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VOLTA

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 199 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VOLTA , the largest See also:

river of the See also:coast of Upper See also:Guinea, between the See also:Gambia and the See also:Niger, with a length of about goo m. Its mouth and the greater See also:part of its course are in See also:British territory. Its See also:lower course had been known since the discoveries of the Portuguese, from whom it received (15th See also:century) its name on See also:account of the winding nature of its stream. It was not, however, until the last fifteen years of the loth century that the extent of its See also:basin—extending far See also:north within the See also:bend of the Niger- -was made known. There are two See also:main upper branches, the See also:Black and the See also:White Volta. Their See also:sources See also:lie on the grassy plateaus north of the See also:forest See also:belt of the Guinea coast, the Black Volta rising (as the Baule) in about 11° N. 4° 5o' W. Its course is at first E. and N.E., to 12° 25' N., at which point, after receiving a tributary from nearly 14° N.—the most northerly point of the basin,—it turns sharply See also:south. From the See also:eleventh to the ninth parallel the river forms the boundary between the See also:Northern Territories of the See also:Gold Coast (British) and the See also:French See also:Ivory Coast See also:colony. The southerly course of the stream ceases at 8° 15' N. where it is deflected E., and even N., by a See also:mountain range composed of See also:sandstone and See also:granite, which it finally breaks through by a narrow pass, in which its width is only some 6o yds. Elsewhere it has a See also:general width of 15o to 20o yds. In o° 50' W. it receives the White Volta, which flows generally south from about 13° N. and likewise breaks through a narrow See also:gap in the See also:plateau escarpment.

Both See also:

rivers shrink greatly in the dry See also:season, reaching their lowest level at the end of See also:January. Below the junction the Volta flows S.E. and S., turning, however, E. for 4o m. just north of 6°. In 7° 37' N. it receives on the See also:left See also:bank a large tributary, the Oti, coming from 12° N. In its lower course, through the forest belt, the river has often a width of over See also:half a mile, with a See also:depth in places of .lo to 5o ft. in the rains, but in 6° 18' N. it traverses a pass in which its width is narrowed to 3o yds. Its use as a See also:water-way is limited by a number of rapids, the lowest of which occur in 6° 7' N., above the trading See also:port of Akuse. Its mouth is also obstructed during the greater part of the See also:year by a See also:bar. The river is usually navigable by small vessels from its mouth for about 6o m. The lower Volta was explored by M. J. See also:Bonnat in 1875, but the upper basin was first traversed by the See also:German traveller G. A. See also:Krause (1886–87) and the French See also:captain L.

G. Binger (1888). It has since been explored by a number of colonial officials—German, French and British. Between 6° 41' and 8° 8' N. the Volta forms the boundary between the Gold Coast and See also:

Togoland.

End of Article: VOLTA

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