Lake Tana

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Lake Tana
From space (April 1991). North is to the right.
Location	Ethiopia
Coordinates	12°0′N 37°15′ECoordinates: 12°0′N 37°15′E
Primary sources	Reb River, Gumara River
Primary outflows	Blue Nile
Max length	84 km
Max width	66 km
Surface area	2,156 km²
Max depth	14 m
Surface elevation	1788 m
Islands	? (Tana Qirqos, Daga Island, Dek Island, Meshralia)
Settlements	Bahir Dar

Lake Tana (also spelled T'ana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,"Lake Tana," originally "Tsana," Ge'ez ጻና Ṣānā; sometimes called "Dembiya" after the region to the north of the lake) is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia. It is approximately 84 kilometers long and 66 kilometers wide, and is located in the country's north-west highlands at 12°0′N 37°15′E. The lake's greatest depth is 15 meters, at an elevation of 1840 meters. The lake is fed by the Reb River and Gumara River and its surface area ranges from 3,000 to 3,500 km² depending on season and rainfall. The Lake level has been regulated since the construction of the control weir where the lake discharges into the Blue Nile. This regulates the flow to the Tis Abay falls and hydro-power station.

The lake has a number of islands, whose numbers vary depending on the level of the lake; it has fallen about 6 feet in the last 400 years. According to Manoel de Almeida (who was a Portuguese missionary in the early 17th century), there were 21 islands, seven to eight of which had monasteries on them "formerly large, but now much diminished." When James Bruce visited the area in the later 18th century, he noted that the locals counted 45 inhabited islands, but stated he believed that "the number may be about eleven." A more modern geographer named 37 islands, of which he believed 19 have or had monasteries or churches on them.¹

Remains of ancient Ethiopian emperors and treasures of the church are kept in the isolated island monasteries. On the island of Tana Qirqos is a rock shown to Paul B. Henze, on which he was told the Virgin Mary had rested on her journey back from Egypt; he was also told that Frumentius, who introduced Christianity to Ethiopia, is "allegedly buried on Tana Cherqos."² The body of Yekuno Amlak is interred in the monastery of St. Stephen on Daga Island; other Emperors whose tombs are on Daga include Dawit I, Zara Yaqob, Za Dengel and Fasilides. Other important islands in Lake Tana include Dek Island and Meshralia.

The monasteries are believed to rest on earlier religious sites and include the fourteenth century Debre Maryam, the eighteenth century Narga Selassie, Tana Qirqos (said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant before it was moved to Axum), and Ura Kidane Mecet, known for its regalia. A ferry service links Bahir Dar with Gorgora via Dek Island and various lakeshore villages.

[edit] References

C.F. Beckham and G.W.B. Huntingford, Some Records of Ethiopia, 1593-1646, (series 2, no. 107; London: Hakluyt Society, 1954), p. 35 and note.
Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p.73.