10 Longest Rivers In The World - 10 Most Today 10 Longest Rivers In The World Nature If you’ve always been wondering what’s the longest river in the world? Well, we’re here to help. Here’s a comprehensive list of the all the longest rivers in the world including the longest of them all, the Nile River. The Longest River in the World 1. Nile River, North-East Africa – 6,650 km (4,132 miles). Its water resources are shared by eleven countries, namely, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.In particular, the Nile is the primary water resource and life artery for Egypt and Sudan Nile river at Cairo, Egypt 2. Amazon River, South America – 6,400 km (3,976 miles). Its the second longest river in the world and is by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined.

The Amazon flows in the following countries: Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyana 10 Longest Rivers In The World: The Amazon 3. Yangtze River, China – 6,300 km (3,917 miles). The longest river in Asia 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Yangtze River 4. Mississippi – Missouri – Jefferson, North America – 6,275 km (3,902 miles). The Mississippi flows mainly in the United States (98.5%) and the rest in Canada (1.5%). It flows towards the Gulf of Mexico 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Mississippi River 5. Yenisei – Angara – Selenge, Asia – 5,539km (3,445 miles). Flows mainly in Russia (97%) and the rest in Mongolia. The largest river system flowing to the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mongolia, it follows into Russia and drains in Kara Sea 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Yenisei River 6.

Yellow River, China – 5,464km (3,395 miles) Also known as Huang He, it is the second-longest river in Asia after the Yangtze 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Yellow River, China 7. Ob – Irtysh, Asia – 5,410km (3,364 miles), It flows in the following countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Ob River, China 8. Paraná – Río de la Plata, South America – 4,880km (3,030 miles). Flows in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay 10 Longest Rivers In The World:Parana River 9. Congo – Chambeshi, Africa – 4,700km (2,922 miles) – The world’s deepest river with measured depths in excess of 220 m (720 ft). It is the third largest river in the world by volume of water discharged 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Congo River 10.

Amur – Argun, Asia – 4,444km (2,763 miles). The river forms the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China 10 Longest Rivers In The World: Amur River Niger River | river, Africa | Britannica.com Niger River Alternative Titles: Isa Eghirren, Joliba, Kwarra, Kworra, Mayo Balleo, Quorra Related Topics Jebba Niger River, principal river of western Africa . With a length of 2,600 miles (4,200 km), it is the third longest river in Africa, after the Nile and the Congo . The Niger is believed to have been named by the Greeks. Along its course it is known by several names. These include the Joliba (Malinke: “great river”) in its upper course; the Mayo Balleo and the Isa Eghirren in its central reach; and the Kwarra, Kworra, or Quorra in its lower stretch. The Niger and Sénégal river basins and the Lake Chad basin and their drainage … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The Niger River in the western region of Africa is used for irrigation, power production, and … Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Physical features Physiography The Niger rises in Guinea at 9°05′ N and 10°47′ W on the eastern side of the Fouta Djallon (Guinea) highlands, only 150 miles (240 km) inland from the Atlantic Ocean . Issuing as the Tembi from a deep ravine 2,800 feet (850 metres) above sea level, it flows due north over the first 100 miles (160 km). It then follows a northeasterly direction, during the course of which it receives its upper tributaries—the Mafou , the Niandan, the Milo , and the Sankarani on the right and the Tinkisso on the left—and enters Mali . Just below Bamako , Mali’s capital, the Sotuba Dam marks the end of the upper river.

From there the Niger once dropped more than 1,000 feet (300 metres) in about 40 miles (60 km) into a valley formed by tectonic subsidence ; but the rapids in this stretch have been submerged by the waters backed up by the Markala Dam, located some 150 miles (240 km) downstream of the Sotuba Dam near Sansanding. In this stretch, at Koulikoro , the river takes a more east-northeasterly direction, and its bed becomes fairly free from impediments for about 1,000 miles (1,600 km). Similar Topics Kagera River At Mopti the Niger is joined by the Bani , its largest tributary on the right, after which it enters a region of lakes, creeks, and backwaters that is often called the “internal delta” of the Niger. These lakes are chiefly on the left bank and are connected to the river by channels that undergo seasonal changes in the direction of flow. At high water most of the lakes become part of a general inundation.

Largest of the lakes in this region is Lake Faguibine , which is nearly 75 miles (120 km) long, 15 miles (25 km) wide, and more than 160 feet (50 metres) deep in places. Fisherman setting his nets in the Bani River in Mali. © Index Open The labyrinth of lakes, creeks, and backwaters comes to an end at Kabara, the port of Timbuktu (Tombouctou). There, the river turns almost due east, passing its most northern point at latitude 17°05′ N. Some 250 miles (400 km) downstream from Timbuktu, a rocky ridge that obstructs the course of the river is pierced by a defile (narrow gorge) more than a mile long, with an average width of about 800 feet (240 metres) and a depth of more than 100 feet (30 metres) in places. At low water the strong current there endangers navigation.

A short way downstream the river turns to the southeast and widens considerably, flowing to Gao across a floodplain 3 to 6 miles (5 to 10 km) wide. This most northerly bend of the Niger flows through the southern fringe of the Sahara . The middle course of the Niger River is navigable to small craft during high water as far downstream as Ansongo —some 1,100 miles (1,770 km) in all. Below Ansongo, 430 miles (690 km) downstream from Timbuktu, navigability is interrupted by a series of defiles and rapids. The river becomes navigable to small vessels again at Labbezanga—from which it flows into Niger—and continues to be navigable to the Atlantic Ocean. Navigation is seasonal, however, because of the fluctuations in the water level in the rainy and dry seasons. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Downstream from Jebba , in Nigeria , the Niger enters its lower course, flowing east-southeast through a broad and shallow valley 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 km) wide.

