Claim: The Nile drains through a forest.

The Nile -LRB- النيل , Egyptian Arabic en-Nīl , Standard Arabic an-Nīl ; ⲫⲓⲁⲣⲱ , P -LRB- h -RRB- iaro ; Ancient Egyptian : Ḥ ` pī and Iteru ; Biblical Hebrew : יאור , Ye'or -RRB- is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa . It is generally regarded as the longest river in the world , however other conflicting sources cite a 2007 study that gave the title to the Amazon River in South America . The Nile , which is 6,853 km -LRB- 4,258 miles -RRB- long , is an `` international '' river as its drainage basin covers eleven countries , namely , Tanzania , Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi , Congo-Kinshasa , Kenya , Ethiopia , Eritrea , South Sudan , Sudan and Egypt . In particular , the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt and Sudan .   The Nile has two major tributaries , the White Nile and Blue Nile . The White Nile is considered to be the headwaters and primary stream of the Nile itself . The Blue Nile , however , is the source of most of the water and silt . The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa , with the most distant source still undetermined but located in either Rwanda or Burundi . It flows north through Tanzania , Lake Victoria , Uganda and South Sudan . The Blue Nile -LRB- ዓባይ , ʿĀbay -RRB- begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast . The two rivers meet just north of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum .   The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt , then ends in a large delta and flows into the Mediterranean Sea . Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river since ancient times . Most of the population and cities of Egypt 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 riverbanks .   In the ancient Egyptian language , the Nile is called Ḥ ` pī or Iteru -LRB- Hapy -RRB- , meaning `` river '' . In Coptic , the words piaro -LRB- Sahidic -RRB- or phiaro -LRB- Bohairic -RRB- meaning `` the river '' -LRB- lit . p -LRB- h -RRB- . iar-o `` the.canal-great '' -RRB- come from the same ancient name .   The English name Nile and the Arabic names en-Nîl and an-Nîl both derive from the Latin Nilus and the Ancient Greek Νεῖλος . Beyond that , however , the etymology is disputed . One possible etymology derives it from a Semitic Nahal , meaning `` river '' . The standard English names `` White Nile '' and `` Blue Nile '' , to refer to the river 's source , derive from Arabic names formerly applied only to the Sudanese stretches which meet at Khartoum .