Talk:Rwenzori Mountains

First ascent

I'm doubtful that William Stairs made the first ascent of the highest point, since it really needs ice equipment and expertise, also the reference to the nonexistent "Mt Ruwenzori" suggests he just got to some high point without knowing which one it was. Time for some further research. Stan 21:12 May 2, 2003 (UTC)

This mountain range is most often referred to as Mt Ruwenzori, even by the government of Uganda. The ascent of William Stairs is documented in his very detailed report written on June 8, 1889 to the expedition commander, Henry Stanley. This report, in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia, is reproduced in full on pages 405-409 in the book by the Hon. Roy MacLaren. NightCrawler 18:31, 12 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Heh, Stairs' account is detailed but erroneous, not uncommon in explorers' reports of that era. The Duke's expedition was the first to accurately map out the Ruwenzori, and among other things they determined that it was not a single mountain peak. The use of "Mt X" for an entire range is an archaism that fell out of favor nearly a century ago, although it continues to be a source of confusion, particularly from incompetent government officials propagating it by cut-n-pasting from ancient documents. I think I'll add a note to mountain and mountain range, since it comes up periodically. (I note that my Atlas of the World's Mountains from 1963 finesses by saying just "Ruwenzori", although modern atlases add the "Range".) Stan 19:07, 12 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Stan is correct; Stairs did not reach the highest point. But Stan's opinion on "range" v. "mountains" has been kicked out of touch by the international and Uganda Government's official designation of the "Rwenzori Mountains National Park" which covers about two thirds of it and is a World Heritage Site. I have made various small edits to the page, mainly to the spelling "Rwenzori", to the surviving glacier number and area and to the references which are also the authorities for my edits. "Mount Margherita" should be amended to "Margherita Peak" but I have not done this in case it upsets the link from it. Osmaston 9 Dec 2005

Ruwenzori Range is not volcanic

The Ruwenzori Range is not volcanic, so I am removing both "Volcanoes of ..." categories. They had been incorrectly added to the article way back in September 2004. --Seattle Skier (talk) 23:50, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Article Name

If the name is no longer written "Ruwenzori", why is "Rwenzori" redirecting to this article instead of the other way around? Alan 20:24, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Dendrosenecios

Dendrosenecio johnstonii s.s. is a Mount Kilimanjaro endemic; perhaps Dendrosenecio johnstonii s.l. is present, but you can't list both that, and those of its segregates actually present on the mountain. Lavateraguy (talk) 10:48, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Snow

I've moved this from the article. (If you want to edit the article, fine, but to comment on it or discuss changes you'd like to see, you need to be on THIS page.)

• The Atlas Mountains in Morocco have also got Snow hence it is wrong to say that only the klimanjaro, Mt. Kenya and Mt. Ruwenzori which have got snow. (from 79.208.92.19)

Can anyone help or comment please? Thanks DisillusionedBitterAndKnackered (talk) 07:24, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

I was gonna comment on that as well. I guess technically the High Atlas are not permanently snowcapped as they can dry out during summer, but snow is still possible.... and I was under the impression that Mt. Kenya, e.g. was also not always snowcapped either. I think it would be safest to say "sub-saharan africa" instead of "africa".Aapold (talk) 19:56, 14 September 2009 (UTC)

I have changed it to "...in Equatorial Africa." The Moroccan High Atlas even have ski resorts, like Oukaïmeden and Mischliffen. So do mountain areas in South Africa and Lesotho. Snow is also possible in the Tell Atlas and Aurès mountains of Algeria. None of them has a permanent snow cap, but as Aapold pointed out, neither does Mount Kenya. --UrsoBR (talk) 02:09, 7 May 2012 (UTC)

Where's the Fauna?

Coverage of animal life is ludicrously inadequate. A single line after the unnecessarily elaborate description of flora? Primates, eh? Such as the Mountain Gorilla, for example? Chimps, too perhaps? Threats to wildlife, by which I mean carnivores, ungulates and other mammals, as well as birds reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates? Must be something moving around out there besides elephants and "primates.". Know you love your vegetables, but this is ridiculous.68.178.50.46 (talk) 18:06, 27 June 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Rwenzori Mountains/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Comment(s)

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The Ruwensori are not the mountains of the moon. This name means 'Rain makers' Diogenes marched 25 days eastwards into Africa not 70 as it would take to the Ruwenzori. Colonel Thompson took 25 days to get the Kilmanjaro. I suggest the natives called this mountain or if not them then Diogenes, as the Mountain to the moon. If you've been looking for it as I have, you see that as the sun goes down you have two moons in the heavens, some 30 minutes later one disapears . Likewise some 60 minutes before sun rise that moon appears again and disappears but not quite for now it turns into a cloud . This is the snow capped top of Kilimanjaro. You don't get this with the Ruwenzori. Sorry but Sir Henry Stanley didn't find it, I did in 1989 and my name is Don Cox and if you want to add Sir before it, you are most welcome. But what scholars have not noticed is that Diogenes turned due north for his home port exactly 4000 miles south of it. How did he know that. Going into deepest darkest Africa in 70 AD was bad enough but why didn't he retrace his steps. He didn't because he knew how to calculate longitude . Thank You.

