14th November, 1770 Scotsman James Bruce discovered the source of the Blue Nile

On the 14th of November, 1770 researcher, explorer James Bruce reached a high mountain Lake Tana. Topographic map of Ethiopia shows that it's the source of the right tributary of the Nile - Blue Nile. To be more precise, the flow of the Nile does not flow out of the lake; it only passes through it and empties into a pond with a thin trickle.

According to the topographic map the Blue Nile flows in Ethiopia and Sudan. It originates in the Ethiopian highlands at an altitude of 1830m, and the length of it is1600km. Upstream is called the Abbay, which over 500km flows into the canyon at the depths of about 1000m. In Ethiopialocal people consider the river sacred and bring gifts to it - bread and other products. In Sudan, the waterway is called the Bahr-el-Azraq.

Modern geographic map shows that the Blue Nile together with the White constitutes the greatest flow of the world - the Nile. In those years there was not enough information about the headwaters of the White Nile, so Bruce was sure that he was able to find out where the giant river originates.

James Bruce is known as a traveler and linguist, who knew several languages of ​​northeastern Africa. Since 1763 he was a British consul in Algiers. He published a five-volume work "Journey to the source of the Nile ", which is one of the most striking patterns of geographic literature.