About 70 miles (110 km) from Jebba it is joined by the Kaduna River —an important tributary that contributes about one-fourth of the annual discharge of the river below the Niger-Kaduna confluence—and about 25 miles (40 km) above Lokoja the river turns to the south. At Lokoja the river receives the water of its greatest tributary, the Benue , thereby approximately doubling the volume of its annual discharge. At their confluence the Niger is about three-fourths of a mile (1 km) wide, and the Benue more than a mile. Together they form a lakelike stretch of water about two miles wide that is dotted with islands and sandbanks. From Lokoja downstream to the town of Idah , the Niger flows in a restricted valley, enclosed by hills and in some places flanked by sandstone cliffs up to 150 feet (45 metres) high. Between Idah and Onitsha the banks are lower and the country flatter.

At Onitsha, the largest town on the Niger’s banks in Nigeria and the third largest riverine town after Bamako and Niamey (Niger), the valley narrows as the river flows through what is probably a fault in the area’s sandstone. It emerges at Aboh, separating into many branches before reaching the Gulf of Guinea via Africa’s largest delta . Africa at Random: Fact or Fiction? The Niger delta , which stretches for nearly 150 miles (240 km) from north to south and spreads along the coast for about 200 miles (320 km), extends over an area of 14,000 square miles (36,000 square km). Within the delta the river breaks up into an intricate network of channels called rivers. The Nun River is regarded as the direct continuation of the river, but some of the other important channels include (from west to east) the Forcados , the Brass, the Sambreiro, and the Bonny. The mouths of these channels are almost all obstructed by sandbars.

The Forcados, for instance, which supplanted the Nun as the most traveled channel in the early 20th century, was in turn displaced by the Escravos River in 1964. The delta is being gradually extended seaward by the increments of silt brought down by the river, and mangrove swamps extend beyond its outer edge. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest The Benue (meaning “Mother of Water” in the Batta language) rises at 4,400 feet (1,350 metres) above sea level on the Adamawa Plateau in northern Cameroon at about 7°40′ N and 13°15′ E. In its upper course, which extends north-northwest to its confluence with the Mayo Kébi, close to the town of Garoua , it is a mountain torrent, falling more than 2,000 feet (600 metres) over a distance of 110 miles (180 km). The river then turns westward into Nigeria and, for the greater part of its course, flows over a broad and fertile floodplain.

At Yola , a town 600 feet (180 metres) above sea level and some 850 miles (1,370 km) inland, the width of the river in flood is from 3,000 to 4,500 feet (910 to 1,370 metres). Near Numan , some 30 miles (50 km) downstream from Yola, the Benue is joined on its north bank by its most important tributary, the Gongola . Other important tributaries include the Shemankar, the Faro , the Donga, and the Katsina Ala . Together with its tributaries, the Niger drains a total area of some 730,000 square miles (1,900,000 square km). The Niger drainage system is bounded in the south by such highlands as the Fouta Djallon, the Banfora Cliffs in Burkina Faso , the Plateau of Yorubaland, and the Cameroon highlands. This southern rampart forms a watershed separating the rivers of the Niger system from others that flow directly southward to the Atlantic Ocean.

With the exception of such highlands as the Jos Plateau , the Iforas and Aïr massifs, and the Ahaggar Mountains to the north and east, the northern edge of the Niger basin is, however, less clearly defined than the southern edge. Climate Within the Niger basin, climate shows great variability. Mean annual precipitation levels decrease northward from more than 160 inches (4,100 mm) in the delta area to less than 10 inches (250 mm) in Timbuktu. Both the upper and the lower stretches of the river, however, drain areas with more than 50 inches (1,300 mm) of precipitation per year. The middle Niger is an area where precipitation decreases and is also the sector where the greatest amount of evaporation takes place. It is estimated that in the lake region the Niger loses some two-thirds of the annual volume of discharge that flows past Mopti. Hydrology Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Because of climatic variations the annual river flood does not occur at the same time in different parts of the basin. In the upper Niger the high-water discharge occurs in June, and the low-water season is in December.

In the middle Niger, a first high-water discharge—the white flood (so called because of the light sediment content of the water)—occurs soon after the rainy season between July and October; a second rise—the black flood (so called because of the greater sediment content)—begins in December with the arrival of floodwaters from upstream. May and June are the low-water months in the middle stretch. On the Benue there is only one high-water season. Because of the Benue’s more southerly location, this normally occurs from May to October—earlier than on the middle Niger. The lower Niger below its confluence with the Benue consequently has a high-water period that begins in May or June—about a month earlier than on the middle Niger—and a low-water period that is at least a month shorter, as the rains in the south start earlier. In January a slight rise occurs due to the arrival of floodwaters from the upper Niger. The difference between high and low water often measures as much as 35 feet (10 metres). Plant and animal life Along its course the Niger traverses virtually all the vegetational zones of western Africa.

