On this day 241 years ago, in the same year that Captain James Cook “discovered” Australia, the Scottish adventurer James Bruce “discovered” the source of the Nile River. Bruce had been appointed British Consul at Algiers in 1763, and then in 1765 he began a journey across northern Africa and the Middle East exploring and making careful drawings of all the ancient ruins that he could find.
After reaching Alexandria in 1768, he resolved to solve one of the great mysteries of the day by discovering the source of the Nile. It was known that the Nile was fed by two rivers, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, and Bruce took the attitude that the Blue Nile was the true source, being the Nile of the ancients, even though the White Nile was the larger stream. In pursuit of his quest, he travelled to Ethiopia and stayed there for two years.
In October 1770 he set out with a small party, and on 14 November reached Gish Abay, which the guide declared to be the source of the Abay River, also known as the Blue Nile. Bruce promptly declared himself discoverer of the source of the Nile, apparently disregarding all the locals who were already well aware of it, and dismissing the claims of earlier Europeans who had visited and described it. After some extraordinary adventures and difficulties on the way home, he reached London in 1774 bringing with him is drawings of ancient ruins and a valuable selection of Ethiopian manuscripts.