Niger River regime: salient features. Niger River Regime: Characteristics of the Nigeria River in Africa

To all famous river The Niger is the most important river in the Western. The length is 4180 km, the basin area is 2118 thousand km ², the third in these parameters in Africa after and. The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown in our time is running controversy among scientists. ( 11 photo)

2. The river receives its main waters from the summer monsoon rains. The average annual discharge of water in the Niger at the mouth is 8630 m³ / s, the annual flow is 378 km³, during floods can reach 30-35 thousand m³ / s. But there are also tributaries, here are five main ones - Milo (right), Bani (right), Sokoto (left), Kaduna (left), Benue (left).

5. It is believed that the name of the river comes from the Tuareg nehier-ren - "river, flowing water". According to one of the hypotheses, the name of the river comes in turn from the words “Yegerev Negerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “ great river"Or" river of rivers ". This was the name of the Niger and some other peoples who lived on its shores. There are many different hypotheses, but it is not known for certain from where the river takes its name.

7. In 1805, a Scottish doctor, Mungo Park visited Niger for the second time and investigated its course from Bamako to Bussang, where he was killed by local aborigines.

Location Water system Country

Guinea Guinea, Mali Mali, Niger Niger, Benin Benin, Nigeria Nigeria

K: Rivers alphabetically K: Water bodies alphabetically K: Rivers up to 5000 km in length K: River card: fill in: Niger region (river) Niger (river)

The source of the river is on the slopes in the southeast of Guinea. The river flows through Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of \u200b\u200bthe Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the confluence area. The largest tributary of the Niger is the Benue River.

Etymology

The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown and there has been a debate among researchers for a long time on this score.

There is a popular opinion that the name of the river originated from the Tuareg nehier-ren - "river, flowing water". According to one of the hypotheses, the name of the river comes from the words “Yegerev Negerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “great river” or “river of rivers”. This was the name of the Niger and some other peoples who lived on its shores.

The aborigines living near the banks, in some parts of the stream, call the river differently: Djoliba (in Mandingo language - “ big river”), Mayo, Eghirreu, Izo, Quorra (Quarra, Kovara), Baki-n-ruu, etc., but the absolute majority of these names in translation mean“ river ”.

Hydrography

The source is located on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Uplands in the southeast of Guinea. In the upper reaches, the river is called Djoliba ... The river flows to the northeast and crosses the border with Mali. In the upper and lower reaches of the Niger, there is a rapids, it flows mainly in a narrow valley. In the middle reaches, the Niger has the character of a flat river. From the Guinean city of Kurus to the Malian capital of Bamako, as well as below the city of Segu, 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 area of \u200b\u200bthe inner delta, the Niger Valley is heavily swampy. Earlier in this place, the Niger flowed into a closed 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 to the very mouth in a wide valley, navigable. The river flows through the territory of Niger, where there are numerous dry river beds (wadis) that once flowed into the Niger, along the Benin border, then flows through Nigeria and flows into the Gulf of Guinea, forming a vast delta with an area of \u200b\u200b24 thousand km². The longest arm of the delta is the Nun, but the deeper Forcados arm is used for shipping.

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 are rocky and do not carry a lot of silt. Like the Nile, Niger spills every year. This starts in September, the spill peaks in November and ends by May.

An unusual feature of the river is the so-called inner delta of the Niger, formed in the place of a strong decrease in the longitudinal channel slope. The terrain is an area of \u200b\u200bmulti-channel channel, marches and lakes the size of Belgium. It is 425 km long with an average width of 87 km. Seasonal spills make the inland delta extremely favorable for fishing and agriculture.

Niger loses about two-thirds of its flow in the inner delta between Segu and Timbuktu due to evaporation and filtration. Even the Bani River flowing into the delta near the town of Mopti is not enough to compensate for these losses. Average losses are estimated at 31 km 3 / year (their size varies greatly from year to year). Many tributaries flow into the Niger after the inner delta, but evaporation losses are still 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 most important tributary of the Niger is the Benue, which merges with it in the Lokoji region. The volume of inflows to Nigeria is six times greater than the volume of Niger itself when it enters the country. By the Niger delta, the discharge increases to 177 km 3 / year (data before the 1980s, during the eighties - 147.3 km 3 / year.

Hydrological regime

Niger feeds on the waters of the summer monsoon rains. In the upper reaches, the flood begins in June and at Bamako reaches its maximum in September - October. In the lower reaches, the rise in water begins in June from local rains, in September it reaches its maximum. The average annual discharge of water in the Niger at the mouth is 8630 m³ / s, the annual flow is 378 km³, during floods can reach 30-35 thousand m³ / s.