The Fouta Djallon plateau, where the Niger rises, is covered by a type of sedge vegetation consisting of fine, wirelike tufts interspersed with bare rock surfaces. From the Fouta Djallon to well below the Niger’s confluence with the Benue, the river flows mainly through savanna grassland country. In the north the grass is short and discontinuous, and thorny shrub and acacia wood occur. In the south of the grassland region, tall, tussocky grass is interspersed with fairly dense wooded vegetation. About the latitude of Onitsha, the river enters the high rainforest belt, which merges below Aboh with the mangrove swamp vegetation of the delta. Trending Topics Eyjafjallajökull volcano Many varieties of fish are found in the Niger and its tributaries; the chief food species are catfish, carp, and Nile perch . Other Niger fauna include hippopotamuses, at least three different types of crocodiles (including the much-feared Nile crocodile), and a variety of lizards. There is a rich collection of birds.

Geese are found in the lake region, and herons, egrets, and storks are found both on the river and around the lakes. The striking crown bird is found wherever there is open ground in the grassland zone, and pelicans and flamingos are particularly associated with the upper Benue area. Smaller riverine species include white-headed plovers, crocodile birds, sandpipers, curlews , and green-red shanks. People and economy The Niger valley is sparsely settled, although there are population concentrations in the lake region and near the confluence of the Niger and Benue. From the 13th to 16th century the valley was the heartland of the Mali and Songhai empires, and some of the river towns date from this period. The ethnic pattern along the course of the river includes larger groups—such as the Bambara , the Malinke , the Songhai , and the Zarma (Zerma, Djerma)—occupying both sides of the river above the Nigerian boundary, below which there are many small ethnic groups. The Niger River at Mopti, Mali. © Brian A.

Vikander/West Light Fishing is an important activity along the length of the river system, especially during the dry season when the deep-sea and coastal fish catch is smallest. River fishing is a specialized occupation for certain peoples, such as the Bozo and Somono in the lake region, the Sorko on the middle Niger, the Kede and the Kakanda between Jebba and Lokoja, and the Wurbo and the Jukun on the Benue. The discovery and exploitation of petroleum in the delta region, however, has seriously disrupted fishing there; oil pollution has killed most of the fish, undermining the economy of the Ijo (Ijaw) people of the region. Irrigation The irrigation of the Niger valley—for the purpose of transforming it into a densely populated, agricultural corridor running through the interior of western Africa—has long been a goal of planners. In the 1930s the French colonial administration, for example, began to plan the irrigation of large areas in the lake region; a barrage at Sansanding that raised the level of the Niger was completed in 1947.

Feeder canals were constructed, and huge tracts of irrigated land now produce rice, cotton, sugarcane, and vegetables. The British colonial administration also encouraged irrigated rice cultivation in the Bida region. In Nigeria large-scale irrigation schemes have been developed since the 1960s on the Niger and some of its tributaries, notably the Sokoto, Kaduna, and Benue. The Niger is also a source of hydroelectricity. The largest project is the Kainji Dam in Nigeria, completed in the late 1960s. A 500-square-mile (1,300-square-km) lake has been created upstream, offering opportunities for fishing and irrigation. Other projects include the Sotuba and Markala dams in Mali and dams at Jebba (on the Niger) and Shiroro (on the Kaduna tributary) in Nigeria. Transportation Most of the Niger River—more than three-fourths of its total length—is used by commercial shipping. From the Atlantic Ocean to Onitsha the river is navigable by large vessels throughout the year.

From Onitsha to the confluence of the Benue and the Niger large vessels can move for 10 months of the year (June–March). Navigation in this stretch is made possible by the influx of water from the Benue River, which is at its high level in June. From Lokoja to Jebba the Niger is navigable to all craft only from October to mid-November. Thus, Jebba is in effect the head of navigation of the Niger waterway, although extreme fluctuation in water level at times constitutes a major handicap to vessels plying beyond Lokoja. Above Jebba the Niger is navigable only to smaller craft and is dependent locally on periods when water levels are adequate. A pirogue on the Niger River, Mali. Jon Ward Rail and road routes cross the river at many points. Railway bridges span the river at Kouroussa and Jebba, and another crosses the Benue at Makurdi . Road bridges over the Niger include those at Bamako, Niamey, Ségou , Malanville, Kainji, Jebba, Lokoja, and Onitsha and over the Benue at Makurdi, Numan, and Yola.

Ferries cross the Niger at Bamako, Gao, Niamey, Yelwa , and Idah and cross the Benue at Garoua. The main river ports are Koulikoro, Timbuktu, Baro , Onitsha, Burutu , and Koko . The coordination of multinational efforts to develop the Niger and its tributaries is the responsibility of the Niger River Commission, formed in 1963. The Commission has sponsored a study of the navigational possibilities of the middle Niger from Gao (Mali) to Yelwa (Nigeria). Moreover, in Nigeria several river basin development authorities have been established to develop more irrigation and fishing projects. Study and exploration It was not until the late 18th century that Europeans made systematic attempts to find the source, direction, and outlet of the Niger. In 1795 Mungo Park , a Scottish explorer, traveled overland from the Gambia region and reached the Niger near Ségou, where in July 1796 he established that the river flowed eastward.

