces from india to ethiopia, 2in those days whe king ahasuerus was sitting on his royal throne in shushan.
    shushan is that unknown city in sudan. In faxt the word sudan comes from the word shushan
    .
    ...Expand 1
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    @JohnnieWalkerGreen8 months ago Well i used to smile when i was a pup; sailing down the nile in a china cup
    with the recipe for a lovely day; sticking out of my back pocket - ballroom dancing - paul mccartney.
  • @
    @11361va7 months ago I come from homa bay kenya. And when we were kids we were told stories of river nile beginning from mbita ( kenya near rusinga island) from where it flows . ...Expand 3
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    @Generallyannoyed20248 months ago The source of the nile was inside each of us the whole time.
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    @jaythomaso93118 months ago The beginning music sounded like surf' s up soundtrack.
  • @
    @ananiasverneuil11759 months ago Nile has many sources but only one that is the farthest to the end.
  • @
    @leifderrierikson13628 months ago Hate to correct you, o my brother, but the search for the headwaters for the nile is well over 20 years old. At least, herodotus made a stab at it in ~ 450 bc, and no doubt he wasn' t the first.
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    @andretucker38102 months ago Looks like i' m likely the only one who knows barragede mpanda is the source of the nile and theres lots of numerology around it pun intended since it starts on the equator almost exactly.
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    @DanielGenis50008 months ago Sir richard burton, the greatest man who lived!
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    @merhabatube2197 months ago Now we ethiopia are practically started using it instead of singing song for it alhamdila.
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    @angelosecchi40538 months ago But how come that sources of the nile (white nile, lake victoria; blue nile, lake tana) are already clearly well indicated in many ancient maps?
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    @algardner867510 months ago There is a tomb and memorial in tiny hamlet dowlish wake for john speke, it is in the local church worth a visit as there is a cider mill 1 minute away. 1
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    @RobinsVoyage10 months ago In regards to the headwaters of the nile south of lake victoria. Perhaps i stead of the furthest source, we should find the oldest source. 3
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    @louwsaviour64757 months ago The nile originates in central africa, congo, rwanda, burundi.
    this is undisputable.
    the original egyptians came from there as well.
  • @
    @muttnaughton922310 months ago Cot slow james may found years ago. He pointed at it. Good enough.
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    @davidprocter35787 months ago It is really only since the face of africa has been photographed from on high that the true extent of the blue and white nile have been correctly appreciated . ...Expand
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    @zewduAsifaw-yf4uy7 months ago We don' t know and we don' t want to know what nile means, but we know what abay is for us.
    absolutely abay is the great, the grand, the g abay is the name of ethiopian beloved river.
    we care about abay not the nile.
    when they care about abay then we will care about the nile
    .
    ...Expand
    2
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    @saigonmonopoly110510 months ago Try the highest elivation near lake victoria.
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    @sankarkrishnan40710 months ago Nile is not a river. It is an unfinished epic.
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    @alperenbaser795210 months ago Can you make videos about euphrates aswell? Thanks for the great content.
  • @
    @klubmusix38488 months ago A wide area? Then follow it basin height radius for water following it natrural lowest n easiest floiw backinto it 360 perimeter rolling into it central storing table.
  • @
    @UserNameWasCensored7 months ago A very strange image at . What secret information did Jean-Andres Rixens know about the pre-Christian grooming habits of Egyptians in the late 1800's that modern people now emulate? .. ...Expand 1
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    @oxymoron51678 months ago Rivers have many sources, thats what makes them rivers.
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    @NkundaJeanClaude-ny7py7 months ago La source du nil se trouve au rwanda plus precisement dans la foret primaire de nyungwe.
    actuellement cette fort date de l' re glaciale. id="hidden37"
    je vous invite a visiter notre beautiful country.
    u rwanda twifuza
    . ...Expand
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    @francismadoshi85298 months ago The truth is that, people from india knew since 2500 years where the source of the white nile was! They traded with the eastern africans. They knew that . ...Expand
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    @ArturZagaj-Izraelita7 months ago Dlaczego egipt nie wybuduje sobie zapory w kairze aby spitrzy wod w nilu? 1
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    @goorgert13647 months ago If you really want to know where the source of the nile is, just ask jeremy clarkson, whose genius knows no bounds.
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    @Messlam7 months ago What chance is there of a source being on the other side of the globe and rather pressure fed through ancient lava tubes?
    it sounds crazy but i i already tracked a native legend of greece and of pacific northwest native that spoke of a tunnel once clear to go from mount ida to literally a park in idaho.
    not joking.
    so this makes me curious after spending this week in awe of parallels between operoh and osiris operoh is macedonian for oregon. The volcanic lake hardly changes its shore line even through snows all winter. Huge snows.
    sure it could be draining into local soils but is the tip of the underground silty ash mud water from ages of volcanic activity shooting up into the nile or the aur?
    aur and our
    ar and or
    gon and gong
    gong and khan
    khan and king
    and when far away its maybe phar-khan or phar-again .
    after researching the history of the many eruptions over centuries, one could see a people returning and leaving in cyclical fashion.
    their names of things are joyful at home and when forced to leave they are always sorrowful.
    why the assyrians come and go in history and why the indigenous names for the volcanos here are all related to sumerian, akkadian and modern azerbaijani.
    the fire gods homes are these volcanic ranges in the pacific rim.
    i think yellowstone is king of such.
    yellow stone and gold ore.
    aragon and origin.
    assyrian and osireion
    .
    ...Expand
    1
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    @jadumonigogoi4036 months ago So nile flow from south to north to end in mediterranean sea.
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    @Shikikan_Shadab7 months ago Yet, the source of the white nile, even after centuries of exploration, remains in dispute
    the nile is no ordinary river, it has a special place . ...Expand
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    @chinaman110 months ago Pretty sure sir james daniel may already found it back in 2013. 1