Nile
River
The River in Egypt
Name origin: "Nile"(Arabic: 'nīl) comes from the Greek word Neilos (Νειλος)
Countries	Ethiopia,  Sudan,  Egypt,  Rwanda,  Tanzania,  Uganda,  Burundi,  Democratic Republic of the Congo,  Eritrea,  Kenya
Cities	Khartoum, Cairo
Primary source	White Nile
- coordinates	2°16′55.92″S 29°19′52.32″E / -2.2822, 29.3312
Secondary source	Blue Nile
- location	Lake Tana, Ethiopia
- coordinates	12°2′8.8″N 37°15′53.11″E / 12.035778, 37.2647528
Source confluence	near Khartoum
Mouth
- location	Mediterranean Sea
Length	6,650 km (4,132 mi)
Basin	3,400,000 km² (1,312,747 sq mi)
Discharge
- average	2,830 m³/s (99,941 cu ft/s)

The Nile (Arabic: النيل‎, transliteration: an-nīl, Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. Burundi (buˈɾundi officially the Republic of Burundi, is a small country in the Great Lakes region of Eastern Africa bordered by Rwanda The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to Eritrea () ( Ge'ez: ኤርትራ ʾErtrā, Arabic: إرتريا Iritriya) officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in The Republic of Kenya is a country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia to the north Somalia to the northeast Tanzania to the south Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand A mile is a unit of Length, usually used to measure Distance, in a number of different systems including Imperial units United States Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of The square mile is an imperial and US unit of Area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. CM3 redirects here If you were looking for the 3rd game in the Cooking Mama series abbreviated as CM3 see here. The second ( SI symbol s) sometimes abbreviated sec, is the name of a unit of Time, and is the International System of Units The cubic foot is an imperial and US customary (non- metric) unit of Volume, used in the United States Canada and the United Kingdom The second ( SI symbol s) sometimes abbreviated sec, is the name of a unit of Time, and is the International System of Units Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Different approaches and methods for the Romanization of Arabic exist Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there This is a list of the longest rivers on Earth. It includes river systems over 1000 kilometers ^[1] However, recent findings suggest that the Amazon River may be longer. The Amazon River (Rio Amazonas Río Amazonas of South America is the largest river in the world by volume with a total river flow greater than the next top ten largest rivers ^[2]

The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and fertile soil, but the former being the longer of the two. A tributary is a Stream or River which flows into a mainstem (or parent river The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source in southern Rwanda 2°16′55.92″S, 29°19′52.32″E, and flows north from there through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan, while the Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia 12°2′8.8″N, 37°15′53.11″E, flowing into Sudan from the southeast. The Great Lakes of Africa are a series of Lakes in and around the geographic Great Rift Valley formed by the action of the tectonic East African The Republic of Rwanda (ruːˈændə or /rəˈwɑːndə/ in English ɾwanda or in Kinyarwanda is a small Landlocked country in the Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. The Republic of Uganda is a Landlocked country in East Africa. Sudan (officially the Republic of Sudan) ( السودان al-Sūdān is a country in northeastern Africa. Lake Tana (also spelled T'ana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,"Lake Tana" an older variant is Tsana, Ge'ez NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital Khartoum. Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State.

The northern section of the river flows almost entirely through desert, from Sudan into Egypt, a country whose civilization has depended on the river since ancient times. A desert is a Landscape or region that receives very little precipitation. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity The History of Ancient Egypt spans the period from the early predynastic settlements of the northern Nile Valley to the Roman conquest in 30 Most of the population of Egypt and all of its cities, with the exception of those near the coast, lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan; and nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along the banks of the river. Aswan (formerly spelled Assuan (in standard أسوان Aswān) Egyptian: Swenet ( trade) Coptic: Swān; Greek Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The Nile ends in a large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile Delta ( Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt ( Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads

Etymology of the word Nile

The word "Nile"(Arabic: 'nīl) comes from the Greek word Neilos (Νειλος), meaning river valley. Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called iteru, meaning "great river", represented by the hieroglyphs shown on the right (literally itrw). Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek ^[3] In Coptic, the words piaro (Sahidic) or phiaro (Bohairic) meaning "the river" (lit. Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt p(h). iar-o "the. canal-great") come from the same ancient name.

