Abstract:
The hydrological history of River Nile is highly exposed to speculations and as a
./· result the natural history of the river and its contribution to ancient world civilization
remained a controversial issue. There are conflicting views among researchers regarding
..
its source, length, origin of the name Nile and the mean annual discharge of the river at
• .Aswan in general and its tributaries in particular.
..
Before 1862 the name Nile was associated with the Biblical Geyon or Abbay and its
sol!rce was Gish Abbay. However, in 1862, Speke had claimed that Nile rises at Lake
Nyanza.Afterwards, his claim disseminated and the hydrological history of Nile began to
be misconceived. In addition, western writers had attempted to under estimate the
~tribution of River Nile to early African civilization and its inspiration to the rest of the
world. By considering Egypt as extension of Europe or at least Asia, they had .bcen
associated the Nile valley civilization only with Egypt and denied the ancient civilization
of Ethiopia, which in actual fact was the parent of ancient Egyptian civilization.
The main objective of this thesis is to reveal deliberate distortions and
. misconceptions created upon the hydrological history of River Nile. This study argues
that the claim of fame motivated European travelers, Egyptian water experts and the lop-
sided view of the western world towords Africa are the main factors for all kinds of
misconceptions related with River Nile.