The Nile is the river that flows through Egypt and is traditionally described as the longest river in Africa.
The Nile runs generally northward for about 6,650 kilometers before entering the Mediterranean Sea. Its best-known tributaries are the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of East Africa, while the Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and supplies much of the river’s sediment and seasonal flow.
Ancient Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile’s floodplain because the river provided water, transport, fish, and fertile soil. The annual flood once deposited rich silt across farmland, although modern dams have changed that natural cycle.
The Aswan High Dam, completed in the 1960s, created Lake Nasser and greatly reduced flooding downstream. The Nile basin crosses or drains parts of eleven countries. Some measurements comparing the Nile with the Amazon have produced debate about which river is longest, but the Nile remains the conventional answer for Africa.