Tributaries and distributaries

East Africa, showing the course of the Nile River, with the "Blue" and "White" Niles marked in those colours

The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometres (1,256,591 sq mi), about 10% of the area of Africa. A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, ^[4]

There are two great tributaries of the Nile, joining at Khartoum: the White Nile, starting in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile, beginning in Ethiopia. Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Kharṭūm) is the Capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated Both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift, the southern part of the Great Rift Valley. The Great Rift Valley is a name given in the late 19th century by English explorer John Walter Gregory to the continuous geographic trough approximately in length that runs Below the Blue and White Nile confluence the only remaining major tributary is the Atbara River, which originates in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is around 800 kilometres (500 mi) long. The Atbarah River ( Arabic: نهر عطبرة transliterated: Nahr 'Atbarah in northeast Africa rises in northwest Ethiopia, approximately 50 It flows only while there is rain in Ethiopia and dries very fast. It joins the Nile approximately 300 kilometres (200 mi) north of Khartoum.

The Nile is unusual in that its last tributary (the Atbara) joins it roughly halfway to the sea. From that point north, the Nile diminishes because of evaporation.

The course of the Nile in Sudan is distinctive. It flows over 6 groups of cataracts, from the first at Aswan to the sixth at Sabaloka (just north of Khartoum) and then turns to flow southward for a good portion of its course, before again returning to flow north to the sea. The cataracts of the Nile are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones lying This is called the "Great Bend of the Nile. "

North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. Rosetta (رشيد Rashid) is a Port city on the Mediterranean coast in Egypt. Damietta, Damiata, or Domyat (دمياط is a port and the capital of the governorate of Domyat, Egypt. The Nile Delta ( Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt ( Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads

White Nile

Main article: White Nile

The Blue Nile Falls fed by Lake Tana near the city of Bahar Dar, Ethiopia forms the upstream of the Blue Nile. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main The Blue Nile Falls are a Waterfall on the Blue Nile river in Ethiopia. Lake Tana (also spelled T'ana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,"Lake Tana" an older variant is Tsana, Ge'ez Bahir Dar is a City in north western Ethiopia It is also known as Tis Issat Falls after the name of the nearby village.

The source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake itself has feeder rivers of considerable size. Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza (also known as Ukerewe and Nalubaale) is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. The most distant stream emerges from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, via the Rukarara, Mwogo, Nyabarongo and Kagera rivers, before flowing into Lake Victoria in Tanzania near the town of Bukoba. Nyungwe Forest National Park is a National park in southwestern Rwanda, located south of Lake Kivu on the border with Burundi. Bukoba is a town in northwest Tanzania on the western shore of Lake Victoria.

The Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls near Jinja, Uganda, as the Victoria Nile. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main It flows for approximately 500 kilometres (300 mi) farther, through Lake Kyoga, until it reaches Lake Albert. Lake Kyoga is a large shallow Lake complex of Uganda, about 1720 km² in area and at an elevation of 914 m Lake Albert or Albert Lake may refer to Lake Albert (Africa, one of the African Great Lakes Lake Albert (South Australia After leaving Lake Albert, the river is known as the Albert Nile. The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main It then flows into Sudan, where it becomes known as the Bahr al Jabal ("River of the Mountain"). The Bahr al Ghazal, itself 716 kilometres (445 mi) long, joins the Bahr al Jabal at a small lagoon called Lake No, after which the Nile becomes known as the Bahr al Abyad, or the White Nile, from the whitish clay suspended in its waters. The Bahr el Ghazal (also spelled Bahr al Ghazal; Arabic: بحر الغزال is a River in southern Sudan. Lake No is a Lake in Sudan. It is located just north of the vast swamp of the Sudd, at the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal and Bahr el Ghazal The White Nile ( Arabic: النيل الأبيض transliterated: an-Nīl al-Ābyadˤ) is a River of Africa, one of the two main When the Nile flooded it left this rich material named silt. The Ancient Egyptians used this soil to farm. From Lake No, the river flows to Khartoum. An anabranch river called Bahr el Zeraf flows out of the Nile's Bahr al Jabal section and rejoins the White Nile. An anabranch is a section of a River or Stream that diverts from the main Watercourse channel (or mainstem) and rejoins the mainstem downstream The Bahr el Zeraf (also spelled Bahr az-Zaraf and Bahr ez Zeraf) is arm of the White Nile in the Sudd region of Sudan,

The term "White Nile" is used in both a general sense, referring to the entire river above Khartoum, and a limited sense, the section between Lake No and Khartoum.

