VOLTA

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 199 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: VIR-WAT

VOLTA , the largest river of the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

of Upper

Guinea

GUINEA

, between the Gambia and the Niger, with a length of about goo m. Its mouth and the greater

part

PART

of its course are in British territory. Its lower course had been known since the discoveries of the Portuguese, from whom it received (15th century) its name on 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 basinextending far north within the bend of the Niger- -was made known.
There are two main upper branches, the Black and the White Volta. Their sources lie on the grassy plateaus north of the forest belt of the

Guinea

GUINEA

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

, 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

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

. From the eleventh to the ninth parallel the river forms the boundary between the Northern Territories of the Gold Coast (British) and the French

Ivory

IVORY (Fr. ivoire, Lat. ebur)
IVORY, SIR JAMES (1765-1842)

Coast colony. The southerly course of the stream ceases at 8 15' N. where it is deflected E., and even N., by a

mountain

range composed of

sandstone

SANDSTONE

and granite, which it finally breaks through by a narrow pass, in which its width is only some 6o yds. Elsewhere
it has a general width of 15o to 20o yds. In o 50' W. it receives the White Volta, which flows generally

south

SOUTH
SOUTH, ROBERT (1634–1716)

from about 13 N. and likewise breaks through a narrow gap in the

plateau

term
- TERM
_older_pl.html">PLATEAU (a French
term
- TERM
, older platel, for a flat piece of wood, metal, &c., from plat, flat)
PLATEAU, JOSEPH
ANTOINE
- ANTOINE, ANDRE (1858- )
FERDINAND (1801-1883)

escarpment. Both rivers shrink greatly in the dry season, reaching their lowest level at the end of 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 left 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 half a mile, with a 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 water-way is limited by a number of rapids, the lowest of which occur in 6 7' N., above the trading port of Akuse. Its mouth is also obstructed during the greater

part

PART

of the year by a bar. The river is usually navigable by small vessels from its mouth for about 6o m.
The lower Volta was explored by M. J. Bonnat in 1875, but the upper basin was first traversed by the German traveller G. A. Krause (188687) and the French captain L. G. Binger (1888). It has since been explored by a number of colonial officialsGerman, French and British. Between 6 41' and 8 8' N. the Volta forms the boundary between the Gold Coast and Togoland.

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