Nile River 1818

Before the Britisher, John Hanning Speke discovered Lake Victoria as the source of the Nile River in 1858,  long before the famous Scramble of Africa took place after the 1884 Berlin Conference, and long before any foreigner set its foot on African soil, the continent was a jigsaw puzzle of hundreds of indigenous native African kingdoms and chiefdoms, disintegrated and united under several factions. But one particular civilisation remains the oldest, the one along the longest African river, the Egyptian along the Nile River. But this post isn't really about the history of the river, but more about the nomenclature of countries it flows through, based on maps of the Discovery Age era. 

All the African maps available through archives are from European eyes, which changed as per European discoveries. That doesn't really mean these were the only countries existing that time or even the names denoted the same. Early 16th century maps would show an ill-shaped Africa with a major portion marked as Æthiopia that would stretch throughout the continent. Many incorrect maps would also feature names such as Africa denoting the regions south to Tunisia and northern Algeria, which was because of the Roman province of Africa that was located in that region. It is strange that if the entire continent was known to the then Europeans as Ethiopia, why would they name the continent Africa? The entire stretch of the African continent from today's Mali to Sudan is marked with numerous names other than Africa and Æthiopia, such as Libya, Nigritia and Soudan. What is even more interesting is to find the name Oceanus Ætheopicus (Ethiopian Ocean) marked to what today is the Atlantic Ocean, even though today's Ethiopia is a landlocked country and the nearest water body after crossing neighbouring Eritrea to its east is the Red Sea. The Red Sea itself is marked as Arabian Gulf on several older maps. 

Talking specifically about the Nile River and its flow, beginning from the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history (between 2055 - 1650 BC), it flew through the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, the ancient Kerma Kingdom (in today's Sudan), the Egyptian Empire (1550 - 1077 BC), the Kingdom of Kush or Qes (1000 BC - 350 AD), the Roman province of Ægyptus (30 BC - 646 AD), the Kingdom of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia (till middle-ages; all part of today's northern Sudan), the various Islamic Caliphates having Egypt as their provinces - the Abbasids, the Fatimids, the Ayyubids, the Mamluks etc. Approaching the middle-ages of the 13th century, it would now pass through kingdoms of Daju, the Nubian dynasties of Banu-Kanz, Hawwara and Tunjurs (all in today's Sudan), the Kingdom of Funj or Sennar (the latter name is quite more prominent than the former. Sennar is also a modern-day city in Sudan). As we move to the 15th century, the Kingdom of Shilluk would stand the test of time till 1866 when it would be conquered by the rising Ottoman Sultans in the north, which later were replaced by the British under Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899 - 1956). All these empires and kingdoms flourished by the waters of the Nile, which itself is divided into five parts as it passes through Egypt (known as the Nile), Sudan (divides into the Blue Nile and White Nile), South Sudan (known as Mountain Nile or Bahr al Jabal) and Uganda (known as Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile). A part of the Blue Nile flows in Ethiopia as well. The river finally meets Lake Victoria that borders three countries - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 

Coming back to the Discovery Age maps, there is another territory that has been found on various sources. The territory of Dongola has marked synonym to today's Sudan, a large territory sandwiched between the Kingdom of Bournu (or the Bornu Empire) in the west and the Red Sea to its east. Dongola has never actually been any kingdom or an empire and its current location is near to a city by the same name, situated in the Northern state of Sudan. Important cities marked on several maps are listed below: 

• Cairo
• Geeza (Giza, Egypt)
• Monfalout (Manfalut, Egypt)
• Siout (Asyut, Egypt)
• Gawa Shergieh 
• Achmim of Panopo (Akhmim, Egypt)
• Girge (Girga, Egypt)
• Dendera (in Egypt)
• Thebes (in Luxor, Egypt)
• Esne (Esna, Egypt)
• Ombo (Kom Ombo, Egypt)
• Syene (Aswan, Egypt)
• Ibrim (Qasr Ibrim, Egypt)
• Moscho (Mushu, Sudan)
• Dongola (in Sudan)
• Harir
• Goos
• Gerri (El Jalli, Sudan)
• Halifoon
• Sennar (in Sudan)
• Gonea

Before the discovery of Lake Victoria, African maps would show the Nile River ending abruptly in the Ethiopian kingdoms of Enarea (Kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea; 1801 - 1891) or Caffa (Kingdom of Kaffa; 1390 - 1897). Both these regions are related to the history of Ethiopia. The source of the Blue Nile is Lake Tana in Ethiopia, which was once believed as the source of the main river, and was denoted by the name Tzana or Deinbia. The lake itself would be surrounded by the Ethiopian regions of Gondar, Begemder and Kuara (Qwara), collectively marked (along with several other kingdoms) as the territory of Abyssinia. It is noteworthy that the name Abyssinia is not to be considered as the former name of Ethiopia as both the names have been found present on old maps with Abyssinia covering only the northern region of today's Ethiopia and Eritrea. 

The story of the Nile is incomplete without the mention of the Great Pyramids. Interestingly, there is another set of such structures known as the Nubian Pyramids, located in northern Sudan as well. The Egyptian Pyramids are located around the cities of Cairo and Giza. Until the early 14th century, these Pyramids were the tallest structures on the earth. 

Below here is a resketched map of the Nile River and adjoining countries, dating 1818, originally sketched by Daniel Lizars, a 19th-century Scottish map-maker.