In 2005, the Norwegian traveler Helge Kjelland embarked on 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

Niger has one of the most unusual shapes channel in plan among large rivers... Like a boomerang, this trend has baffled European geographers for nearly two millennia. The source of Niger is located just 240 kilometers from Atlantic Ocean, however, the river begins its journey in the opposite direction, to 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 believed, for example. The same point of view was adhered to by and. The very first European explorers believed that the upper Niger flows westward and joins with the Senegal River.

A similar very unusual direction arose, probably due to the unification of two rivers into one in ancient times. Upper Niger, which began west of Timbuktu, ended approximately at the bend of the present-day 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 years. 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 inner delta and estuary delta of the river. 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 hydroelectric complex in the Niger, Kainji, was built in the 1960s. The capacity of the hydroelectric power plant is 960 MW, the area of \u200b\u200bthe reservoir is about 600 km².

Navigation on the river is developed only in some areas, especially from the city of Niamey to the confluence with the ocean. The river is inhabited by a large number of fish (perch, carp, etc.), therefore fishing is developed among the local residents.

River transport

In September 2009, the Nigerian government allocated 36 billion naira for dredging in Niger from Baro (eng. Baro (Nigeria) ) to Warri in order to clean the bottom from silt. Dredging was intended to facilitate the transport of goods to settlements far from the Atlantic Ocean. Such work was supposed to be carried out several decades ago, but they were postponed. President of Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua noted that the project will provide year-round navigation in Niger and expressed the hope that by 2020 Nigeria will become one of the twenty most industrialized countries in the world. Alhayi Ibrahim Bio, Minister of Transport of Nigeria, said the ministry will do everything it can to complete the project within the allotted time frame. Fears were raised that such works could negatively affect villages located in coastal zones. At the end of March 2010, the Niger dredging project was 50% complete.

Financing

Most investments in the development of Niger come 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 financial projects in the Niger Basin for a twelve year period. In addition to the restoration of dams in Niger, the loan also aims to restore ecosystems and build economic capacity.

Cities

downstream

Protected areas

Niger Basin Management
Upper Niger National Park
Western national park
Kainji National Park

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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 partnership "Education", 1903. - S. 393-395. - 772 p. - ( World geography under the general ed. prof. Sivers.).
// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
, P. 191
, pp. 191-192
FAO:, 1997
Baugh, Brenda, , Documentary Education Resources , ... Retrieved January 27, 2010.
New encyclopedia of Africa, Volume 4. John Middleton, Joseph Calder Miller, p.36
Niger // Dictionary of modern geographical names... - Yekaterinburg: U-Factoria. Under the general editorship of Acad. V. M. Kotlyakova. 2006.
... BBC.10 September 2009. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
Wole Ayodele. (unavailable link - history) ... This Day Online.09.09.2009. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
(unavailable link - history) ... Punch on the web.25 March 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). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
Dmitrevsky Yu.D. Inland waters of Africa and their use / Otv. ed. Dr. Geogr. M.S. Rozin. - L.: Gidrometeoizdat, 1967 .-- 384 p. - 800 copies.
Zotova Yu.N., Kubbel L.E. Looking for Niger. - M .: Science. Main edition of oriental literature, 1972 .-- 242 p. - (Travel to the countries of the East). - 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



Country

Deserts

Regions

Relief

Water objects

Oases

Transport infrastructure

An 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, sad. But do you know who saved her? It's a whole novel. Nicolas Rostov. They surrounded her, wanted to kill her, wounded her people. He rushed and rescued her ...
“Another novel,” the militia said. - Decidedly, this general escape is made so that all old brides marry. Catiche is one, Princess Bolkonskaya is another.
“You know that I really think she is un petit peu amoureuse du jeune homme. [slightly in love with a young man.]
- Fine! Fine! Fine!
- But how can I say it in Russian? ..

