Mountains of the Moon

Mountains of the Moon (Latin: Montes Lunae; , or Jibbel el Kumri) is a legendary mountain or mountain range in east Africa at the source of the Nile River. Various identifications have been made in modern times, the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo being the most celebrated. Ancient testimony People of the ancient world were long curious about the source of the Nile, especially ancient Greek geographers. A number of expeditions up the Nile failed to find the source. Eventually, a merchant named Diogenes reported that he had traveled inland from Rhapta in East Africa for twenty-five days and had found the source of the Nile. He reported that it flowed from a group of massive mountains into a series of large lakes. He reported the natives called this range the Mountains of the Moon because of their snowcapped whiteness. These reports were accepted as true by most Greek and Roman geographers, most notably by Ptolemy, who produced maps that indicated the reported location of the mountains. Late Arab geographers, despite having far more knowledge of Africa, also presumed the report was fact, and included the mountains in the same location given by Ptolemy.