Editing Nile (section)

{{Short description|Major river in northeastern Africa}}
{{Other uses}}
{{protection padlock|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox river
| name                = Nile River
| name_etymology      = "The river"
| image               = Cairo skyline, Panoramic view, Egypt.jpg
| image_size          = 260px
| image_caption       = Nile in Cairo, Egypt
| image_alt           = 
| map                 = River Nile map.svg
| map_size            = 260px
| map_caption         = 
| map_alt             = inside river Nile map
| pushpin_map         = 
| pushpin_map_size    = 
| pushpin_map_caption = 
| pushpin_map_alt     = 
| subdivision_type1   = Countries
| subdivision_name1   = Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi
| subdivision_type2   = Major cities
| subdivision_name2   = [[Jinja, Uganda|Jinja]], [[Juba]], [[Khartoum]], [[Cairo]]
| subdivision_type3   = 
| subdivision_name3   = 
| subdivision_type4   = 
| subdivision_name4   = 
| subdivision_type5   = 
| subdivision_name5   = 
| length_km           = 6650
| length_ref = {{efn|name=length}}
| width_min           = 
| width_avg           = 
| width_max           = {{cvt|2.8|km|mi}}
| depth_min           = 
| depth_avg           = {{cvt|8|-|11|m|ft}}
| depth_max           = 
| discharge1_location = [[Aswan]], Egypt
| discharge1_min      = {{cvt|530|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge1_avg      = {{cvt|2,633|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge1_max      = {{cvt|7,620|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge2_location = Cairo, Egypt
| discharge2_min      = {{cvt|500|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge2_avg      = {{cvt|2,000|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge2_max      = {{cvt|7,000|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| discharge3_location = Nile Delta, Egypt, Mediterranean Sea
| discharge3_avg      = {{cvt|1,584|m3/s|ft3/s}}
| source1             = [[White Nile]]
| source1_coordinates = {{Coord|02|16|56|S|29|19|53|E|display=inline}}
| source1_elevation   = {{cvt|2400|m|ft}}
| source2             = [[Blue Nile]]
| source2_location    = [[Lake Tana]], Ethiopia
| source2_coordinates = {{Coord|12|02|09|N|037|15|53|E|display=inline}}
| source2_elevation   = 
| mouth               = Mediterranean Sea
| mouth_location      = [[Nile Delta]], Egypt
| mouth_coordinates   = {{Coord|30|10|21|N|31|8|24|E|display=inline,title}}
| mouth_elevation     = Sea level
| progression         = 
| river_system        = 
| basin_size_km2      = 3,349,000
| basin_landmarks     = 
| basin_population    = 
| tributaries_left    = [[White Nile River|White Nile]]
| tributaries_right   = [[Blue Nile River|Blue Nile]], [[Atbara River|Atbara]]
| waterbodies         = 
| waterfalls          = 
| bridges             = 
| ports               = 
| mapframe = yes
| mapframe-zoom = 4
| mapframe-height = 250
| mapframe-stroke-width = 1.5
}}