In 1805 Park sailed more than 1,500 miles (2,400 km) down the river, seeking to reach its mouth, but he and his party were drowned in the rapids at Bussa (now covered by Lake Kainji). In 1822 another Scottish explorer, Alexander G. Laing , determined but did not visit the source of the river. In 1830 two English explorers, John and Richard Lander , established the lower course of the Niger by canoeing down the river from Yauri (now also covered by Lake Kainji ), to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Nun River passage. In the second half of the 19th century two German explorers, Heinrich Barth and Eduard R. Flegel , in separate travels established the course of the Benue from its source to its confluence with the Niger. Additional Media Who Owns the Nile? Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia’s History-Changing Dam | Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective Current Events in Historical Perspective A rendering of the Grand Renaissance Dam under construction in Ethiopia on the Blue Nile. Its completion is expected to profoundly change the allocation of water resources in Africa.

Editor's Note: Egypt and Sudan are utterly dependent on the waters of the Nile River. Over the past century both of these desert countries have built several dams and reservoirs, hoping to limit the ravages of droughts and floods which have so defined their histories. Now Ethiopia, one of eight upriver states and the source of most of the Nile waters, is building the largest dam in Africa. Located on the Blue Nile twenty five miles from the Ethiopian border with Sudan, the Grand Renaissance Dam begins a new chapter in the long, bellicose history of debate on the ownership of the Nile waters, and its effects for the entire region could be profound. On water and environmental issues, readers may also want to see these Origins articles: World Water Crisis ; The Changing Arctic ; Climate Change and Human Population ; Global Food Crisis ; and Over-Fishing . In the fall of 2012 newspapers around the world reported on a Wikileaks document, surreptitiously acquired from Stratfor, the Texas security company, revealing Egyptian and Sudanese plans to build an airstrip for bombing a dam in the Blue Nile River Gorge in Ethiopia. The Egyptian and Sudanese governments denied the reports.

Whether or not there were such plans in 2012, there is a long history of threats and conflicts in the Nile River Basin. Downriver Egypt and Sudan argue that they have historic rights to the water upon which they absolutely depend—and in 1979 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat threatened war on violators of what he saw as his country’s rights to Nile waters. Upriver Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania argue that they too need the water that originates on their lands. Since the twelfth century C.E. Christian Ethiopian kings have warned Muslim Egyptian sultans of their power to divert waters of the Nile, often in response to religious conflicts. But these were hypothetical threats. Today, however, Ethiopia is building the Grand Renaissance Dam and, with it, Ethiopia will physically control the Blue Nile Gorge—the primary source of most of the Nile waters. The stakes could not be higher for the new leaders in Egypt and Ethiopia, President Mohamed Morsi and Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, as well as Sudan’s long-time President, Omar El Bashir. The stakes are perhaps even higher for the millions of people who owe their livelihood and very existence to the Nile’s waters.

Egypt and the Nile The Nile has been essential for civilization in Egypt and Sudan. Without that water, there would have been no food, no people, no state, and no monuments. As Herodutus famously wrote in the 5th century B.C.E., “Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” For millennia peoples have travelled along the banks of the Nile and its tributaries. Scores of ethnic groups in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan share architecture and engineering, ideas and traditions of religion and political organization, languages and alphabets, food and agricultural practices. In 3000 B.C.E., when the first Egyptian dynasty unified the lower and upper parts of the Nile River, there were no states in Eastern or Central Africa to challenge Egypt’s access to Nile waters. The Nile was a mysterious god: sometimes beneficent, sometimes vengeful. Floods between June and September, the months of peak flow, could wipe out entire villages, drowning thousands of people. Floods also brought the brown silt that nourished the delta, one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions, feeding not only Egypt but many of its neighbors.

The river’s central importance to Egyptian life is captured in A Hymn to the Nile, recorded in Papyrus Sallier II: Hail to thee, O Nile, that issues from the earth and comes to keep Egypt alive! … He that waters the meadows which He created … He that makes to drink the desert … He who makes barley and brings emmer into being … He who brings grass into being for the cattle … He who makes every beloved tree to grow … O, Nile, verdant art thou, who makes man and cattle to live. The Nile’s seasonal flooding is a central theme in Egyptian history. The river flow follows regular patterns, increasing between May 17 and July 6, peaking in September, and then receding until the next year. But the river volume is very unpredictable, as documented by nilometers (multi-storied structures built in the river to measure water heights). Successive empires of Pharaohs, Greeks, Romans, Christian Copts, and Muslims celebrated the rising waters of the Nile and dreaded floods or droughts.

Five millennia of Nile history show how years with high water have produced ample food, population growth, and magnificent monuments, as during the first five dynasties from 3050 B.C.E. to 2480 B.C.E. Periods with low water have brought famine and disorder. The Book of Genesis describes seven years of famine that historians associate with the drought of 1740 B.C.E. From the time of the Pharaohs until 1800 C.E., Egypt’s population rose and fell between 2 to 5 million, due to food availability and epidemics. The irrigation projects of the 19th century Ottoman ruler Mohammad Ali allowed year-around cultivation, causing population growth from 4 to 10 million. Since the opening of the Aswan High Dam in 1971, Egypt’s population has increased from about 30 to 83 million. The Sources of the Nile Despite the extraordinary importance of the Nile to people downstream, the origin of the great river was a mystery until the middle twentieth century. Herodotus speculated that the Nile arose between the peaks of Crophi and Mophi, south of the first cataract. In 140 C.E.

