The Nile
Africa's great northward-flowing river, about 6,650 km long, often cited as the longest river in the world.
- Length
- About 6,650 km
- Basin
- Shared by 11 countries
- Mouth
- Mediterranean Sea, through the Nile Delta
Two main branches
The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region around Lake Victoria. The Blue Nile flows from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and supplies most of the water and fertile silt during the flood season. The two meet at Khartoum.
River and civilisation
Annual floods made farming possible along a narrow green corridor through the desert, which sustained ancient Egyptian and Nubian societies for thousands of years.
Dams and diplomacy
The Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, ended the annual flood in Egypt. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile has made water sharing a major regional issue.