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KUNENE

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 947 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KUNENE , formerly known also as Nourse, a See also:

river of See also:South-See also:West See also:Africa, with a length of over 700 m., mainly within Portuguese territory, but in its See also:lower course forming the boundary between See also:Angola and See also:German South-West Africa. The upper See also:basin of the river lies en the inner versant of the high See also:plateau region which runs southwards from Bihe parallel to the See also:coast, forming in places ranges of mountains which give rise to many streams See also:running south to swell the Kunene. The See also:main stream rises in 12° 30' S. and about 16o m. in a See also:direct See also:line from the See also:sea at See also:Benguella, runs generally from See also:north to south through four degrees of See also:latitude, but finally flows west to the sea through a break in the See also:outer See also:highlands. A little south of 16° S. it receives the Kulonga from the See also:east, and in about 16° 5o' the Kakulovar from the west. The Kakulovar has its See also:sources in the Serra da Chella and other ranges of the Humpata See also:district behind See also:Mossamedes, but, though the longest tributary of the Kunene, is but a small river in its lower course, which traverses the arid region comprised within the lower basin of the Kunene. Between the mouths of the Kulonga and Kakulovar the Kunene traverses a swampy See also:plain, inundated during high See also:water, and containing several small lakes at other parts of the See also:year. From this swampy region divergent branches run S.E. They are mainly intermittent, but the Kwamatuo, which leaves the main stream in about 15° 8' E., 17° 15' S., flows into a large See also:marsh or See also:lake called Etosha, which occupies a depression in the inner table-See also:land about 3400 ft. above sea-level. From the S.E. end of the Etosha lake streams issue in the direction of the Okavango, to which in times of See also:great See also:flood they contribute some water. From the existence of this divergent See also:system it is conjectured that at one See also:time the Kunene formed See also:part of the Okavango, and thus of the See also:Zambezi basin. (See See also:NGAMI.) On leaving the swampy region the Kunene turns decidedly to the west, and descends to the coast plain by a number of cataracts, of which the See also:chief (in 17° 25' S., 14° 20' E.) has a fall of 330 ft. The river becomes smaller in See also:volume as it passes through an almost See also:desert region with little or no vegetation.

The stream is sometimes shallow and fordable, at others confined to a narrow rocky channel. Near the sea the Kunene traverses a region of See also:

sand-hills, its mouth being completely blocked at See also:low water. The river enters the See also:Atlantic in 17° 18' S., 11° 40' E. There are indications that a former See also:branch of the river once entered a See also:bay to the south.

End of Article: KUNENE

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