Nile: Difference between revisions

| source1_location = [[Burundi]]<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20070110025022/http://www.egyptattraction.com/nile-river-egypt.html</ref> or [[Rwanda]]<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hampshire/4864782.stm</ref>

The '''Nile''' ({{lang-ar|النيل|an-Nīl}}, {{IPA-ar|an'niːl}}, [[Bohairic]] {{Lang-cop|ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲟ}} {{IPA-cop|pʰjaˈro|Pronounced}},<ref>{{Cite web|title=ⲓⲁⲣⲟ - Wiktionary |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%B2%93%E2%B2%81%E2%B2%A3%E2%B2%9F |access-date=2020-06-13|website=en.wiktionary.org}}</ref> {{lang-lg|Kiira}} {{IPA-lg|ki:ra}}, [[Nobiin language|Nobiin]]: Áman Dawū<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Reinisch|first=Leo|title=Die Nuba-Sprache. Grammatik und Texte. Nubisch-Deutsches und Deutsch-Nubisches Wörterbuch Erster Theil. Zweiter Theil|year=1879|pages=220}}</ref>) is a major north-flowing [[river]] in northeastern [[Africa]]. The longest river in Africa, it has historically been considered the [[List of rivers by length|longest river in the world]],<ref name="britannica-nile">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415347/Nile-River |title=Nile River |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150429130526/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/415347/Nile-River |archive-date=29 April 2015 }}</ref><ref name="liu-etal-river-length">{{Cite journal|last1=Liu|first1=Shaochuang|last2=Lu|first2=P|last3=Liu|first3=D|last4=Jin|first4=P|last5=Wang|first5=W|date=1 March 2009|title=Pinpointing the sources and measuring the lengths of the principal rivers of the world |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220473241|journal=Int. J. Digital Earth|volume=2|issue=1|pages=80–87|doi=10.1080/17538940902746082|bibcode=2009IJDE....2...80L|s2cid=27548511}}</ref> though this has been contested by research suggesting that the [[Amazon River]] is slightly longer,<ref name="AmazonRiver">[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120815112238/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-amazon-river.html |date=15 August 2012 }}</ref><ref name="britannica-amazon-length">{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/story/how-long-is-the-amazon-river|title=How Long Is the Amazon River?|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224171204/https://www.britannica.com/story/how-long-is-the-amazon-river|archive-date=24 December 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> the Nile is amongst the smallest in the world by measure of cubic metres flowing annually.<ref name="Said 3 x 3">{{cite book |last1=Said|first1=R |author-link1= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |last3= |first3= |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last= |editor1-first= |editor1-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editor3-last= |editor3-first= |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title=The Geological Evolution of the River Nile|script-title=|trans-title= |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Geological_Evolution_of_the_River_Ni/8OKPBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |url-status=live |url-access= |format= |type= |series=|language= |volume= |others=|edition= |location=New York |publisher=Springer |publication-date=2012 |page=4 |pages= |at= |no-pp= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn=9781461258414 |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=[[Google]] |lay-url= |lay-source= |lay-date= |lay-format= |quote= |mode= |postscript= |ref=}}</ref> About {{Convert|6650|km|mi|abbr=on}}{{refn|name=length|group=n|The length of the Nile is usually said to be about {{Convert|6650|km|mi|abbr=on}},<ref name=britannica-nile/> but reported values lie anywhere between {{Convert|5499|km|mi|abbr=on}} and {{Convert|7088|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref name=liu-etal-river-length/> The measurements of many rivers' lengths are only approximations and may differ from each other because there are many factors that determine the calculated length of a river, such as the position of the geographical source and the mouth, the scale of measurement, and the technique used to measure length (see also [[List of rivers by length]]).<ref name=liu-etal-river-length/><ref name=river-source>{{Cite web|url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-amazon-river-length-source-maps-science/|title=Where Does the Amazon River Begin?|date=15 February 2014|website=National Geographic News|access-date=25 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327091707/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/02/140213-amazon-river-length-source-maps-science/|archive-date=27 March 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} long, its [[drainage basin]] covers eleven countries: [[Tanzania]], [[Uganda]], [[Rwanda]], [[Burundi]], the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Kenya]], [[Ethiopia]], [[Eritrea]], [[South Sudan]], [[Republic of the Sudan]], and [[Egypt]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Oloo|first=Adams|title=The Quest for Cooperation in the Nile Water Conflicts: A Case for Eritrea|journal=African Sociological Review|year=2007|volume=11|issue=1 |url=http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/07_Oloo.pdf|access-date=25 July 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927144920/http://www.codesria.org/IMG/pdf/07_Oloo.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2011}}</ref> In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan.<ref name="hdl.handle">{{Cite thesis |type=PhD