Ptolemy suggested the source was the Mountains of the Moon, in what are now called the Ruwenzori Mountains in Uganda. The 11th century Arab geographer al-Bakri postulated West African origins, confusing the Niger River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean, with the Nile River. In 1770 the Scottish explorer James Bruce claimed his discovery of the source in Ethiopia, while in 1862 John Hanning Speke thought he found it in Lake Victoria and the equatorial lakes. The river’s limited navigability only increased its mystery. The Blue Nile River descends 4501 feet in 560 miles from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands through a deep gorge with crocodiles, hippopotamuses, and bandits to the Sudan border and the savannah. Despite the efforts of scores of intrepid adventurers, the Blue Nile in Ethiopia was not successfully navigated until 1968 by a team of British and Ethiopian soldiers and civilians equipped by the Royal Military College of Science.

Further south up the White Nile in the lakes and rivers of Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the Egyptian cultural influence is less pronounced, due to the Sudd, a gigantic and impassable swamp which absorbs waters from the equatorial lake tributaries. The Nile River historian Robert O. Collins reports that “no one passed through this primordial bog” until 1841. Not until the 20th century did it become clear that the Nile is part of a vast river system with dozens of tributaries, streams, and lakes, stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the remote mountains of Burundi, in tropical central Africa, and to the highlands of Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa. Spanning more than 4,200 miles, it is the longest river in the world. It has also become clear that the volume of water which flows through the Nile is relatively small—a mere two percent in volume of the Amazon’s and fifteen percent of the Mississippi—and mostly (86%) from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Historical Struggle for the Nile’s Waters Ethiopia and Egypt have had a long relationship of both harmony and discord, the latter the result of religious issues and access to Nile water, among other factors. Ethiopia’s first well documented government was in Aksum, a city-state that controlled a large empire from the Ethiopian highlands across the Red Sea to Yemen. From 100 until 800 C.E. Aksumites participated in Mediterranean and Indian Ocean trade. The cultural relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia was institutionalized when the Aksumite King Ezana converted to Christianity in 330 C.E. For 16 centuries (until 1959) the Egyptian bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was appointed by the Egyptian patriarch in Alexandria, often under the influence of the Egyptian government. Ethiopians were profoundly influenced by the Middle East, even writing their state and geography into Bible stories. The source of the Blue Nile became the Gihon, one of the four rivers that flowed from the Garden of Eden. The 14th century C.E. myth of national origins connected Ethiopia’s rulers to the Old Testament.

In this legend the Queen of Sheba (Mekedda), journeyed north from Ethiopia to Jerusalem to meet King Solomon in 900 B.C.E. A romantic relationship produced a child, Menelik I, the first in Ethiopia’s Solomonic Dynasty. When Menelik became an adult, despite his father’s wish that he become the next King of Israel, he escaped to Ethiopia with the Ark of the Covenant—the cabinet which contained the tablets of the ten commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. Menelik stored the Ark on an island in Lake Tana—into which the Gihon flows—before it was moved to Aksum, where many Ethiopians believe the Ark remains to this day. Another Ethiopian legend is that Mary and Jesus stayed a night on that same island (Tana Cherquos) during their flight from the Holy Land to Egypt. The Muslim conquest of Egypt in 640 C.E. put Christian Ethiopia in a defensive position. Because the Ethiopian Orthodox Church remained subordinate to the Orthodox Church in Alexandria, and Egypt had become a Muslim country, Ethiopians became suspicious and resentful of the control Egypt had on the appointment of their Christian bishop (abun).

Muslim Egyptians also controlled Jerusalem and had the power to expel Ethiopian pilgrims to their holiest of cities. So Ethiopians began to claim power over Egypt through control of the Nile. During the Crusades the Ethiopian emperor Lalibela (1190-1225)—who built a new Jerusalem in Ethiopia, safe from Muslim occupation in magnificent, underground rock-hewn churches—threatened retribution by diverting the Tekeze River from its pathway north into Sudan (where it becomes the Atbara and then joins the Nile). The first Egyptian to write about the potential for an Ethiopian diversion of the Nile was the 13th century Coptic scholar Jurjis al-Makin (d. 1273). Stories about Ethiopia’s power over the Nile inspired the 14th century European legend of Prester John, a wealthy Christian Ethiopian priest king. In 1510 the legend returned to Ethiopia with Portuguese explorer Alfonso d’ Albuquerque, who considered the possibility of destroying Egypt by diverting the Nile to the Red Sea. In 1513 d’Albuquerque even asked the Portuguese king for workers skilled in digging tunnels. Nothing came of the plan.

But conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia continued, often as proxy wars between Christians and Muslims on Ethiopia’s northern or southeastern borderlands. The sixteenth century invasion of Ethiopia by Ahmad Gragn, the Muslim imam from the Adal Sultante, was seen as an Egyptian conflict. In the nineteenth century Egypt and Ethiopia fought over control of the Red Sea and upper Nile Basin. The climax came in 1876 at the Battle of Gura in present day Eritrea where the Ethiopians delivered a humiliating defeat to the Egyptian army. Colonial-Era Conflicts over the Nile The European partition of Africa in the 1880s added huge complexity to this conflict. Egypt was colonized by England in 1882. Ethiopia defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa in 1896 becoming the only African country to retain its independence during the “scramble for Africa.” But colonization created many new states in the Nile Basin (Eritrea, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, and Tanganika) and set off new competition for resources and territory. Egypt was prized for the Nile Delta, a region of unsurpassed agricultural productivity.