Blue Nile

Main article: Blue Nile

The Blue Nile (Ge'ez ጥቁር ዓባይ Ṭiqūr ʿĀbbāy (Black Abay) to Ethiopians; Bahr al Azraq to Sudanese) springs from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated Ge'ez (gez ግዕዝ) also called Ethiopic, is an Abugida script that was originally developed to write Ge'ez, a Semitic language The Blue Nile ( Amharic: ዓባይ transliterated ʿ Abbai, but pronounced Abbai; Arabic: النيل الأزرق transliterated NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Lake Tana (also spelled T'ana, Amharic: ጣና ሐይቅ Ṭānā Hāyḳ,"Lake Tana" an older variant is Tsana, Ge'ez The Blue Nile flows about 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the "Nile proper". 90% of the water and 96% of the transported sediment carried by the Nile^[5] originates in Ethiopia, with 59% of the water from the Blue Nile alone (the rest being from the Tekezé, Atbarah, Sobat, and small tributaries). The Tekezé River is a major river of Ethiopia, and forms a section the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea for part of its course The Sobat River is a River in Sudan, Africa. The most southernly of the great eastern tributaries of the Nile, the Sobat enters the The erosion and transportation of silt only occurs during the Ethiopian rainy season in the summer, however, when rainfall is especially high on the Ethiopian Plateau; the rest of the year, the great rivers draining Ethiopia into the Nile (Sobat, Blue Nile, Tekezé, and Atbarah) flow weakly. The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea (which is sometimes referred to as the Eritrean Highlands) and northern

Lost headwaters

Formerly Lake Tanganyika drained northwards along the African Rift Valley into the Albert Nile, making the Nile about 900 miles (1,400 km) longer, until blocked in Miocene times by the bulk of the Virunga Volcanoes. Lake Tanganyika is a large Lake in central Africa (3° 20' to 8° 48' South and from 29° 5' to 31° 15' East The East African Rift is part of the larger Great Rift Valley. The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23 The Virunga Mountains are a chain of Volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC See List of rivers by length. This is a list of the longest rivers on Earth. It includes river systems over 1000 kilometers

Politics

Composite satellite image of the White Nile (see also the Nile delta)

The usage of the Nile River has been vastly associated with East and horn of African politics for many decades. Image processing is any form of Signal processing for which the input is an image such as photographs or frames of video the output of image processing can be either an image Various countries, including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have complained about the Egyptian domination of the Nile water resources. The Nile Basin Initiative was one of the most important programs to promote equal usage and peaceful cooperation between the "Nile Basin States. " ^[6] Yet many fear, the Egyptian domination of the waters still causes massive economic obstacles in the area.

The Nile still supports much of the population living along its banks, with the Egyptians living in otherwise inhospitable regions of the Sahara. The river flooded every summer, depositing fertile silt on the plains. The flow of the river is disturbed at several points by cataracts, which are sections of faster-flowing water with many small islands, shallow water, and rocks, forming an obstacle to navigation by boats. The cataracts of the Nile are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones lying A boat is a Watercraft of modest size designed to float or plane on water and provide transport over it The Sudd wetlands in Sudan also forms a formidable obstacle for navigation and flow of water, to the extent that Sudan had once attempted to dig a canal (the Jonglei Canal) to bypass this stagnant mass of water. (PLEASE add sections!!! The Sudd ( Arabic سد sadd, "barrier" is a vast Swamp formed by the White Nile, here called the Bahr ^[7]

The Nile was, and still is, used to transport goods to different places along its long path; especially since winter winds in this area blow up river, the ships could travel up with no work by using the sail, and down using the flow of the river. While most Egyptians still live in the Nile valley, the construction of the Aswan High Dam (finished in 1970) to provide hydroelectricity ended the summer floods and their renewal of the fertile soil. Aswan (Assuan is a city on the first cataract of the Nile in Egypt.

Cities on the Nile include Khartoum, Aswan, Luxor (Thebes), and the Giza – Cairo conurbation. Luxor (in Arabic: الأقصر al-Uqṣur) is a city in Upper (southern Egypt and the capital of Luxor Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( You may have been looking for the Great Pyramid of Giza. For the three pyramids of Giza visit the Giza pyramid complex. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt. The first cataract, the closest to the mouth of the river, is at Aswan to the north of the Aswan Dams. Aswan (Assuan is a city on the first cataract of the Nile in Egypt. The Nile north of Aswan is a regular tourist route, with cruise ships and traditional wooden sailing boats known as feluccas. A felucca (فلوكة is a traditional wooden sailing Boat used in protected waters of the Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean including Malta In addition, many "floating hotel" cruise boats ply the route between Luxor and Aswan, stopping in at Edfu and Kom Ombo along the way. Edfu (also spelt Idfu or in modern French as Edfou and known in antiquity as Behdet) is an Egyptian city located on the west bank Kom Ombo (كوم أمبو ( Coptic: Embo; Greek: Omboi, Ptol iv It used to be possible to sail on these boats all the way from Cairo to Aswan, but security concerns have shut down the northernmost portion for many years. Cairo () which means "the Vanquisher" or "the Triumphant" is the capital and largest city of Egypt.

