Searching for the Source of the Nile

For centuries, the source of the Nile River was one of the greatest mysteries of geography. This class traces the long and often dramatic quest to locate the Nile’s origins, from ancient Greek and Roman speculation through medieval Islamic scholarship and nineteenth-century European expeditions. Along the way, it examines the political ambitions, scientific methods, rivalries, and misconceptions that shaped the search, as well as the crucial knowledge provided by African societies. The course concludes by considering why the Nile mattered so deeply to empires past and present. Original maps of the Nile region will be shared with the class.

Richard Lobban, Ph.D., professor emeritus of anthropology and African studies at Rhode Island College, serves as adjunct professor of African studies at the Naval War College. He has a master’s degree from Temple University and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University and has taught at the American University in Cairo, Tufts University and Dartmouth College, among others. He has conducted field research in Tunis and Egypt and has been excavating a temple in Sudan for ten years. Richard is widely published in urban and complex societies, informal sector economy, gender, ethnicity, race and class, especially in the Middle East. He often serves as a subject matter expert and court-appointed expert witness in political asylum cases for refugees from Africa and the Middle East.