After the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt also offered access to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. For the British control of Egypt meant more profitable trade with India, its richest colony. For the French, the canal offered quicker access to Indochina, its most lucrative colony. In the late nineteenth century, since controlling Egypt was the key to Asian wealth, and since Egypt depended on the Nile, controlling the source of the Nile became a major colonial goal. The French-English competition for control of the Nile Basin climaxed in 1898 at Fashoda. The French conceived of the idea of building a dam on the White Nile, so as to undermine British influence further downriver and establish east-west control of the continent. They organized a stupendous pincer movement with one group of soldiers traveling from East Africa across Ethiopia and the other from West Africa across the Congo. The British heard of the French expedition, and, having just captured Khartoum ordered a fleet of gun boats and steamers with soldiers under the leadership of General Horatio Herbert Kitchener upriver to Fashoda, the site of the proposed dam. With fewer than 200 men, the French were embarrassed.

In 1899 the two colonial powers reached an agreement which designated to France the frontiers of the Congo River and to England the frontiers of the White Nile. The Fashoda Incident revealed how little Europeans understood about the Nile River. Thinking that most of the Nile waters came from the equatorial lakes (Victoria, Albert, Kyoga, and Edward), the English spent enormous energy on plans to increase White Nile water flows. First called the Garstin Cut and later the Jonglei Canal, the British intended to create a channel that would maximize water transfer through the great swamp (where half of it evaporated). One of the most expensive engineering projects in Africa, it was terminated in 1984 by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, because of the severe disruption it brought to the lives of the indigenous upper Nile peoples. If the 300 mile-long Jonglei Canal had been completed, it would have increased water flows by nearly 4 billion cubic meters into the White Nile. Negotiating the Nile: Treaties and Agreements over the Nile Waters Treaty negotiations about Nile waters started during the colonial era as England tried to maximize agricultural productivity in the delta.

In 1902 the British secured from the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II an agreement to consult with them on any Blue Nile water projects, especially on Lake Tana. As the controlling imperial power in East Africa, agreements with Kenya, Tanganika, Sudan, and Uganda were pro forma, internal colonial matters. After achieving its independence in 1922, Egypt negotiated the Nile Waters Agreement of 1929 with the East African British colonies. This accord established Egypt’s right to 48 billion cubic meters of water flow, all dry season waters, and veto-power over any upriver water management projects; newly independent Sudan (1956) was accorded rights to 4 billion cubic meters of water. The Ethiopian monarch was not consulted—at least in part because no one understood how much Nile water actually came from Ethiopia. The 1959 Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan was completed before all the upriver states achieved independence: Tanganika (1961), Uganda (1962), Rwanda (1962), Burundi (1962), and Kenya (1963).

The signatories of the 1959 Agreement allocated Egypt 55.5 billion cubic meters of water annually while Sudan was allowed 18.5 billion cubic meters. These 79 billion cubic meters represented 99% of the calculated average annual river flow. The treaty also allowed for the construction of the Aswan High Dam (completed in 1971), the Roseires Dam (completed 1966 on the Blue Nile in Sudan), and the Khashm al-Girba Dam (completed in 1964 on the Atbara River in Sudan). The treaty so negatively affected the upriver states that it provided the inspiration for the Nyerere Doctrine, named after independent Tanzania’s first president, which asserted that former colonies had no obligation to abide by treaties signed for them by Great Britain. Emperor Haile Selassie was offended by President Nasser’s exclusion of Ethiopia in the Nile Waters Agreement and in planning for building the Aswan Dam. He negotiated the 1959 divorce of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church from the Orthodox Church in Alexandria, ending 1600 years of institutional marriage.

He also began planning for several dams on the Blue Nile and its tributaries, contributing $10 million dollars from the Ethiopian treasury towards a study by the U.S. Department of Reclamation resulting in a seventeen volume report completed in 1964 and titled Land and Water Resources of the Blue Nile Basin: Ethiopia. Nasser responded by encouraging Muslims in Eritrea (reunified with Ethiopia after World War II) to secede from Ethiopia. He also encouraged Muslim Somalis to fight for the liberation of Ethiopia’s Ogaden region. Ethiopia won the war with Somalia in 1977-78 and retained the Ogaden. Its 30 year war with Eritrea, an Egyptian ally, came at a tremendous cost. Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974, and after 1993 Eritrea won independence and Ethiopia became a landlocked country—although it still possessed the headwaters of the Blue Nile. In the middle of the 1980s, rains failed in the Ethiopian highlands, causing a serious water crisis upriver and downriver.

One million Ethiopians died as a result of drought and famine—made worse by Civil War with Eritrea. Egypt averted disaster but Aswan’s turbines were nearly shut down, creating an electric power nightmare; and crops failed in the delta, bringing the real prospect of famine. As a result, Egyptians came to understand that their great Aswan Dam had not solved their historic dependency on upriver Nile water. In 1987, after years of hostile rhetoric, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the Ethiopian President Haile Mariam Mengistu replaced the language of threat and confrontation with words of conciliation and cooperation. Then in the 1990s the Ethiopian rains returned and, remarkably, Hosni Mubarak redoubled efforts begun during the Sadat administration to build the Toshka Canal, one of the world’s most expensive and ambitious irrigation projects. This plan would take 10% of waters in Lake Nasser to irrigate Egypt’s sandy Western Desert, increasing Egypt’s need for Nile water even if they maintained their 1959 treaty share of 55 billion cubic meters.