When Pierre returned home, he was handed two posters of Rostopchin brought that day.
The first said that the rumor that Count Rostopchin was forbidden to leave Moscow was unfair and that, on the contrary, Count Rostopchin was glad that ladies and merchant wives were leaving Moscow. "Less fear, less news," said the poster, "but I answer with my life that there will be no villain in Moscow." These words for the first time clearly showed Pierre that the French would be in Moscow. The second billboard said that our main apartment was in Vyazma, that Count Wittgstein defeated the French, but that since many residents want to arm themselves, they have weapons prepared in the arsenal: sabers, pistols, guns, which residents can receive at a cheap price. The tone of the posters was no longer as joking as in the previous Chigirin conversations. Pierre pondered over these posters. Obviously, that terrible thundercloud, which he summoned with all the forces of his soul and which at the same time aroused involuntary horror in him - obviously, this cloud was approaching.
“To enter military service and go to the army or wait? - Pierre asked himself this question for the hundredth time. He took a deck of cards that were 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 did not have time to decide what it meant, as a voice was heard outside the office door the elder princess asking if it was possible to enter.
- Then it will mean that I have to go to the army, - Pierre finished himself. “Come in, come in,” he added, addressing the princess.
(One eldest princess, with a long waist and a petrified lid, continued to live in Pierre's house; the two smaller ones got married.)
“Forgive me, mon cousin, for coming to you,” she said in a reproachful, agitated voice. - After all, we must finally decide on something! What will it be? All have left Moscow, and the people are revolting. Why are we staying?
“On the contrary, everything seems to be all right, ma cousine,” said Pierre with that habit of playfulness which Pierre, who always embarrassedly endured his role of benefactor in front of the princess, had assimilated himself in relation to her.
- Yes, it's good ... well-being! Today Varvara Ivanovna told me how our troops differ. Certainly you can attribute honor. Yes, and the people completely rebelled, they stop listening; my girl and she became rude. So soon they will beat us too. You can't walk the streets. And most importantly, the French will be there tomorrow, what can we expect! I ask about one thing, mon cousin, "said the princess," order me to be taken to Petersburg: whatever I am, I cannot live under Bonaparte rule.
- Yes, fullness, ma cousine, where do you get your information? On the contrary ...
- I will not submit to your Napoleon. Others as they want ... If you do not want to do this ...
- Yes, I will, I will now order.
The princess, apparently, was annoyed that there was no one to be angry with. She, whispering something, sat down on a chair.
“But you are not being told this correctly,” said Pierre. “Everything is quiet in the city, and there is no danger. So I just read ... - Pierre showed the princess the posters. - The count writes that he answers with his life that the enemy will not be in Moscow.
“Ah, this count of yours,” the princess spoke angrily, “is a hypocrite, a villain who himself set the people up to rebel. Didn't he write in these stupid posters that whatever it was, drag him by the crest to the exit (and how stupid)! Whoever takes, says, to him both honor and glory. So I didn’t care. Varvara Ivanovna said that the people almost killed her because she spoke French ...
- Why, this is so ... You take everything to heart very much, - said Pierre and began to play solitaire.
Despite the fact that the solitaire came together, Pierre did not go to the army, but remained in empty Moscow, still in the same anxiety, indecision, in fear and together in joy, expecting something terrible.
The next day, the princess left in the evening, and Pierre was visited by his general manager with the news that he could not get the money he needed to equip the regiment, if not sell one estate. The general manager generally imagined to Pierre that all these undertakings of the regiment were to ruin him. Pierre could hardly hide a smile, listening to the words of the manager.
“Well, sell it,” he said. - What can I do, I cannot 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 no one of Pierre's acquaintances was in the city. Julie left, Princess Marya left. Of the close acquaintances, only the Rostovs remained; but Pierre did not visit them.
On this day, in order to have fun, Pierre went to the village of Vorontsovo to see a large balloon that Leppikh was building for the destruction of the enemy, and a trial balloon that was to be launched tomorrow. This ball was not yet ready; but, as Pierre learned, it was built at the request of the sovereign. The Emperor wrote to Count Rostopchin about this ball the following:
"Aussitot que Leppich sera pret, composez lui un equipage pour sa nacelle d" hommes surs et intelligents etdepechez 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, make 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 it. Please inspire Leppiha to pay close attention to the place where he will descend 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 understands his movements with the movements of the commander-in-chief.]
Returning home from Vorontsov and passing through Bolotnaya Square, Pierre saw a crowd at Execution Ground, 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 untied from the mare a piteously groaning fat man with red sideburns, in blue stockings and a green jacket. Another criminal, thin and pale, was standing there. Both, judging by their faces, were French. With a frightened, sickly look similar to that of a thin Frenchman, Pierre pushed his way through the crowd.
- What is it? Who! For what? He asked. But the attention of the crowd - officials, petty bourgeois, merchants, men, women in cloaks and fur coats - was so eagerly focused on what was happening in Execution Ground that no one answered him. The fat man got up, frowning, shrugged his shoulders and, obviously wishing to express firmness, began to put on a doublet without looking around him; but suddenly his lips trembled, and he began to cry, angry with himself, like grown sanguine people cry. The crowd began to speak loudly, as it seemed to Pierre, in order to drown out the feeling of pity in itself.
- Someone's prince's cook ...
- That, musyu, it is obvious that the Frenchman had a sour taste of Russian sauce ... he sore mouth, - said the wrinkled clerk, who was 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 fearfully at the executioner, who was undressing the other.
Pierre sniffled, grimaced, and, turning quickly, walked back to the droshky, not ceasing to mutter something to himself as he walked and sat down. During the journey, he shuddered several times and cried out so loudly that the coachman asked him:
- What do you want?
- Where are you going? - Pierre shouted at the coachman who was leaving for the Lubyanka.
"They ordered the commander-in-chief," answered the coachman.
- Fool! beast! - Pierre shouted, which rarely happened to him, scolding his coachman. - I ordered home; and go quickly, you fool. We must leave today, ”Pierre said to himself.
Pierre, seeing the punished Frenchman and the crowd surrounding the Execution Ground, decided so completely that he could not stay in Moscow any longer and was going to the army today, 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 the order to his coachman Evstafievich, who knows everything, who knows everything, who knows all about Moscow, that he should go to Mozhaisk to the army at night and that his riding horses should be sent there. All this could not be done on the same day, and therefore, according to Evstafievich's proposal, Pierre had to postpone his departure until another day in order to give time for the frames to go to the road.