Last edited at 19:14, 27 September 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 05:07, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

Spelling and citations

I notice there is still no citation to support the changed spelling from Ruwenzori to Rwenzori. One contributor has referred to the Ugandan Rwenzori national park, but as far as I can seem that is the only support offered. I would point out that in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they retain the Ruwenzori spelling, e.g. the Ruwenzori (commune). If this spelling change were universally accepted, some citation evidence would be appreciated. As it is, it appears to be Uganda-centric. Ptilinopus (talk) 11:43, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

This Google ngram suggests that "Ruwenzori" remains by far the most common spelling in English, by about a 3:1 ratio, and the only spelling found in publications before 1970. The fact that there's been relatively little change since then suggests that which spelling you use depends on which side of the border you're on. Since English speakers are far more likely to encounter the historic spelling, I suggest moving the article back to that, and explaining, as neutrally as possible in the lead, that in Ugandan orthography, the spelling is "Rwenzori". The name isn't different; the pronunciation probably is just about the same. So this isn't a matter of right or wrong, just the more common and historic spelling in English-language sources. P Aculeius (talk) 03:58, 20 December 2018 (UTC)

Requested move 2 July 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: no consensus. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 16:45, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

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Rwenzori Mountains → Ruwenzori Mountains – per WP:COMMONNAME; see above discussion. —  AjaxSmack  02:32, 2 July 2022 (UTC) — Relisting. Extraordinary Writ (talk) 03:59, 9 July 2022 (UTC) — Relisting. — Ceso femmuin mbolgaig mbung, mellohi! (投稿) 07:59, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

*I have no opinion on this move. —  AjaxSmack  02:32, 2 July 2022 (UTC) I now support the move per User:P Aculeius (here and above) and lack of convincing opposing evidence. —  AjaxSmack  02:46, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

• Support, for the reasons I mentioned previously—but I'm not optimistic about achieving consensus. P Aculeius (talk) 03:10, 2 July 2022 (UTC)
• Oppose, per WP:CONSISTENT, to match with other articles that have rwe (meaning 'place' in Konjo) such as Rwenzururu movement. Also, 'Rwenzori' has 449,000 results on Google compared to 'Ruwenzori' with 172,000, so it appears that it is the WP:COMMONNAME. --Leviavery (talk) 18:18, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

Simple Google searches aren't that useful, since they contain Wikipedia mirrors and sponsored content. This Google Books ngram is more helpful, and shows that the two forms are about even in very recent publications—but Rwenzori doesn't appear in significant numbers until the late 1960's, and as recently as twenty years ago was only half as abundant in published English sources. The vast majority of usage historically has been Ruwenzori—and even today that makes up about half of the references. Rwenjura, mentioned in the lead of this article as a third form, wasn't found at all, and probably needs to be cited to a reliable source, footnoted, or removed. P Aculeius (talk) 20:25, 2 July 2022 (UTC)

• Relister comment Relisting again to see if the data analysis needed to resolve this RM's common name dilemma can be developed further. — Ceso femmuin mbolgaig mbung, mellohi! (投稿) 08:00, 16 July 2022 (UTC)
• Oppose. Google scholar gives more than twice as many results for Rwenzori Mountains since 2000 ([1][2]). It seems Ruwenzori was more common in the past, but that has changed in the last 20 or 30 years. Vpab15 (talk) 10:16, 24 July 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Uplift

I am not knowlegeable about geology but wondered about the type of uplift which created these mountains. Following links to non-orogenic led me to the term 'epeirogenic'. Was it epeirogenic uplift which created them? If so, would it be useful, in explaining what caused the uplift, to include the term 'epeirogenic', with a link to that page? Those not familiar with it could then follow directly to the page for that term. (which explains its distinction from 'orogenic'. (Is all uplift then, almost by definition, either epeirogenic or orogenic? But that is perhaps another question entirely.)

My proposal would be to amend the sentence "The mountains formed about three million years ago in the late Pliocene epoch and are the result of an uplifted block of crystalline rocks including gneiss, amphibolite, granite and quartzite."  to instead say " .... and are the result of a block of crystalline rocks uplifted orogenically, and include gneiss, amphibolite, granite and quartzite." (if it is indeed correct to say that.) Buyani Nyoni (talk) 10:23, 12 December 2023 (UTC)