the.com/watercourse
Earth's oldest engineer, sketching valleys with nothing but patience and gravity.
means A natural or artificial channel through which water flows — a stream, river, brook, or canal — or the course such water takes.
from A transparent compound of "water" and "course," both old English-rooted words. "Course" comes through Old French "cours" from Latin "cursus," meaning "a running" (from "currere," to run — the same root that gallops through "current," "courier," and "cursive"). So a watercourse is, quite literally, "the running of water" — the path water takes when it runs its course.
- defined route
- Legally a bed and banks, even when bone dry
- path of least resistance
- Carves canyons by always taking the easy way
- ephemeral kind
- Some flow only after rain, ghosts on maps
- meander mechanics
- Curves tighten until rivers strangle themselves into oxbow lakes
- water rights
- Whole legal wars fought over who drinks first
amazon river — largest river by discharge, flows 6,400 km through south america
grand canal venice — main watercourse through venice, italy, lined with palaces since 12th century
nile river — longest river at 6,650 km, flows through egypt and sudan
rhine river — flows 1,233 km through germany, france, and netherlands, crucial european shipping route