More recently, drought during the 1980s led to widespread starvation in Ethiopia and Sudan but Egypt was protected from drought by water impounded in Lake Nasser. Lake Nasser ( Arabic: بحيرة ناصر transliterated: Buhayrat Nasir is a vast reservoir in southern Egypt and northern Sudan Beginning in the 1980s techniques of analysis using hydrology transport models have been used in the Nile to analyze water quality. An hydrological transport model is a Mathematical model used to simulate river or Stream flow and calculate water quality parameters

Hydrology

The Nile makes its way through the Sahara

The flow rate of the Albert Nile at Mongalla is almost constant throughout the year and averages 1,048 m³/s (37,000 cu ft/s). The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest After Mongalla, the Nile is known as the Bahr El Jebel which enters the enormous swamps of the Sudd region of Sudan. More than half of the Nile’s water is lost in this swamp to evaporation and transpiration. Evaporation is the process by which Molecules in a Liquid state (e Transpiration is the Evaporation of water from the aerial parts of Plants especially leaves but also stems Flowers and Roots The average flow rate in the Bahr El Jebel at the tails of the swamps is about 510 m³/s (18,000 cu ft/s). From here it soon meets with the Sobat River and forms the White Nile.

The Bahr al Ghazal and the Sobat River are the two most important tributaries of the White Nile in terms of drainage area and discharge. The Bahr al Ghazal's drainage basin is the largest of any of the Nile's sub-basins, measuring 520,000 square kilometres (200,000 sq mi) in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about 2 m³/s (71 cu ft/s) annually, due to tremendous volumes of water being lost in the Sudd wetlands. A drainage basin is an extent of Land where Water from Rain or Snow melt drains downhill into a body of water such as a River, The Sobat River, which joins the Nile a short distance below Lake No, drains about half as much land, 225,000 km² (86,900 sq mi), but contributes 412 cubic metres per second (14,500 cu ft/s) annually to the Nile. ^[8] When in flood the Sobat carries a large amount of sediment, adding greatly to the White Nile's color. ^[9]

The average flow of the White Nile at Malakal, just below the Sobat River, is 924 m³/s (32,600 cu ft/s), the peak flow is approximately 1,218 m³/s (43,000 cu ft/s) in early March and minimum flow is about 609 m³/s (21,500 cu ft/s) in late August. The fluctuation there is due the substantial variation in the flow of the Sobat which has a minimum flow of about 99 m³/s (3,500 cu ft/s) in August and a peak flow of over 680 m³/s (24,000 cu ft/s) in early March.

From here the White Nile flows to Khartoum where it merges with the Blue Nile to form the Nile River. Further downstream the Atbara River, the last significant Nile tributary, merges with the Nile. During the dry season (January to June) the White Nile contributes between 70% and 90% of the total discharge from the Nile. During this period of time the natural discharge of the Blue Nile can be as low as 113 m³/s (4,000 cu ft/s), although upstream dams regulate the flow of the river. During the dry period, there will typically be no flow from the Atbara River.

The Blue Nile contributes approximately 80-90% of the Nile River discharge. The flow of the Blue Nile varies considerably over its yearly cycle and is the main contribution to the large natural variation of the Nile flow. During the wet season the peak flow of the Blue Nile will often exceed 5,663 m³/s (2. 0E+5 cu ft/s) in latter August (variation by a factor of 50).

Before the placement of dams on the river the yearly discharge varied by a factor of 15 at Aswan. Peak flows of over 8,212 m³/s (290,000 cu ft/s) would occur during the later portions of August and early September and minimum flows of about 552 m³/s (19,500 cu ft/s) would occur during later April and early May. The Nile basin is complex, and because of this, the discharge at any given point along the mainstem depends on many factors including weather, diversions, evaporation/evapotranspiration, and groundwater flow. A mainstem is defined as the principal River within a given Drainage basin, in the case where a number of tributaries discharge into a larger Watercourse Evapotranspiration (ET is a term used to describe the sum of Evaporation and Plant Transpiration from the earth's land surface to Atmosphere Groundwater is Water located beneath the Ground surface in Soil pore spaces and in the Fractures of lithologic formations