| accessdate = 23 May 2021}}</ref> has two principal tributaries which combined make the existing Nile river, the White Nile, which supplies much less water to Nile's flow, and the Blue Nile. The source of the White Nile<ref name="Morbach et al"/> is the [[Luvironza River|Luvironza river]],<ref name="core.ac.uk/Aziz"/><ref name="Morbach et al"/> the source of the Blue Nile is [[Lake Tana]]<ref name="Vijverberg, Sibbing, Dejen" >{{cite book |last1=Vijverberg |first1=Jacobus |author-link1= |last2=Sibbing|first2=Ferdinand A. |author-link2= |last3=Dejen |first3=Eshete |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last= |editor1-first= |editor1-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editor3-last= |editor3-first= |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title=Lake Tana: Source of the Blue Nile, in, The Nile |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-9726-3_9 |url-status= |url-access= |format= |type= |series= Monographiae Biologicae |language= |volume= |others= |edition= |location=Dordrecht|publisher=Springer |publication-date= |page= |pages= |at= |no-pp= |asin= |bibcode= |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-9726-3_9 |doi-broken-date= |isbn=978-1-4020-9726-3 |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url=https://archive.ph/tVsZ8|archive-date=23 May 2021 |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=[[Google Books]] |lay-url= |lay-source= |lay-date= |lay-format= |quote= |mode= |postscript= |ref=292}}</ref> in the [[Gilgel Abbay watershed]]<ref>{{cite web

|author= Haile, A T; Rientjes, T H M; Habib, E; Jetten, V, Gebremichael, M

| work =hess.copernicus.org, Hydrological Earth Systems Science (HESS), Volume 15, issue 3, 1023–1034

| accessdate = May 23, 2021}}</ref> in the [[Ethiopian Highlands]].<ref name="Morbach et al">{{cite book |last1=Morbach |first1=M |author-link1= |last2=Ribbe |first2=Lars |author-link2= |last3=Pedroso |first3=Lui |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last=Melesse|editor1-first=Assefa M. |editor1-link= |editor2-last=Setegn|editor2-first=Shimelis G. |editor2-link= |editor3-last=Abtew |editor3-first=Wossenu |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title=Supporting the Development of Efficient and Effective River Basin Organisations in Africa: What Steps Can Be Taken to Improve Transboundary Water Cooperation Between Riparian States of the Nile?, in, Nile River Basin Ecohydrological Challenges, Climate Change and Hydropolitics |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Nile_River_Basin/rEa9BAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Luvironza+River+source+of+Nile&pg=PA600&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live |url-access= |format=Ebook |type= |series= |language= |volume= |others= |edition= |location= |publisher=Springer International Publishing |publication-date=13 February 2014 |page=600 |pages= |at= |no-pp= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn=9783319027203 |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url=https://archive.ph/cMf1O |archive-date=23 May 2021 |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=Google Books |lay-url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Nile_River_Basin/rEa9BAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |lay-source=[[Google Books]] |lay-date= |lay-format= |quote= |mode= |postscript= |ref=}}</ref>

The Nile (''iteru'' in [[Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]]) has been the lifeline of civilization in Egypt since the [[Stone Age]], with most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt resting along those parts of the Nile valley lying north of Aswan. However, the Nile used to run much more westerly through what is now Wadi Hamim and Wadi al Maqar in [[Libya]] and flow into the [[Gulf of Sidra]].<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Carmignani, Luigi |author2=Salvini, Riccardo |author3=Bonciani, Filippo |year=2009 |title=Did the Nile River flow to the Gulf of Sirt during the late Miocene? |journal=Bollettino della Societa Geologica Italiana (Italian Journal of Geoscience) |volume=128 |issue=2 |pages=403–408 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256483636 |doi=10.3301/IJG.2009.128.2.403|doi-broken-date=17 January 2021 }}</ref> As sea level rose at the end of the [[Quaternary glaciation|most recent ice age]], the stream which is now the northern Nile [[river capture|pirated]] the ancestral Nile near [[Asyut]],<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Salvini, Riccardo |author2=Carmignani, Luigi |author3=Francionib, Mirko |author4=Casazzaa, Paolo |year=2015 |title=Elevation modelling and palaeo-environmental interpretation in the Siwa area (Egypt): Application of SAR interferometry and radargrammetry to COSMO-SkyMed imagery |journal=Catena |volume=129 |pages=46–62 |doi=10.1016/j.catena.2015.02.017 |hdl=10871/20327 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> this change in climate also led to the creation of the current [[Sahara]] desert, around 3400 BC.<ref>Although the ancestral Sahara Desert initially developed at least 7 million years ago, it grew during interglacial periods and shrank during glacial ones. The growth of the current Sahara began about 6,000 [[Before Present|years ago]]. {{Cite journal|author=Schuster, Mathieu |display-authors=etal |year=2006 |title=The age of the Sahara desert |journal=Science |volume=311 |issue=5762 |pages=821 |doi=10.1126/science.1120161 |pmid=16469920 |s2cid=206508108 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51372753}}</ref>