The '''Nile'''{{efn| {{bulleted list |{{langx|ar|النيل|an-Nīl}}, {{IPA|ar|an'niːl|pron}} |{{Langx|cop|label=[[Bohairic Coptic]]|ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ}}, {{IPA|cop|pʰjaˈro|pron}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=ⲓⲁⲣⲟ |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%B2%93%E2%B2%81%E2%B2%A3%E2%B2%9F |access-date=13 June 2020 |website=Wiktionary |archive-date=14 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714075445/https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%B2%93%E2%B2%81%E2%B2%A3%E2%B2%9F |url-status=live }}</ref> |{{langx|lg|Kiira}}, {{IPA|lg|ki:ra|pron}} |[[Nobiin language|Nobiin]]: {{lang|fia|Áman Dawū}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Reinisch |first=Leo |title=Die Nuba-Sprache. Grammatik und Texte. Nubisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Nubisches Wörterbuch Erster Theil. Zweiter Theil |year=1879 |pages=220 }}</ref>}}}} (also known as the '''Nile River''' or '''River Nile''') is a major north-flowing [[river]] in northeastern [[Africa]]. It flows into the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the [[List of river systems by length|longest river in the world]],<ref name="britannica-nile">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Nile River |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415347/Nile-River |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429130526/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415347/Nile-River |archive-date=29 April 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="liu-etal-river-length">{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Shaochuang |last2=Lu |first2=P |last3=Liu |first3=D |last4=Jin |first4=P |last5=Wang |first5=W |date=1 March 2009 |title=Pinpointing the sources and measuring the lengths of the principal rivers of the world |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220473241 |journal=Int. J. Digit. Earth |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=80–87 |bibcode=2009IJDE....2...80L |doi=10.1080/17538940902746082 |s2cid=27548511 |access-date=23 December 2018 |archive-date=23 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223211543/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220473241_Pinpointing_the_sources_and_measuring_the_lengths_of_the_principal_rivers_of_the_world |url-status=live }}</ref>
though this has been contested by research suggesting that the [[Amazon River]] is slightly longer.<ref name="AmazonRiver">[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815112238/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html |date=15 August 2012 }}</ref><ref name="britannica-amazon-length">{{Cite web |title=How Long Is the Amazon River? |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/how-long-is-the-amazon-river |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224171204/https://www.britannica.com/story/how-long-is-the-amazon-river |archive-date=24 December 2018 |access-date=24 December 2018 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica }}</ref>
Of the world's major rivers, the Nile has one of the lowest average annual flow rates.<ref name="Said 3 x 3">{{Cite book |last=Said |first=R |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8OKPBAAAQBAJ |title=The Geological Evolution of the River Nile |date=6 December 2012 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781461258414 |location=New York |publication-date=2012 |page=4 |access-date=23 May 2021 |via=Google }}</ref>
About {{cvt|6650|km|mi}}{{efn|name=length|The length of the Nile is usually said to be about {{cvt|6650|km|mi}},<ref name=britannica-nile/> but reported values lie anywhere between {{cvt|5499|km|mi}} and {{cvt|7088|km|mi}}.<ref name=liu-etal-river-length/> The measurements of many rivers' lengths are only approximations and may differ from each other because there are many factors that determine the calculated length of a river, such as the position of the geographical source and the mouth, the scale of measurement, and the technique used to measure length (see also [[List of river systems by length]] and [[coastline paradox]]).<ref name=liu-etal-river-length/><ref name="river-source">{{Cite web |date=15 February 2014 |title=Where Does the Amazon River Begin? |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-amazon-river-length-source-maps-science/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327091707/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-amazon-river-length-source-maps-science/ |archive-date=27 March 2019 |access-date=25 December 2018 |website=National Geographic News }}</ref>}} long, its [[drainage basin]] covers eleven countries: the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Tanzania]], [[Burundi]], [[Rwanda]], [[Uganda]], [[Kenya]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]], [[South Sudan]], [[Sudan]], and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oloo |first=Adams |year=2007 |title=The Quest for Cooperation in the Nile Water Conflicts: A Case for Eritrea |url=http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/07_Oloo.pdf |url-status=live |journal=African Sociological Review |volume=11 |issue=1 |doi=10.4314/asr.v11i1.51447 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927144920/http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/07_Oloo.pdf |archive-date=27 September 2011 |access-date=25 July 2011 }}</ref>
In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan.<ref name="hdl.handle">{{Cite thesis |last=Elsanabary |first=Mohamed Helmy Mahmoud Moustafa |title=Teleconnection, Modeling, Climate Anomalies Impact and Forecasting of Rainfall and Streamflow of the Upper Blue Nile River Basin |degree=PhD |publisher=[[University of Alberta]] |doi=10.7939/R3377641M |year=2012 |location=Canada |hdl=10402/era.28151 }}</ref>
In these countries it is an important economic factor in agriculture and fishing.

The Nile has two major [[tributary|tributaries]]: the [[White Nile]] and the [[Blue Nile]]. The White Nile, being the longer, is traditionally considered to be the [[River source|headwaters]] stream, while the Blue Nile actually contributes 80% of the water and [[silt]] below the [[confluence]] of the two. The White Nile rises in the [[African Great Lakes|Great Lakes]] region. It begins at [[Lake Victoria]] and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at [[Lake Tana]] in Ethiopia<ref>The river's outflow from that lake occurs at {{coord|12|02|09|N|37|15|53|E|type:waterbody_region:ET }}</ref> and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two [[Confluence|rivers meet]] at the Sudanese capital of [[Khartoum]].<ref>{{Cite news |title=What's the Blue Nile and the White Nile? |work=The Times of India |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Whats-the-Blue-Nile-and-the-White-Nile/articleshow/4027990.cms |url-status=live |access-date=31 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170308001739/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-times/Whats-the-Blue-Nile-and-the-White-Nile/articleshow/4027990.cms |archive-date=8 March 2017 }}</ref>

After Khartoum the river flows north, almost entirely through the [[Nubian Desert]], to [[Cairo]] and its [[Nile Delta|large delta]], joining the Mediterranean Sea at [[Alexandria]]. [[History of Egypt|Egyptian civilization]] and [[History of Sudan|Sudanese kingdoms]] have depended on the river and its annual flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of the [[Aswan Dam]]. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of [[Ancient Egypt]] developed and are found along river banks. The Nile is, with the [[Rhône]] and [[Po (river)|Po]], one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest [[Discharge (hydrology)|water discharge]].<ref name=Margat>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5CGAAAAIAAJ |title=Mediterranean Basin Water Atlas |publisher=[[UNESCO]] |author=Margat, Jean F. |year=2004 |pages=4 |isbn=9782951718159 |quote=A basin of varied geometry: Area of the entire Mediterranean Basin, including the whole of the Nile Basin = 4,562,480 km<sup>2</sup>; Area of the 'conventional' Mediterranean Basin (i.e. counting only part of the Nile Basin in Egypt) = 1,836,480 km<sup>2</sup> [...] There are few rivers with an abundant flow. Only three rivers have a mean discharge of more than 1000 m<sup>3</sup>/s: the Nile (at Aswan), the Rhône and the Po. |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=1 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101145323/https://books.google.com/books?id=n5CGAAAAIAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>