The Nile is the river that flows through Egypt and empties into the Mediterranean Sea after crossing northeastern Africa.
The river is formed mainly by the White Nile, which rises in the Great Lakes region, and the Blue Nile, which begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. They meet at Khartoum, Sudan. From there, the Nile runs north through Sudan and Egypt before spreading into the fertile Nile Delta.
For thousands of years, the river’s annual flooding deposited nutrient-rich silt on otherwise arid land. Ancient Egyptian settlements, agriculture, and political power developed along its banks. The Aswan High Dam, completed in 1970, greatly reduced natural flooding and created Lake Nasser.
A common mix-up is calling the Nile the longest river without qualification; modern measurements comparing it with the Amazon can differ according to the sources and definitions used. Its importance to Egypt, however, is undisputed.