On the 24th, it cleared up after the bad weather, and on that day after dinner Pierre left Moscow. At night, changing horses at Perkhushkovo, Pierre learned that that evening there was a great battle. They said that here, in Perkhushkov, the earth shook from the shots. No one could answer Pierre's questions about who won. (It was a battle on the 24th at Shevardin.) At dawn Pierre drove up to 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, horse soldiers, wagons, boxes, cannons could be seen from all sides. Pierre was in a hurry to drive forward, and the farther he rode away from Moscow and the deeper he plunged into this sea of \u200b\u200btroops, the more he was seized by anxiety of uneasiness and a new joyful feeling he had not yet experienced. It was a feeling similar to that which he experienced in the Sloboda Palace when the emperor arrived - a feeling of the need to undertake something and sacrifice something. He was now experiencing a pleasant feeling of consciousness that everything that constitutes people's happiness, the comforts of life, wealth, even life itself, is nonsense, which is pleasant to dismiss in comparison with something ... With which, Pierre could not give himself an account, and he tried to figure it out for himself for whom and for what he found a special charm 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 Borodino battle took place.
Why and how were the battles at Shevardin and Borodino given and accepted? Why was the Battle of Borodino given? It didn't make the slightest sense to either the French or the Russians. The closest result was and should have been - for the Russians, that we were close to the death of Moscow (which we feared most in the world), and for the French, that they were close to the death of the entire army (which they also feared the most in the world) ... This result was obvious at the same time, but meanwhile Napoleon gave, and Kutuzov accepted this battle.
If the generals were guided by reasonable reasons, it seemed, how clear it should have been for Napoleon that, having gone two thousand miles and taking battle with the probable accident of losing a quarter of the army, he was going to 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 would probably lose Moscow. For Kutuzov, this was mathematically clear, 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 opponent has sixteen checkers, and I have fourteen, then I am only one-eighth weaker than him; and when I exchange thirteen pieces, he will be three times stronger than me.
Before the Battle of Borodino, our forces were approximately five to six of the French, and after the battle as one to two, that is, before the battle of one hundred thousand; one hundred and twenty, and after the battle fifty to a hundred. At the same time, the clever and experienced Kutuzov took up the battle. Napoleon, the genius commander, as he is called, gave battle, losing a quarter of his army and further stretching his line. 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 he also wanted to stop from Smolensk, knew the danger of his extended position, 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 the desire to negotiate.
Giving and accepting the Battle of Borodino, Kutuzov and Napoleon acted involuntarily and senselessly. And historians, under the accomplished facts, only later summed up cunning 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 samples of heroic poems, in which heroes constitute the entire interest of history, and we still cannot get used to the fact that for our human time, this kind of story does not make sense.
To another question: how the Borodino and the Shevardino battles that preceded it were given - there is also a very definite and well-known, completely false idea. All historians describe the case 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 Borodino.
The Russians allegedly fortified this position forward, to the left of the road (from Moscow to Smolensk), at an almost right angle to it, from Borodino to Utitsa, in 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 observe the enemy. On the 24th, it was as if Napoleon attacked the forward post and took it; On the 26th, he attacked the entire Russian army, which was stationed at the Borodino field.
That is what the stories say, and all this is completely unfair, as anyone who wants to understand the essence of the matter will easily see.
Russians did not seek better position; but, on the contrary, in their retreat they passed many positions that were better than Borodinskaya. They did not stop at any of these positions: both because Kutuzov did not want to accept the position he had not chosen, and because the demand for a popular 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 incalculable. The fact is that the previous positions were stronger and that the Borodino position (the one on which the battle was given) is not only not strong, but for some reason is not at all a position more than any other place in Russian Empire, which, guessing, would point to a pin on the map.
The Russians not only did not strengthen the position of the Borodino field to the left at a right angle from the road (that is, the place where the battle took place), but they never, until August 25, 1812, thought that a battle could take place at this place. This is proved, firstly, by the fact that not only on the 25th there were no fortifications on this place, but that, begun on the 25th, they were not completed on the 26th; secondly, the position of the Shevardinsky redoubt serves as a proof: the Shevardinsky redoubt, in front of the position at which the battle was accepted, does not make any sense. Why was this redoubt stronger than all the other points? And why, defending him on the 24th until late at night, were all efforts exhausted and six thousand people lost? A Cossack patrol was enough to observe the enemy. Thirdly, the proof that the position at 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 in the belief that the Shevardinsky redoubt was 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 written in the open, it was (probably to justify the mistakes of the commander-in-chief, who has to be infallible) that unfair and strange testimony was invented that the Shevardinsky redoubt served as an advanced post (while it was only a fortified point of the left flank) and as if the battle of Borodino was taken by us in a fortified and pre-selected position, while it took place in a completely unexpected and almost unfortified place.
The case, obviously, was like this: the position was chosen along the Kolocha River, crossing the main road not at a right, but at an acute angle, so that the left flank was in Shevardino, the right one near the village of Novy and the center in Borodino, at the confluence of the Kolocha and Vo rivers yna. This position, under the cover of the Kolocha River, for the army, aiming to stop the enemy moving along the Smolensk road to Moscow, is obvious to anyone who looks at the Borodino field, forgetting about how the battle took place.
Napoleon, having left on the 24th to Valuev, did not see (as the stories say) the position of the Russians from Utitsa to Borodino (he could not see this position, because it was not there) and did not see the forward post of the Russian army, but stumbled upon the pursuit of the Russian rearguard to the left flank of the Russian position, to the Shevardinsky redoubt, and unexpectedly for the Russians, he transferred troops through Kolocha. And the Russians, not having time to enter the general battle, retreated with their left wing from the position they intended to take, and took up a new position, which was not foreseen and not fortified. Moving to the left side of Kolocha, to the left of the road, Napoleon moved the entire future battle from right to left (from the Russians) and transferred it to the field between Utitsa, Semenovsky and Borodino (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 intended battle and the battle that took place would be as follows:

If Napoleon had not gone to Kolocha on the evening of the 24th and had not ordered to attack the redoubt in the evening, but would have started the attack the next morning, no one would have doubted that the Shevardinsky redoubt was the left flank of our position; and the battle would have happened as we expected it. In that case, we would probably defend even more stubbornly the Shevardinsky redoubt, our left flank; would attack Napoleon in the center or on the right, and on the 24th a general engagement would take 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 at Gridnevaya, and since the Russian commanders did not want or did not have time to start a general battle on the same evening on the 24th, the first and main action of Borodinsky the battle was lost on the 24th and, obviously, led to the loss of the one that was given on the 26th.
After the loss of the Shevardinsky redoubt, by the morning of the 25th, we found ourselves out of position on the left flank and were forced to bend back our left wing and hastily reinforce it anywhere.
But not only did the Russian troops stand only under the protection of weak, unfinished fortifications on August 26, the disadvantage of this situation was increased by the fact that the Russian commanders, not fully recognizing the fact that they had completely accomplished (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, during the entire battle, the Russians had twice the weakest forces against the entire French army, aimed at our left wing. (The actions of Poniatovsky against Utitsa and Uvarov on the right flank of the French were separate from the course of the battle.)

Niger river flows through the territory of five countries: Guinea, Mali, Niger, Benin, Nigeria. The middle course of the river falls on the territory of the state of Mali. Mali is landlocked and therefore the river is its main artery. Without her, living in these drylands would be very difficult. Many local residents still retain their traditional beliefs and believe that the river is inhabited by a variety of spirits.

River length: 4180 km.

Drainage basin area: 2 117 700 km sq.

Water discharge at the mouth: 8630 m3 / s.

The origin of the name of the river has not yet been precisely established. According to one version, the name of the river comes from the Latin word niger, that is, "black". The indigenous population names the river differently. In the upper reaches, the most common name is Djoliba, in the middle reaches it is Egirreu, in the lower reaches the river is called Kvara. The Arabs, in turn, also came up with a rather original name - Nil el-Abid (Nil of slaves).

Where it proceeds: the Niger River originates east of the Kong Mountains, in Guinea. The height of the source above sea level is 850 meters. First, the river flows north, towards the desert, then, on the territory of Mali, the river changes its direction to the southeast, and even further downstream to the south. The river flows into the Atlantic Ocean Gulf of Guinea forming at the mouth large delta with an area of \u200b\u200b25,000 sq. km. The delta is swampy and covered with dense mangrove thickets. Rapids are often found in the upper and lower reaches, and in the middle reaches of the Niger it has the character of a plain river flow.