In anger and disbelief, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi protested: “While Egypt is taking the Nile water to transform the Sahara Desert into something green, we in Ethiopia—who are the source of 85% of that water—are denied the possibility of using it to feed ourselves.” He then began plans for the Grand Renaissance Dam. International water law has not resolved differences about ownership of Nile Waters. The Helsinki Agreement of 1966 proposed the idea of “equitable shares”—and the idea was taken up again in the 1997 United Nations Convention on the Law of Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses. A proposal for “equitable shares” was again put forward in the 1999 Nile Basin Initiative, which included all the affected countries. Unfortunately the initiative did not resolve the conflict between Egypt and Sudan’s claims of historic rights and the upper river states’ claims for equitable shares. In 2010, six upstream countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania) signed a Cooperative Framework Agreement seeking more water shares. Egypt and Sudan rejected the agreement because it challenged their historic water rights.

Ethiopia and the Lessons of Dam Building One lesson from the last century of mega-dam building is that upriver countries have the most power when negotiating water rights. The first of the mega-dams, the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the United States, cost Mexico water. The Ataturk Dam in Turkey has had a devastating impact on downriver Syria and Iraq. China and Tibet control waters on multiple rivers flowing downstream to India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam. Another lesson is that mega-dams have enormous and unanticipated environmental impacts. The Aswan High Dam has disrupted the ecosystems of the river, the delta, and the Mediterranean with results of reduced agricultural productivity and fish stocks. It also caused a series of seismic events due to the extreme weight of the water in Lake Nasser, one of the world’s largest reservoirs. Although late to mega-dam building, Ethiopia is now making up for lost time. One of the tallest dams in the world was completed in 2009 on the Tekeze River in northern Ethiopia. Three major dams on the Omo and Gibe Rivers in southern Ethiopia are either completed or nearly so.

The biggest of Ethiopia’s water projects, the Grand Renaissance Dam, will have a reservoir holding 67 billion cubic meters of water—twice the water held in Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest lake—and is expected to generate 6000 megawatts of electricity. Ethiopians hope these water projects—which extend to 2035 with other Nile tributaries and river systems—will lift their country out of poverty. Similar large dams have produced economic miracles in the United States, Canada, China, Turkey, India, Brazil, and, of course, Egypt. Ethiopia’s options for economic development are limited. With nearly 90 million people it is the most populous landlocked country in the world. It is also one of the world’s poorest countries—174 on the list of 187 countries in the United Nations Human Development Index for 2012. (Sudan is 169 and Egypt 113.) This index rates countries based on life expectancy, education, and income, among other criteria. Part of Ethiopia’s challenge is that 85 percent of the workforce is in agricultural commodities that bring low profits.

Ethiopia is already leasing land in its southern regions to Saudi Arabia, India, and China for large irrigated water projects—despite severe land shortage in its northern regions—because it does not have the funds to develop this land on its own. If Ethiopia cannot use its elevation and seasonal rains for hydro-electric power and irrigation, what is it to do? The Grand Renaissance Dam The state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation optimistically reports that the Grand Renaissance Dam will be completed in 2015 at a cost of nearly 5 billion dollars. As of 2013, the project is 13% complete, suggesting that it may be many years and billions of dollars before the dam is finished. The Tekeze dam was well over its predicted budget and years behind schedule. The major obstacle to completion is financing. The World Bank, the European Investment Bank, the Chinese Import-Export Bank, and the African Development Bank provided financing for some of the other dams; but concerns about the environmental and political impact of this latest dam have discouraged lenders. The International Monetary Fund suggested that Ethiopia put the dam on a slow track, arguing that the project will absorb 10% of Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product, thus displacing other necessary infrastructure development.

Nevertheless the Ethiopian government insists that it will stick with its schedule and finance the project domestically. It probably will secure more help from China, a loyal ally and the world’s major developer of hydroelectric power. The Ethiopians argue that the Grand Renaissance Dam could be good for everyone. They contend that storing water in the deep Blue Nile Gorge would reduce evaporation, increasing water flows downstream. The Ethiopians also argue that the new dam will be a source of hydroelectric power for the entire region and will manage flood control at a critical juncture where the Nile Gorge descends from the Ethiopian highlands to the Sahel, thus reducing risk of flooding and siltation, extending the life of the dams below stream. Egypt and Sudan are understandably concerned about Ethiopia’s power over Nile waters. What happens while the reservoir behind the Grand Renaissance Dam is filling up, when water flow may be reduced 25 % for three years or more? After the reservoir is filled what will happen when rains fail in the Ethiopian highlands? Who will get the water first?

If the question of Nile waters was sensitive in the centuries before 1900, when Ethiopia and Egypt each had populations of 10 million or less, what will happen over the next twenty years, as their populations each surpass 100 million and the collective population of the Nile River Basin countries reaches 600 million? The Grand Renaissance Dam poses a question as basic as water itself: Who owns the Nile? When the Grand Renaissance Dam closes its gates on the Blue Nile River, whether it is in 2015 or 2025, the time for a final reckoning will have arrived. Ethiopia will then have the power to claim its water shares, with the backing of all the upriver states. Egypt and Sudan’s claims to historic water rights will have become merely hypothetical. In the context of a difficult history, violence is a possibility, but good solutions for all can be achieved through diplomacy and leadership. Suggested Reading Collins, Robert O. The Nile. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002. Erlich, Haggai. The Cross and the River: Ethiopia, Egypt, and the Nile.

