the river nile

etymology of the word nile The word Nile comes from the Greek word neilos meaning river valley. In the ancient Egyptian languages, the Nile is called iteru, meaning "great river", represented by the hieroglyphs shown.

tributaries and distributaries The main tributaries are the White Nile, Blue Nile and the Atboira river. Both branches are on the western flanks of the East African Rift, the southern part of the Great rift valley.

History The Nile was the lifeline of the ancient Egyptian civilization. Most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt rest along those parts of the Nile valley lying north of Aswan.

Politics The usage of the Nile River has been vastly associated with East and horn of African politics for many decades. Various countries, including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya have complained about the Egyptian domination of the Nile water resources

hydrology The flow rate of the Albert Nile at Mongalla is almost constant throughout the year and averages 1048 cubic meters per second (36,980 cubic feet per second). After Mongalla, the Nile is known as the Bahr El Jebel which enters the enormous swamps of the Sud region of the Sudan. More than half of the Nile’s water is lost in this swamp to evaporation and transpiration.

Landscape One of the main features is the pyramids They were made as giant tombs for the Egyptian pharaohs to be buried in. For more information about the pyramids click here