Category Social Sciences

HOW MANY TRIBUTARIES DOES THE NILE RIVER HAVE?

The Nile in Africa is the longest river in the world. The river has three tributaries; the two main ones are the White Nile that begins in Burundi and the Blue Nile that has its source in Ethiopia. Both rivers merge in Sudan. The third tributary, Atbara River, is dry most of the year and flows only if it rains in Ethiopia.

The Nile River, considered the longest river in the world, is approximately 4,258 miles (6,853 kilometers) long, but its exact length is a matter of debate. Flowing northward through the tropical climate of eastern Africa and into the Mediterranean Sea, the river passes through 11 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.

The Nile has two major tributaries: the longer White Nile, considered the prime stream and headwaters; and the Blue Nile, which carries about two-thirds of the river’s water volume and most of the silt.

The White Nile begins at Lake Victoria, Africa’s largest lake, which touches the countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. But Lake Victoria isn’t necessarily the most distant and “true” source of the Nile River because the lake itself has many feeder rivers coming in from the surrounding mountains. In 2006, a British explorer named Neil McGrigor said he’d traveled to the Nile’s most distant source at the beginning of the Kagera River, Lake Victoria’s longest feeder river.

Credit: Live Science

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WHAT IS AN OXBOW LAKE?

When a river flows through low-lying plains, it slows down, carving out a meandering path with many U-shaped curves. Over time, some of these curves become cut off from the main flow of the river by the build-up of silt deposits, and form oxbow lakes. These distinctive, curved water bodies are close to a river but separate from it.

An oxbow lake starts out as a curve, or meander, in a river. A lake forms as the river finds a different, shorter, course. The meander becomes an oxbow lake along the side of the river.

Oxbow lakes usually form in flat, low-lying plains close to where the river empties into another body of water. On these plains, rivers often have wide meanders.

Meanders that form oxbow lakes have two sets of curves: one curving away from the straight path of the river and one curving back. The corners of the curves closest to each other are called concave banks. The concave banks erode over time. The force of the rivers flowing water wears away the land on the meanders concave banks.

The banks opposite the concave banks are called convex banks. The opposite of erosion happens here. Silt and sediment build up on convex banks. This build-up is called deposition.

Erosion and deposition eventually cause a new channel to be cut through the small piece of land at the narrow end of the meander. The river makes a shortcut. Oxbow lakes are the remains of the bend in the river.

Oxbow lakes are stillwater lakes. This means that water does not flow into or out of them. There is no stream or spring feeding the lake, and it doesnt have a natural outlet. Oxbow lakes often become swamps or bogs, and they often dry up as their water evaporates.

Credit: National Geographic Society

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What is the European Union? How is it significant?

There were many efforts to keep the European countries together, to achieve economic growth and military security especially after World War II. A series of plans and treaties led to the creation of the European Union. It is commonly called the EU. In the beginning, membership to the EU was limited to Western Europe alone. Initially, only a few countries were involved in the activities of the EU. They were Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Currently, the Union functions across the length and breadth of Europe and includes many other countries.

Officially established in 1993, the EU now has 27-member countries with a total population of about 447 million. It is spread across a total area of 4,233,255.3 square kilometres.

The EU is generally considered as a sui generis political entity that has the features of a federation as well as a confederation. Sui generis in Latin means ‘unique’ or ‘something that has no comparison’.

Since its inception, the EU has been integral in the unity of Europe. It has established a common market for all the member countries by standardizing the trade law system and framing standard policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development. This standardization guarantees the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital. The EU also implements legislative measures on matters of justice and home affairs. It has an important role in international cooperation. The EU is also the world’s largest donor of development aid.

Even though Ukraine is not a member of the organisation currently, it has great interest in being a part of it.

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How varied is the biodiversity of Ukraine?

Ukraine is rich in animal and plant life. About 350 species of birds and more than a hundred species of mammals live there. Add to this more than 200 species of fish, too. There are fearsome predators like wolves, foxes, wildcats, and martens and hoofed animals like roe deer, wild pigs, elk and mouflons. There are also several species of rodents like hamsters, jerboas, field mice etc. Among birds, the major species are the black and hazel grouse, owls, gulls and partridges. Migrating birds are also found in abundance, like wild geese, ducks and storks. About 385 species of wild life are listed as endangered in the Red Book of Ukraine.

As for natural vegetation, Ukraine has three main zones – Polissya (woodland and marsh), the forest-steppe and the steppe. The Polissya zone, in the northwest and north, has one quarter of it with mixed woods like oak, elm, birch, hornbeam, ash, maple, pine linden, alder, poplar, willow and beech. The forest-steppe lie south of the Polissya and only one-eighth of this zone has forests. Further south is the steppe zone which is mostly composed of treeless plains used for cultivation.

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Who is Vladimir Putin?

Here’s the man who made the world shudder, with his attack on Ukraine. Russia’s current president, Vladimir Putin is one of the strongest leaders in the world.

He was born in Leningrad, the city now named as St. Petersburg. After graduating in law in 1975, he joined the KGB, the dreaded secret service of the Soviet Union. He was further trained at the Yuri Andropov Red Banner Institute in Moscow, and then worked in East Germany under the pretence of being a translator. He left the KGB following the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, which he did not agree with.

Putin then sought a career in politics and was quite successful in it. He reached the highest position in Russia in 2000. Among all the current presidents in Europe, Putin is the second longest serving – behind only Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus. In fact, the Russian constitution allowed a person to serve as president only for two terms. To get around this problem, a shrewd Putin chose to be the prime minister in 2008, swapping places with the then prime minister Dimitri Medvedev. Putin was re-elected as president in 2018, for the fourth time. In April 2021, he changed the constitution so as to allow him to be elected as president for two more terms. This would enable him to remain as president until 2036.

Putin’s rule of Russia is characterized by a shift to authoritarianism. His government is also accused of gross human rights abuses. Most recently, the attack on Ukraine has added to his image as a ruthless ruler.

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Who was Boris Yeltsin?

Boris Yeltsin became the first president in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He was also the first freely elected leader in the whole history of Russia going back to a thousand years!

President Yeltsin presented a new constitution in 1993 which was approved by the Russian voters. It gave strong powers to the president, leaving the Russian parliament comparatively weaker. Yeltsin abandoned some of the basic ideas that the Soviet Union had held dear. He allowed private ownership of property and brought in a free market, and did away with price controls. Many of the state assets were privatized. Yeltsin also supported a free press, and agreed to a reduction in nuclear arms.

Yeltsin’s reforms made a section of the people very wealthy, but many were left poor. He also invited criticism against Russia by sending troops to Chechnya in 1994, causing the death of many. Yeltsin announced his resignation on December 31, 1999, and named Vladimir Putin as his successor. He died on April 23, 2007.

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