Introduction

Water is an essential natural resource that is crucial for sustaining life and improving human well-being. Water constitutes 70% of the human body and about two-thirds of Earth's surface; hence, it is a vital resource not only for the sustenance of human body systems but also for livelihood and sustainable development of societies. Throughout history, humans have strived to improve their standard of living by enhancing their access to basic needs, mostly food, water, and raw materials. Thus, to make the best use of water resources, human societies since ancient times have endeavored to explore the meaning and significance of rivers and obtain a better understanding of their dynamics and processes. In ancient history, rivers such as Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile have been associated with the emergence of civilizations such as Egypt and Mesopotamia. Notably, rivers have profound spiritual and cultural epistemological value. Not only are they understood from the lens of spiritual and cultural ethos, but rivers are also considered a repertoire of knowledge about spirituality and culture. In this chapter, we shall explore rivers as sources of knowledge. The chapter is divided into three substantive parts: the first section explores the meaning and knowledge of rivers with a particular focus on African Indigenous communities; the second section explores African Indigenous knowledge about the utilization and conservation of rivers; and the third examines the evolving science of hydrological research and its future in Africa.