The Nile has two major tributaries: the longer White Nile, considered the prime stream and headwaters; and the Blue Nile, which carries about two-thirds of the river's water volume and most of the silt.
The White Nile begins at Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake, which touches the countries of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. But Lake Victoria isn't necessarily the most distant and "true" source of the Nile River because the lake itself has many feeder rivers coming in from the surrounding mountains. In 2006, a British explorer named Neil McGrigor said he'd traveled to the Nile's most distant source at the beginning of the Kagera River, Lake Victoria's longest feeder river.
Still, experts do not agree which tributary of the Kagera is the longest — and therefore the most distant — source of the Nile. Ultimately, it would be either the Ruvyironza in Burundi or the Nyabarongo from the Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda.
Much less disputable is the Blue Nile's source at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The Blue Nile meets up with the White Nile near Sudan's capital city, Khartoum. From there, the river flows north through the desert in Egypt, and finally, by way of a large delta, the Nile flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nile waters flow at an average volume of 300 million cubic meters (79.2 billion gallons) per day, according to Travelling Along Rivers, a Dutch bilingual travel magazine. It takes approximately three months for the waters near the town of Jinja, Uganda (the point where the Nile leaves Lake Victoria), to reach the Mediterranean Sea.
The Nile Delta is approximately 100 miles (161 km) long from north to south, and it spreads out along about 150 miles (241 km) of Egyptian coastline, from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east. It is one of the world's largest river deltas with about 40 million inhabitants — approximately half of Egypt's population. Just before reaching the Mediterranean Sea, the river splits into two main branches, the Rosetta Branch (to the west) and the Damietta (to the east).
Ancient mythology of the Nile
Perhaps no river on Earth has captured the human imagination quite like the Nile River. From stories of Pharaohs and man-eating crocodiles to the discovery of the Rosetta stone, it was here, along the river's fertile banks, that one of the world's most remarkable civilizations — Ancient Egypt — was born around 3000 B.C. The Nile was not only the source of life for the ancient Egyptians, but is still so today for the millions of people living along its banks.
Known as both the "Father of Life" and the "Mother of All Men," the Nile was the center of life in Ancient Egypt. In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile was called Ḥ'pī or Iteru, meaning "river." The Ancient Egyptians also called the river Ar or Aur, which means "black," in reference to the black silt left behind after the yearly flooding.
The Nile River was central to the Ancient Egyptians rise to wealth and power. Since rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, the Nile River and its yearly floodwaters offered the people a fertile oasis for rich agriculture.
The Nile is associated with many gods and goddesses, all of whom the Egyptians believed were deeply intertwined with the blessings and curses of the land, weather, culture and abundance of the people. They believed the gods were intimately involved with the people and could help them in all facets of their lives.
In some myths, the Nile was considered a manifestation of the god Hapi who blessed the land with abundance, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia. Isis, the goddess of the Nile and the "Giver of Life," was believed to have taught the people how to farm and work the land.