The existing Nile has five earlier phases; the Upper Miocenian Eonile, of about 6 million years [[Before Present|BP]],<ref name="Rushdi Said">{{cite book |last1=[[Rushdi Said|Said]] |first1=Rushdi |author-link1= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |last3= |first3= |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last= |editor1-first= |editor1-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editor3-last= |editor3-first= |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title=The River Nile Geology, Hydrology and Utilization |script-title= |trans-title= |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_River_Nile/ekjgBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Nile&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live |url-access= |format=Ebook |type= |series= |language= |volume= |others= |edition=22 October 2013 |location= |publisher=Elsevier Science |publication-date=1993 |page=1 |pages= |at= |no-pp= |asin= |bibcode= |doi= |doi-broken-date= |isbn=9781483287683 |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via= |lay-url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_River_Nile/ekjgBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |lay-source=[[Google Books]] |lay-date=2021 |lay-format= |quote= |mode= |postscript= |ref=}}</ref><ref name="Said 3 x 3"/> the Upper Pliocenian Paleonile, commencing about 3.32 million years BP, and during the Pleistocene, the Nile phases Proto-, commencing about 600'000 years BP, Pre-,<ref name="Said/chapter/10.1007"/> transitioning at about 400'000 years BP to the<ref name="Rushdi Said"/> Neo-.<ref name="Said/chapter/10.1007">{{cite book |last1=Said|first1=R |author-link1= |last2= |first2= |author-link2= |last3= |first3= |author-link3= |last4= |first4= |author-link4= |last5= |first5= |author-link5= |display-authors= |author-mask1= |author-mask2= |author-mask3= |author-mask4= |author-mask5= |name-list-style= |translator-last1= |translator-first1= |translator-link1= |translator-last2= |translator-first2= |translator-link2= |display-translators= |translator-mask1= |translator-mask2= |date= |year= |orig-year= |chapter= |script-chapter= |trans-chapter= |chapter-url= |chapter-format= |editor1-last= Rzóska |editor1-first=J. |editor1-link= |editor2-last= |editor2-first= |editor2-link= |editor3-last= |editor3-first= |editor3-link= |editor4-last= |editor4-first= |editor4-link= |editor5-last= |editor5-first= |editor5-link= |display-editors= |title=The Geological Evolution of the River Nile in Egypt|script-title=|trans-title= |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-94-010-1563-9_1 |url-status= |url-access= |format= |type= |series=Monographiae Biologicae |language= |volume=29 |others= |edition= |location=Dordrecht |publisher=Springer |publication-date=1976 |page=2 |pages= |at= |no-pp= |asin= |bibcode= |doi=10.1007/978-94-010-1563-9_1 |doi-broken-date= |isbn=978-94-010-1563-9 |ismn= |issn= |jfm= |jstor= |lccn= |mr= |oclc= |ol= |osti= |pmc= |pmid= |rfc= |ssrn= |zbl= |id= |archive-url=https://archive.ph/gf7ML|archive-date=23 May 2021 |access-date=May 23, 2021 |via=[[Microsoft Academic]] |lay-url= |lay-source= |lay-date= |lay-format= |quote= |mode= |postscript= |ref=}}</ref> Flowing north from the Ethiopian Highlands, [[satellite imagery]] was used to identify dry watercourses in the desert to the west of the Nile. A canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents the '''Eonile''' that flowed during 23–5.3&nbsp;million years before present. The Eonile transported [[Clastic|clastic sediments]] to the Mediterranean; several natural gas fields have been discovered within these sediments.