History

The confluence of the Kagera and Ruvubu rivers near Rusumo Falls, part of the Nile's upper reaches. The Kagera River, also Akagera River, is a remote source of the Nile. The Ruvubu River (also spelt Rurubu and Ruvuvu) is a river in central Africa whose waters gather from the most distant portion of the Nile basin Rusumo Falls is a Waterfall located on the Kagera river on the border between Rwanda and Tanzania, part of the most distant headwaters of the

The Nile (iteru in Ancient Egyptian) was the lifeline of the ancient Egyptian civilization, with most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt resting along those parts of the Nile valley lying north of Aswan. Egyptian is an Afro-Asiatic language most closely related to the Berber, Semitic, Somali and Beja languages Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now The Nile has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture since the Stone Age. The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which Humans widely used stone for toolmaking Climate change, or perhaps overgrazing, desiccated the pastoral lands of Egypt to form the Sahara desert, possibly as long ago as 8000 BC, and the inhabitants then presumably migrated to the river, where they developed a settled agricultural economy and a more centralized society. Desertification is the degradation of land in arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting primarily from human activities and influenced by climatic variations Desiccation is the state of extreme dryness or the process of extreme drying Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of Agriculture concerned with the raising of Livestock. The Sahara (الصحراء الكبرى aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-kubra, "The Great Desert" is the world's largest hot Desert and the world's second largest Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions

The river Nile froze twice in recorded history, in 829^[10][11] and 1010. ^[12]

The Eonile

The present Nile is at least the fifth river that has flowed north from the Ethiopian Highlands. Satellite imagery was used to identify dry watercourses in the desert to the west of the Nile. Satellite imagery consists of photographs of Earth or other planets made by means of Artificial satellites. An Eonile canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents an ancestral Nile called the Eonile that flowed during the later Miocene (23–5. The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23 3 million years before the present). The Eonile transported clastic sediments to the Mediterranean, where several gas fields have been discovered within these sediments. Clastic rocks are composed of fragments or clasts, of pre-existing rock.

During the late-Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis, when the Mediterranean Sea was a closed basin and evaporated empty or nearly so, the Nile cut its course down to the new base level until it was several hundred feet below world ocean level at Aswan and 8,000 feet (2,400 m) below Cairo. The Messinian Salinity Crisis, also referred to as the Messinian Event, is a period when the Mediterranean Sea evaporated partly or completely dry during the This huge canyon is now full of later sediment.

Lake Tanganyika drained northwards into the Nile until the Virunga Volcanoes blocked its course in Rwanda. The Virunga Mountains are a chain of Volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC That would have made the Nile much longer, with its longest headwaters in northern Zambia. The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa.

The integrated Nile

There are two theories in relation to the age of the integrated Nile. The first one is that the integrated drainage of the Nile is of young age, that the Nile basin was formerly broken into series of separate basins, only the most northerly (the Proto Nile basin) feeding a river following the present course of the Nile in Egypt and in the far north of the Sudan. ^[13] Said (1981) stresses the fact that Egypt itself supplied most of the waters of the Nile during the early part of its history. The other theory is that the drainage from Ethiopia via rivers equivalent to the Blue Nile and the Atbara/Takazze flowed to the Mediterranean via the Egyptian Nile since well back into Tertiary times. The Tekezé River is a major river of Ethiopia, and forms a section the westernmost border of Ethiopia and Eritrea for part of its course The chuprichondira geological time interval covers roughly the time span between the demise of the non- avian Dinosaurs and beginning of the most recent Ice Age, approximately ^[14]

Salama (1987) suggested that during the Tertiary there were a series of separate closed continental basins, each basin occupying one of the major Sudanese Rift System: Mellut Rift, White Nile Rift, Blue Nile Rift, Atbara Rift and Sag El Naam Rift. ^[15] The Mellut Rift Basin is nearly 12 km deep at its central part. This rift is possibly still active, with reported tectonic activity in its northern and southern boundaries. The Sudd swamps which forms the central part of the Basin is possibly still subsiding. The White Nile Rift System, although shallower than Bahr El Arab, is about 9 km deep. Bahr al-Arab (also known as the Kiir River) is a River which flows approximately through the southwest of Sudan. Geophysical exploration of the Blue Nile Rift System estimated the depth of the sediments to be 5–9 km. These basins were not interconnected except after their subsidence ceased and the rate of sediment deposition was enough to fill up the basins to such a level that would allow connection to take place. The filling up of the depressions led to the connection of the Egyptian Nile with the Sudanese Nile, which captures the Ethiopian and Equatorial head waters during the latest stages of tectonic activities of Eastern, Central and Sudanese Rift Systems. ^[16] The connection of the different Niles occurred during the cyclic wet periods. The River Atbara overflowed its closed basin during the wet periods which occurred about 100,000 to 120,000 years B. P. The Blue Nile was connected to the main Nile during the 70,000–80,000 years B. P. wet period. The White Nile system in Bahr El Arab and White Nile Rifts remained a closed lake until the connection of the Victoria Nile some 12,500 years B. P.

