The Nile flows through Cairo before entering the Mediterranean Sea.
Cairo stands on the Nile’s main course in northern Egypt, just south of the river’s broad delta. From the capital, the river divides into distributaries and spreads across fertile lowlands before reaching the Mediterranean coast.
The Nile is formed by the meeting of the White Nile and Blue Nile at Khartoum in Sudan. The White Nile traces its headwaters toward the Great Lakes region, while the Blue Nile rises in Ethiopia and supplies much of the river’s sediment and seasonal flow.
The river has shaped Egyptian civilization for thousands of years. Its annual flooding deposited fertile silt, although modern dams—especially the Aswan High Dam—now regulate the flow. The Nile is often confused with the Tigris and Euphrates, but those rivers belong to the Mesopotamian system farther east.