River mode

Niger feeds on the summer monsoons. The flood begins in June and reaches its maximum in September-October. It is characterized by a large dependence of water consumption on the season. The average water discharge at the estuary is 8630 m³ / s, during floods it rises to 30-35 thousand m³ / s.

The feeding of the river along the course is rather unusually distributed. The upper and lower reaches of the river are located in areas with high rainfall, while in the middle reaches the climate is characterized by great dryness.

Main tributaries: Milo, Bani, Sokoto, Kaduna, Benue.

In addition to the estuary delta, Niger also has inner delta or as the inhabitants of Mali call it - Masina. Masina is a vast area in the middle reaches of the river. It is a very swampy floodplain valley with a large number of branches, lakes and oxbow lakes, connecting downstream again into one channel. The delta is 425 kilometers long, with an average width of 87 kilometers.

Internal delta:

Interesting fact: At the confluence of the Niger with the Bani tributary, in the old days there was a large closed lake. Today, the lake only forms during the wet season. During a flood, the delta area increases from 3.9 to 20 thousand km. sq.

Biological resources: quite a lot of fish live in Niger (carp, perch, barbel). This contributes to the development of fishing. Fishing is the main source of food for many locals.

Oil: there is a large amount of oil in the Niger estuary delta. These guys are straining her.

In fact, the wise use of resources could help the inhabitants of the delta get out of poverty, but today the situation is only getting worse due to pollution environment oil.

Niger River on the map:

The pool area reaches 2 million 118 square meters. km. The stream begins in the Guinean Highlands (southeast of Guinea) and ends in Gulf of guinea Atlantic Ocean.

This African river is notable for its unusual waterway. It has the shape of a boomerang, and for 2.5 thousand years has confused all geographers. The source of the Niger is only 240 km from the Atlantic coast. It would seem that the water should flow in the direction of a salt reservoir, as all self-respecting rivers of the world do. However, contrary to the laws of geology, our heroine does not flow to the ocean, but from it.

Niger river

Its waters flow northeast to the Sahara, and then turn southeast 20 km from the ancient city of Timbuktu. Only after that the river rushes towards the Atlantic coast. But this is 3940 extra kilometers. The figure is impressive and needs an explanation.

Many experts believe that in ancient times, when there was still no Sahara, 2 rivers flowed in these places. Their path began in the northern regions of Africa, and rivers flowed into a large lake near Timbuktu. Already a single stream flowed out of it, which carried its waters to the Gulf of Guinea. It is conventionally called Lower Niger.

The Sahara began to form about 5 thousand years ago. Accordingly, the rivers and their sources disappeared. The lake also disappeared, and a new river appeared in its place, formed from small rivulets and rivers of West Africa. It was she who became the beginning of the Lower Niger with a source off the Atlantic coast. That is, the great desert is to blame for everything, which radically changed the whole of North and Central Africa.

Niger River on the map

The Niger River originates in Central Guinea... Here is the Futa Jallon plateau in the administrative province of Labe. Its height above sea level is 1530 meters. The source itself is located at an altitude of 745 meters above sea level. Several streams unite together and form a river, which carries its waters to the northeast along a narrow valley, sandwiched on both sides by mountains.

In Mali, the valley is expanding. Between the cities of Ba Mako and Segou, it becomes more abundant and calm. Further, up to Timbuktu, the water stream splits into several branches and carries its waters over a swampy flat area with many channels and small lakes. It was in this area in ancient times that there was a lake into which rivers flowed from the north.

Outside Timbuktu, the river again forms a single channel and flows eastward along the southern border of the Sahara. The length of this path is approximately 320 km. The waters reach the village of Burey and turn sharply to the southeast. Not far from the city of Ayoru, they cross the state border and find themselves in Niger. On the river is the capital of the state of Niamey with a population of 1 million 60 thousand people. The city is located on both banks, at an altitude of 207 meters above sea level.

Further, the river forms the state border between Niger and Benin, and then flows into Nigeria. Here, below the city of Elva, the North Guinean Upland begins. The water stream receives many tributaries. The largest tributary, the Benue River (1400 km long), flows into the Niger near the city of Lokoja.

After that, the water stream expands in breadth up to 3 km, and its depth reaches 25-30 meters. It is from Lokodzh that the current rushes strictly to the south. Delta begins outside the city of Asaba, 180 km from the ocean coast. Its area is 24 thousand square meters. km. It consists of many sleeves. The longest of them is Nun. But sea-going ships enter the river along the deepest branch, called "Forcados".

Fishermen on the Niger River

The Niger River is notable for the fact that it is steadily and slowly expanding from source to mouth. It does not have sharp contractions and the same extensions. Food is provided by monsoon rains. During this period, the time of floods comes. They last from September to May. The peak is in the month of November.