Boulder and London: Lynn Rienner Publishers, 2002. Henze, Paul B. Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2000. Solomon, Steven. Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization. New York: HarperCollins, 2010. Tignor, Robert L. Egypt: A Short History. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2010. < Nile River | river, Africa | Britannica.com Nile River Alternative Titles: Baḥr Al-Nīl, Naḥr an-Nīl Related Topics Antinoüs Nile River, Arabic Baḥr Al-Nīl or Nahr Al-Nīl, river , the father of African rivers and the longest river in the world. It rises south of the Equator and flows northward through northeastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea . It has a length of about 4,132 miles (6,650 kilometres) and drains an area estimated at 1,293,000 square miles (3,349,000 square kilometres).

Its basin includes parts of Tanzania , Burundi , Rwanda , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Kenya , Uganda , South Sudan , Ethiopia , Sudan , and the cultivated part of Egypt . Its most distant source is the Kagera River in Burundi . Sand dunes along the Nile River, Egypt. © nicolas lecoz/Fotolia The Nile River basin and its drainage network. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Overview of the Nile River, 2009. Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz The Nile is formed by three principal streams: the Blue Nile (Arabic: Al-Baḥr Al-Azraq; Amharic: Abay) and the Atbara (Arabic: Nahr ʿAṭbarah), which flow from the highlands of Ethiopia, and the White Nile (Arabic: Al-Baḥr Al-Abyad), the headstreams of which flow into Lakes Victoria and Albert . The name Nile is derived from the Greek Neilos (Latin: Nilus), which probably originated from the Semitic root naḥal, meaning a valley or a river valley and hence, by an extension of the meaning, a river.

The fact that the Nile—unlike other great rivers known to them—flowed from the south northward and was in flood at the warmest time of the year was an unsolved mystery to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. The ancient Egyptians called the river Ar or Aur (Coptic: Iaro), “Black,” in allusion to the colour of the sediments carried by the river when it is in flood. Nile mud is black enough to have given the land itself its oldest name, Kem or Kemi, which also means “black” and signifies darkness. In the Odyssey , the epic poem written by the Greek poet Homer (7th century bce), Aigyptos is the name of the Nile (masculine) as well as the country of Egypt (feminine) through which it flows. The Nile in Egypt and Sudan is now called Al-Nīl, Al-Baḥr, and Baḥr Al-Nīl or Nahr Al-Nīl. Similar Topics Gambia River The Nile River basin , which covers about one-tenth of the area of the continent, served as the stage for the evolution and decay of advanced civilizations in the ancient world.

On the banks of the river dwelled people who were among the first to cultivate the arts of agriculture and to use the plow. The basin is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the Red Sea Hills and the Ethiopian Plateau ; on the south by the East African Highlands , which include Lake Victoria , a Nile source; and on the west by the less well-defined watershed between the Nile, Chad , and Congo basins, extending northwest to include the Marrah Mountains of Sudan , the Al- Jilf al-Kabīr Plateau of Egypt, and the Libyan Desert (part of the Sahara). The Roman Kiosk of Trajan (left) on Agilkia island in the Nile River, near Aswān, Egypt. © Jeff Schultes/Fotolia Earth sciences: The origin of the Nile The availability of water from the Nile throughout the year, combined with the area’s high temperatures, makes possible intensive cultivation along its banks. Even in some of the regions in which the average rainfall is sufficient for cultivation, marked annual variations in precipitation often make cultivation without irrigation risky.

The Nile River is also a vital waterway for transport, especially at times when motor transport is not feasible—e.g., during the flood season. Improvements in air, rail, and highway facilities beginning in the 20th century, however, greatly reduced dependency on the waterway. Page 1 of 6 The River Nile for Kids Homework What else did the Nile provide for the Ancient Egyptians? Reeds, called papyrus, grew along side the Nile. The Egyptians made paper and boats from the reeds. Find out about Egyptian Writing The Nile also gave the ancient Egyptians food. They used spears and nets to catch fish. They would also use the nets to catch birds that flew close to the surface of the water. Another way the Nile helped the ancient Egyptians was in trade. The Nile was the quickest and easiest way to travel from place to place. What was the area next to the River Nile Called? This area was known as the Black Land. Further away from the river was the Red Land, a region of inhospitable desert. When did the Nile flood? The River Nile flooded every year between June and September, in a season the Egyptians called akhet - the inundation . Why did the Nile Flood?

Melting snow and heavy summer rain in the Ethiopian Mountains sent a torrent of water causing the banks of the River Nile in Egypt to overflow on the flat dessert land. Why does the Nile not flood now ? The construction of the Aswan Dam in the 1960's meant that from 1970 the annual flood was controlled. Who was the Nile God? Hapi was the Nile god . Honouring a god was very important, so when a flood came the Egyptians would thank Hapi for bringing fertility to the land. Interesting Facts about the River Nile: The Nile River is the longest river in the world. The Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The largest source of the Nile is Lake Victoria. The Nile has a length of about 4,160 miles (6,695 kilometres). Its average discharge is 3.1 million litres (680,000 gallons) per second. The Nile basin is huge and includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Congo (Kinshasa), Kenya. The Nile receives its name from the Greek Neilos, which means a valley or river valley.

Question: After the Nile, what is the next-longest river in Africa?
Answer: CONGO