Role in the founding of Egyptian civilization

Reconstruction of the Oikoumene (inhabited world) ancient map based on Herodotus' description of the world, circa 450 BCE. Ecumene (also spelled œcumene or oikoumene) a term originally used in the Greco-Roman world to refer to the inhabited earth (or at least the known Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash

Sustenance played a crucial role in the founding of Egyptian civilization. The Nile is an unending source of sustenance. The Nile made the land surrounding it extremely fertile when it flooded or was inundated annually. The Egyptians were able to cultivate wheat and crops around the Nile, providing food for the general population. This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group Also, the Nile’s water attracted game such as water buffalo; and after the Persians introduced them in the 7th century BC, camels. Camels are Even-toed ungulates within the Genus Camelus. The Dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and the These animals could be killed for meat, or could be captured, tamed and used for ploughing — or in the camels' case, travelling. Water was vital to both people and livestock. The Nile was also a convenient and efficient way of transportation for people and goods.

Dhows on the Nile

The structure of Egypt’s society made it one of the most stable in history. In fact, it might easily have surpassed many modern societies. This stability was an immediate result of the Nile’s fertility. The Nile also provided flax for trade. Flax (also known as common flax or linseed) (binomial name Linum usitatissimum) is a member of the genus Linum Wheat was also traded, a crucial crop in the Middle East where famine was very common. This trading system secured the diplomatic relationship Egypt had with other countries, and often contributed to Egypt's economic stability. Also, the Nile provided the resources such as food or money, to quickly and efficiently raise an army for offensive or defensive roles.

The Nile played a major role in politics and social life. The pharaoh would supposedly flood the Nile, and in return for the life-giving water and crops, the peasants would cultivate the fertile soil and send a portion of the resources they had reaped to the Pharaoh. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods He or she would in turn use it for the well-being of Egyptian society.

The Nile was a source of spiritual dimension. The Nile was so significant to the lifestyle of the Egyptians, that they created a god dedicated to the welfare of the Nile’s annual inundation. A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land a deluge The god’s name was Hapi, and both he and the pharaoh were thought to control the flooding of the Nile River. This article is about the funerary deity For percussion musical instrument by the same name see HAPI drum. Also, the Nile was considered as a causeway from life to death and afterlife. The east was thought of as a place of birth and growth, and the west was considered the place of death, as the god Ra, the sun, underwent birth, death, and resurrection each time he crossed the sky. Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. The Sun (Sol is the Star at the center of the Solar System. Thus, all tombs were located west of the Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, they must be buried on the side that symbolized death.

The Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that ‘Egypt was the gift of the Nile’, and in a sense that is correct. Herodotus of Halicarnassus ( Greek: Hēródotos Halikarnāsseús) was a Greek Historian who lived in the 5th century BC ( 484 BC&ndash Without the waters of the Nile River for irrigation, Egyptian civilization would probably have been short-lived. The Nile provided the elements that make a vigorous civilization, and contributed much to its lasting three thousand years.

That far-reaching trade has been carried on along the Nile since ancient times can be seen from the Ishango bone, possibly the earliest known indication of Ancient Egyptian multiplication, which was discovered along the headwaters of the Nile River (near Lake Edward, in northeastern Congo) and was carbon-dated to 20,000 BC. The Ishango bone is a Bone tool, dated to the Upper Paleolithic era about 18000 to 20000 BC Ancient Egyptian multiplication is a systematic method for multiplying two numbers that does not require the Multiplication table, only the ability to multiply and divide The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River Lake Edward or Edward Nyanza is the smallest of the Great Lakes of Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe Africa

The search for the source of the Nile

The Great Bend of the Nile in Sudan, looking north across the Sahara Desert towards Northern Sudan.

