Setit
Setit is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 14.33°, 36.85°
About Setit
The Tekezé River (Amharic: ተከዜ; Tigrinya: ተከዘ, originally meaning "river" in Ge’ez; Arabic: تكازي, also spelled Takkaze; Italian: fiume Tacazzè), is a major river in Ethiopia. For part of its course it forms a section of the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The river is also known as the Setit (Arabic: سيتيت) as it joins the Nile tributary Atbarah River just over the border in Sudan. According to materials published by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Agency, the Tekezé River is 608 kilometers (378 mi) long. The canyon which it has created is the deepest in Africa and one of the deepest in the world, at some points having a depth of over 2000 meters (6,562 feet).
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Tekezé River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Setit in Depth
Course
The Tekezé River rises in the central Ethiopian Highlands near Mount Qachen within Lasta, from where it flows west, north, then west again, forming the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea from the confluence of the Tomsa with the Tekezé at 14°11′N 37°31.7′E to the tripoint between the two countries and Sudan at 14°15′27″N 36°33′37″E. After entering northeastern Sudan at the tripoint it joins the Atbarah River, which is a tributary of the Nile. The Tekezé is perhaps the true upper course of the Atbarah, as the former follows the longer course prior to the confluence of the two rivers.
History
The earliest known mention of the Tekezé is in an inscription from Aksum of king Ezana of Axum, where he boasts of a victory in a battle on its lower banks, near "the ford of Kemalke". The Tekezé served as an early link between Ethiopia and Egypt; for example, the Kebra Nagast, which received its current form in the 13th century, states that king Menelik I returned to Ethiopia by following this river from Egypt (ch. 53). Augustus B. Wylde records a related tradition that near the source of the Tekezé, at the location of Eyela Kudus Michael church, is the true resting-place of the Ark of the Covenant.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Tekezé River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Setit: Key Facts
| Length | 608 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 143 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 66,800 km² |
| Mouth | Atbarah River |
| Drainage system | Nile basin |
| Tributaries | Ataba River, Balagas River, Wari River, Zarima River |
Facts from Wikidata Q843308 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Setit: Quick Answers
- Where is Setit?
- Setit is located in Eritrea and Sudan and Ethiopia, at 14.3279° N, 36.8481° E.
- Are there dams on the Setit?
- No dam on the Setit is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.