Source : Lake Victoria, Africa
Outflow : Mediterranean Sea
Approx. Length (km) : 6,650
Countries : Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi
Major cities : Jinja, Juba, Khartoum, Cairo
Major Dams : Aswan High Dam in Egypt, Sennar Dam in Sudan on the Blue Nile, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on Blue Nile River in Ethiopia, Owen Falls Dam (now the Nalubaale Dam) on the Victoria Nile in Uganda.
Lake Nasser is a reservoir on the Nile River, in Upper Egypt and northern Sudan. It was created by the impounding of the Nile’s waters by the Aswan High Dam.
The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest river in the world.
It is called the father of African rivers.
Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan.
The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The Nile is, with the Rhône and Po, one of the three Mediterranean rivers with the largest water discharge.
The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 square kilometers , about 10% of the area of Africa. Compared to other major rivers, though, the Nile carries little water (5% of that of the Congo River, for example).
The Nile no longer floods in Egypt since the completion of the Aswan Dam in 1970.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that “Egypt was the gift of the Nile”. An unending source of sustenance, it played a crucial role in the development of Egyptian civilization.
The Nile’s water has affected the politics of East Africa and the Horn of Africa for many decades. The dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the $4.5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has become a national preoccupation in both countries, stoking patriotism, deep-seated fears and even murmurs of war.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as the Hidase Dam, is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia under construction since 2011. With a planned installed capacity of 5.15 gigawatts, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa when completed.
PRACTICE QUESTIONS
QUES . The place where the Blue Nile and White Nile effect a confluence is
(a) Port Said
(b) Cairo
(c) Khartoum
(d) Alexandria
(c) Khartoum
QUES . The Blue Nile river originates from which of the following lakes?
(a) Lake Victoria
(b) Lake Tana
(c) Lake Edward
(d) Lake Albert
(b) Lake Tana