Despite the attempts of the Greeks and Romans (who were unable to penetrate the Sudd), the upper reaches of the Nile remained largely unknown. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 (PLEASE add sections!!! The Sudd ( Arabic سد sadd, "barrier" is a vast Swamp formed by the White Nile, here called the Bahr Various expeditions had failed to determine the river's source, thus yielding classical Hellenistic and Roman representations of the river as a male god with his face and head obscured in drapery. Agatharcides records that in the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, a military expedition had penetrated far enough along the course of the Blue Nile to determine that the summer floods were caused by heavy seasonal rainstorms in the Ethiopian highlands, but no European in Antiquity is known to have reached Lake Tana, let alone retraced the steps of this expedition farther than Meroe. Agatharchides (Ἀγαθαρχίδης or Agatharchus Ἀγάθαρχος of Cnidus, was a Greek Historian and Geographer (flourished Ptolemy II Philadelphus ( Greek:, Ptolemaĩos Philádelphos, 309 BC&ndash246 BC was the king of Ptolemaic Egypt from 283 BC to 246 BC The Ethiopian Highlands are a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia, Eritrea (which is sometimes referred to as the Eritrean Highlands) and northern Meroë ( Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi; Arabic: ar مرواه ar-Latn Meruwah) is the name of an ancient city on the east bank of the

Europeans learned little new information about the origins of the Nile until the 15th and 16th centuries, when travelers to Ethiopia visited not only Lake Tana, but the source of the Blue Nile in the mountains south of the lake. Although James Bruce claimed to have been the first European to have visited the headwaters, modern writers with better knowledge give the credit to the Jesuit Pedro Páez. James Bruce ( December 14, 1730 &ndash April 27, 1794) was a Scottish traveller and Travel writer who spent more than a The Society of Jesus ( Latin: Societas Iesu, SJ and SI or SJ, SI) is a Catholic religious order Pedro Páez or Pêro Pais ( 1564 - May 25, 1622) was a Jesuit Missionary in Ethiopia. Páez’ account of the source of the Nile (History of Ethiopia c. 1622) was not published in full until the early 20th century. The work is a long and vivid account of Ethiopia. The account is however featured in several contemporary works, including Balthazar Telles (Historia geral da Ethiopia a Alta, 1660), Athanasius Kircher (Mundus Subterraneus, 1664) and by Johann Michael Vansleb (The Present State of Egypt, 1678). Athanasius Kircher (sometimes erroneously spelled Kirchner) was a 17th century German Jesuit Scholar who published around 40 works most Johann Michael Vansleb ( November 1 1635 in Erfurt - 1679 was a German Theologian, Linguist and Egypt traveller Europeans had been resident in the country since the late 15th century, and it is entirely possible one of them had visited the headwaters even earlier but was unable to send a report of his discoveries out of Ethiopia. Jerónimo Lobo also describes the source of the Blue Nile, visiting shortly after Pedro Páez. Jerónimo Lobo ( 1593 - 29 January, 1678) was a Portuguese Jesuit Missionary. His account is likewise utilized by Balthazar Telles.

The White Nile was even less understood, and the ancients mistakenly believed that the Niger River represented the upper reaches of the White Nile; for example, Pliny the Elder wrote that the Nile had its origins "in a mountain of lower Mauretania", flowed above ground for "many days" distance, then went underground, reappeared as a large lake in the territories of the Masaesyles, then sank again below the desert to flow underground "for a distance of 20 days' journey till it reaches the nearest Ethiopians. The Niger River (ˈnaɪdʒɚ NYE-jer) is the principal River of western Africa, extending about 4180 km (2600 miles Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, ( AD 23 – August 25, AD 79 better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient Author In Antiquity Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa (named after the " ^[17] A merchant named Diogenes reported the Nile’s water attracted game such as water buffalo; and after the Persians introduced them in the 7th century BC, camels.

Lake Victoria was first sighted by Europeans in 1858 when the British explorer John Hanning Speke reached its southern shore whilst on his journey with Richard Francis Burton to explore central Africa and locate the great Lakes. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This list of explorers is sorted by surname See also the links below. John Hannington Speke ( May 4 1827 &ndash September 15 1864) was an officer in the British Indian army who made three voyages of exploration Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS (19 March 1821 &ndash 20 October 1890 was an English Explorer, Translator, writer Believing he had found the source of the Nile on seeing this "vast expanse of open water" for the first time, Speke named the lake after the then Queen of the United Kingdom. Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901 was from 20 June 1837 the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Burton, who had been recovering from illness at the time and resting further south on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, was outraged that Speke claimed to have proved his discovery to have been the true source of the Nile when Burton regarded this as still unsettled. A very public quarrel ensued, which not only sparked a great deal of intense debate within the scientific community of the day, but much interest by other explorers keen to either confirm or refute Speke's discovery. The well known British explorer and missionary David Livingstone failed in his attempt to verify Speke's discovery, instead pushing too far west and entering the Congo River system instead. Dr David Livingstone (19 March 1813 &ndash 1 May 1873 was a British Congregationalist pioneer medical Missionary with the London Missionary Society The Congo River (for a time known as the Zaire River) is the largest River in Western Central Africa. It was ultimately the Welsh explorer Henry Morton Stanley who confirmed the truth of Speke's discovery, circumnavigating Lake Victoria and reporting the great outflow at Ripon Falls on the Lake's northern shore. Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands ( January 28 1841 &ndash May 10 1904) was a British journalist Ripon Falls at the northern end of Lake Victoria in Uganda is often considered the source of the river Nile. It was on this journey that Stanley was said to have greeted the British explorer with the famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" upon discovering the Scotsman ill and despondent in his camp on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Modern achievements

