Nile

The Nile is a major river in northeast Africa that flows north into the Mediterranean Sea. At 7,088 kilometers (4,404 mi) long, it is the longest river in the world. The Nile has been very important for Africa for thousands of years.

The Nile has two main tributaries: the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile starts near Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile starts near Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan. The two rivers meet at Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Then they flow north through the Nubian Desert to Cairo and into the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria.

The Nile was very important for the Ancient Egyptian civilization. People used the river for almost everything. Every year, the river would flood and leave rich soil on the banks. This helped grow crops and let a strong society grow in a dry desert area. Today, the Nile is still important for Egypt and Sudan. It gives water for crops and helps to generate electricity.

Names and etymology

The word "Nile" comes from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος (Neilos). It might have come from a word meaning 'river'. In ancient Egyptian, the same word, jtrw, was used for both 'Nile' and 'river'. Egyptians called their country kmt, meaning 'black', because the Nile floodwaters were dark with mud.

Today, the Nile has different names in different places. In Egypt, it is called Al-Nīl, Baḥr Al-Nīl, or Nahr Al-Nīl. In South Sudan, some call it Baḥr el-Jebel, meaning 'Mountain River'. In Uganda, it is known as Kiyira by Luganda speakers. Some Nubian peoples refer to it as Áman Dawū, meaning 'Great Water'. Several parts of the Nile include "Nile" in their names, such as the Blue Nile, White Nile, and others.