Shipping carried out in separate areas in the upper reaches. In the lower reaches, ships sail from the city of Niamey to the mouth. The seaport is located in the capital of Rivers State (Nigeria). This is the city of Port Harcourt, located in the river delta.

There are dams on the river. One of them is located near the city of Bamako, the second near the city of Sansanding in the Segou region. They serve to raise water into irrigation canal systems. As for the HPP, there is one in Nigeria with a design capacity of 960 MW. There is a Kainji reservoir near the dam. Its length reaches almost 100 km, and its area is 600 square meters. km.

The West African Stream is considered to be relatively clean. In the ocean, the Niger River carries tens of times less precipitation than the Nile. This is explained by the presence of rocks that produce a minimum of silt. In general, it should be noted that the river is of great economic importance for West Africa. There are projects for the construction of dams and hydroelectric power plants. Their implementation depends only on finances. There is always not enough money, and therefore the work is stretched for a long period of time.

Stanislav Lopatin

Niger is the most important river in West Africa... The length is 4180 km, the basin area is 2 117 700 km ², the third in terms of these parameters in Africa after the Nile and Congo. The source of the river is on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Uplands in southeastern Guinea. The river flows through Mali, Niger, along the border with Benin, and then through Nigeria. It flows into the Gulf of Guinea of \u200b\u200bthe Atlantic Ocean, forming a delta in the confluence area. The largest tributary of the Niger is the Benue River. The exact origin of the name of the river is unknown and there has been a debate among researchers for a long time on this score. There is a popular opinion that the name of the river comes from the Tuareg nehier-ren - “river, flowing water”. According to one of the hypotheses, the name of the river comes from the words “Yegerev Negerev”, which in Tamashek (one of the Tuareg languages) means “great river” or “river of rivers”. This was the name of the Niger and some other peoples who lived on its shores.

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 the same root, since the latter also comes from the word "black".
Aborigines living near the banks, in some parts of the stream, call the river differently: Djoliba (in Mandingo language - "big river"), Mayo, Eghirreu, Izo, Quorra (Quarra, Kovara), Baki-n-ruu, etc. etc., but at the same time the absolute majority of these names in translation mean "river".

Hydrography

The source is located on the slopes of the Leono-Liberian Uplands in the southeast of Guinea. In the upper reaches, the river is called Djoliba. The river flows to the northeast and crosses the border with Mali. The upper and lower reaches of the Niger are rapids, flowing mainly in a narrow valley. In the middle reaches, the Niger has the character of a flat river. From the Guinean city of Kurus to the Malian capital of Bamako, as well as below the city of Segu, 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 area of \u200b\u200bthe inner delta, the Niger Valley is heavily swampy. Earlier in this place, the Niger flowed into a closed 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 to the very mouth in a wide valley, navigable. The river flows through the territory of Niger, where there are numerous dry river beds (wadis) that once flowed into the 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 \u200b\u200b24 thousand km². The longest arm of the delta is Nun, but the deeper Forcados arm is used for shipping.
The main tributaries of the Niger: Milo, Bani (right); Sokoto, Kaduna and Benue (left).
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 are rocky and do not carry a lot of silt. Like the Nile, Niger spills every year. This starts in September, the spill peaks in November, and ends by May.
An unusual feature of the river is the so-called inner delta of the Niger, formed in a place of a strong decrease in the longitudinal channel slope. The terrain is an area of \u200b\u200bmulti-channel channel, marches and lakes the size of Belgium. It is 425 km long with an average width of 87 km. Seasonal floods make the inland delta extremely favorable for fishing and agriculture.
Niger loses about two-thirds of its flow in the inner delta between Ségou and Timbuktu due to evaporation and filtration.
Even the waters of the Bani River flowing into the delta near the town of Mopti are not enough to compensate for these losses. Average losses are estimated at 31 km³ / year (their size varies greatly from year to year). Many tributaries flow into the Niger after the inner delta, but evaporation losses are still very high. The volume of water entering Nigeria in the Yola area was estimated at 25 km3 / year before the 1980s and 13.5 km3 / year during the eighties. The most important tributary of the Niger is the Benue, which merges with it in the Lokoji region. The volume of inflows to Nigeria is six times that of Niger itself when it enters the country. By the Niger delta, the discharge increases to 177 km3 / year (data before the 1980s, during the eighties - 147.3 km3 / year.

