Nile | |
River | |
The river in Uganda
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Countries | Ethiopia, Sudan, Egypt, Uganda, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Eritrea |
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Cities | Jinja, Juba, Khartoum, Cairo |
Primary source | White Nile |
- elevation | 2,700 m (8,858 ft) |
- coordinates | 02°16′56″S 029°19′53″E / 2.28222°S 29.33139°E |
Secondary source | Blue Nile |
- location | Lake Tana, Ethiopia |
- coordinates | 12°02′09″N 037°15′53″E / 12.03583°N 37.26472°E |
Source confluence | near Khartoum |
Mouth | |
- location | Mediterranean Sea, Egypt |
- elevation | 0 m (0 ft) |
- coordinates | 30°10′N 031°06′E / 30.167°N 31.100°ECoordinates: 30°10′N 031°06′E / 30.167°N 31.100°E |
Length | 6,853 km (4,258 mi) |
Width | 2.8 km (2 mi) |
Basin | 3,400,000 km2 (1,312,747 sq mi) |
Discharge | |
- average | 2,830 m3/s (99,941 cu ft/s) |
The Nile (Arabic: النيل, Eg. en-Nīl, Std. an-Nīl; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲱ, P(h)iaro; Ancient Egyptian: Ḥ'pī and Iteru; Biblical Hebrew: היאור, Ha-Ye'or) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, however other conflicting sources cite a 2007 study that gave the title to the Amazon River in South America. The Nile, which is 6,853 km (4,258 miles) long, is an "international" river as its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt. In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile. The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself. The Blue Nile, however, is the source of most of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi. It flows north through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile (Amharic: ዓባይ?, ʿĀbay) begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.