The Nile passes through Cairo, Egypt's capital city

The White Nile Expedition, led by South African national Hendri Coetzee, became the first to navigate the Nile's entire length. The expedition took off from the source of the Nile in Uganda on January 17, 2004 and arrived safely at the Mediterranean in Rosetta, 4 months and 2 weeks later. Events 38 BC - Octavian marries Livia Drusilla. 1287 - King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " National Geographic released a feature film about the expedition towards in late 2005 entitled The Longest River. Overview The NGS's historical mission is "to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge while promoting the conservation of the world's cultural historical and natural

On April 28, 2004, geologist Pasquale Scaturro and his partner, kayaker and documentary filmmaker Gordon Brown became the first people to navigate the Blue Nile, from Lake Tana in Ethiopia to the beaches of Alexandria on the Mediterranean. Events 1192 - Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Though their expedition included a number of others, Brown and Scaturro were the only ones to remain on the expedition for the entire journey. They chronicled their adventure with an IMAX camera and two handheld video cams, sharing their story in the IMAX film "Mystery of the Nile", and in a book of the same title. IMAX (short for Image MAXimum is a Film format created by Canada 's IMAX Corporation that has the capacity to display images of far greater size and Mystery of the Nile is a 2005 IMAX Film documenting the first successful expedition to navigate the entire length of the Blue Nile The team was forced to use outboard motors for most of their journey, and it was not until January 29, 2005 when Canadian Les Jickling and New Zealander Mark Tanner reached the Mediterranean Sea, that the river had been paddled for the first time under human power. Events 904 - Sergius III comes out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed Antipope Christopher. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island

A team led by South Africans Peter Meredith and Hendri Coetzee on 30 April 2005, became the first to navigate the most remote headstream, the remote source of the Nile, the Akagera river, which starts as the Rukarara in Nyungwe forest in Rwanda. Events 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Kagera River, also Akagera River, is a remote source of the Nile.

On March 31, 2006, three explorers from Britain and New Zealand lead by Neil McGrigor claimed to have been the first to travel the river from its mouth to a new "true source" deep in Rwanda's Nyungwe rainforest. Events 307 - After divorcing his wife Minervina, Constantine marries Fausta, the daughter of the retired Roman Emperor Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. 2°16′55.92″S, 29°19′52.32″E. ^[18]

Crossings

This is a list of crossings from Khartoum to the Mediterranean:

• Aswan Bridge, Aswan
• Luxor Bridge, Luxor
• 1st Ring Road Bridge (Moneeb Crossing), Cairo
• Abbas Bridge, Cairo
• University Bridge, Cairo
• Qasr El Nile Bridge, Cairo
• 6th of October Bridge, Cairo
• Abu El Ela Bridge, Cairo
• 2nd Ring Road Bridge, Cairo

Gallery

View of the Nile from a cruiseboat, between Luxor and Aswan in Egypt	A dhow traversing the Nile near Aswan	Marsh along the Nile	The Nile in Uganda
A river boat crossing the Nile in Uganda

Media

See also

• Aswan Dam
• Hydropolitics in the Nile Basin
• Nile Basin Initiative (NBI)
• Nile Delta
• Orders of magnitude (length)
• River cruise

References

External links

• A Fact File about the Nile River
• Comparison between the Nile and Amazon Rivers
• Photographs of the Nile in Uganda
• Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See Nile River. Peace Palace Libray
• Information and a map of the Nile's watershed
• Geology and History of the Nile
• Map of the Nile River basin at Water Resources eAtlas
• Facts About The Nile River
• Nile Delta from Space
• Essay: The Inscrutable Nile at the Beginning of the New Millennium
• Nile paleogeography
• Link to Google Maps to see the Nile
• Article on the Eonile Canyon: Vast "Grand Canyon" Lurks 8200 feet BENEATH Cairo, Egypt (accessed October 21, 2006)
• PowerPoint slideshow with lots of hydrology information
• BBC: Amazon river 'longer than Nile'
• Formation of the Nile in Ancient Egypt