History of the Niger River

In the Middle Ages, Arab geographers believed that Niger was connecting with the Nile. The beginning of this idea was laid by Greek geographers - according to Herodotus, for example, Nager was the source of the Nile, flowing down from the Atlas. One of the first to challenge this opinion in his work "Travels in Africa" \u200b\u200b(1799) was W. G. Brown. In 1796, a young Scottish physician, Mungo Park, was the first European to reach Niger. The park found that Niger flows east and has nothing to do with either Senegal or the Gambia - before, Europeans believed that Niger was divided into these two rivers. M. Park was going to find out where the real current of the Niger was headed, but due to tropical fever he was forced to turn back. In 1805, he visited Niger again and investigated its course from Bamako to Bussang, where he was killed by local residents. At that time nothing was known about the lower reaches of the Niger, but it was believed that it flows into the Gulf of Guinea. This opinion was confirmed by the travels of Dixon Denham and Hugh Clapperton in 1825 and the second travel of Clapperton in 1827. In the late 20s of the XIX century, the French traveler Rene Calle visited Timbuktu, posing as an Arab merchant. In 1830, the British government sent Richard Lander (English) Russian., Clapperton's companion on a previous voyage to the banks of the Niger, to study the river more thoroughly, Lender, with his brother (English) Russian, reached Bussang by dry route, descended from there downstream and, having covered a distance of 900 km, reached the Gulf of Guinea. In 1832, Lender entered Niger through the Bay of Benin and sailed up the river; the same journey, simultaneously with him, was made by Laird (English) Russian. and Oldfield, of which the latter sailed to Rabbi, 750 km from the mouth. Baiki (English) Russian, together with British naval officers, in 1857-64 explored the lower course of the Niger to Rabbah and established missions and trading stations along its shores. The middle course of the river, from Timbuktu to Sai, was explored by Bart in 1854. The current of the Niger between the Benue and Rabba estuary was explored by Ralph in 1867, but as early as 1832 Lang almost reached the source of the Niger, the main springs of which, Tembi, were discovered by Moustiers and Zweiffel in 1879. An accurate study of the current of the Niger between Gammaki and Timbuktu, and mapping it, was done by the French officer Karon in 1887.
In the 19th century, the French established themselves in the upper middle reaches of the Niger, near Timbuktu. Trade from here was directed to the west, that is, to the lower reaches of the Senegal River. Meanwhile, European trading posts had long existed in the lower reaches of the Niger - in the 1880s, the British bought French trading posts.
October 24, 1946, three Frenchmen, Jean Sauvy, Pierre Ponty and film director Jean Rush, all former employees in the African
french colonies decided to make a journey along the entire length of the river, which, most likely, no one had ever done before. They began their journey from the very sources of the Niger in the Kishidugu region of Guinea-Bissau, at first on foot, as conditions did not allow the use of a raft. Then they traveled on a wide variety of watercraft as the river widened and deepened. Pierre Ponty stopped his journey at Niamey, and the other two reached the ocean on March 25, 1947. They filmed their journey with a 16mm camera, from which Jean Rush edited his first two ethnographic documentaries: Au pays des mages noirs and La chasse à l'hippopotame. The film served as an illustration for Rusch's later book Le Niger En Pirogue (1954), as well as for Descente du Niger (2001). Pierre Ponty also carried a typewriter with him and sent articles to newspapers along the way.
In 2005, the Norwegian traveler Helge Kjelland embarked on another expedition along the entire length of the Niger, starting his journey to Guinea Bissau in 2005. He also directed a documentary about his journey, titled "The Cruellest Journey".

River bend

The Niger has one of the most unusual bed forms in plan among the major rivers. Like a boomerang, this trend has baffled European geographers for nearly two millennia. The source of Niger is located just 240 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river begins its journey in the opposite direction to 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 believed, for example. Ibn Battuta adhered to the same point of view. The very first European explorers believed that the upper Niger flows westward and joins the Senegal River.
A similar very unusual direction arose, probably due to the unification of two rivers into one in ancient times. Upper Niger, which began west of Timbuktu, ended at about the bend of the present-day 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 years. BC e., two rivers changed their directions and merged into one as a result of interception (eng. Stream capture).

River transport

In September 2009, the Nigerian government allocated 36 billion naira to dredge Niger from Baro
(English Baro (Nigeria)) to Warri for the purpose of cleaning the bottom from silt. The dredging was intended to facilitate the transportation of goods to settlements far from the Atlantic Ocean. Such work was supposed to be carried out several decades ago, but they were postponed. President of Nigeria Umaru Yar'Adua noted that the project will provide year-round navigation in Niger and expressed the hope that by 2020 Nigeria will become one of the twenty most industrialized countries in the world. Alhayi Ibrahim Bio, Minister of Transport of Nigeria, said the ministry will do everything possible to complete this project within the allotted time frame. Concerns were raised that such works could negatively affect villages located in coastal zones. At the end of March 2010, the Niger dredging project was 50% complete.

Information

Length: 4180 km
Pool: 2,117,700 km²
Water consumption: 8630 m³ / s (mouth)
Estuary: Gulf of Guinea

Source. wikipedia.org