The Nile, Arabic النيل, an-Nīl, is Africa's longest river, and by most definitions the longest in the world.
Its drainage basin contains territory of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt.
The White Nile springs from Lake Victoria, and the Blue Nile from Lake Tana in Ethiopia.
Most of the Nile flows in arid climate. In the Saharan desert of Egypt and northern Sudan, the Nile provides most of the available water for farming.
Ancient Egypt is one of the world's oldest civilizations, with its monuments being among the most famous human landmarks along the Nile. Upriver and contemporary with Ancient Egypt, Nubia was a neighbouring kingdom, which left behind equally impressive, if much less visited, monuments. Since the Roman conquest of the Nile delta, the river has been dominated by foreign empires for 2000 years; such as the Ottoman Empire and the British Empire.