The White Nile and Blue Nile are two distinct tributaries of the Nile, the former being the longer of the two. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most distant source in southern Rwanda , and flows north from there through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and southern Sudan, while the Blue Nile starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, flowing into Sudan from the east. "The two sections meet near Khartoum, Sudan."
The Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls, near Jinga, Uganda, as the Victoria Nile. It flows for approximately 500 km (300 miles) farther, through Lake Kyoga in Uganda, until it reaches Lake Albert of Uganda. After leaving Lake Albert, the river is known as the Albert Nile. It then flows into Sudan, where it becomes known as the Bahr al Jebel. At the confluence of the Bahr al Jebel with the Bahr el Ghazal in Sudan, itself 720 km (445 miles) long, the river becomes known as the Bahr al Abyad, or the White Nile, from the clay suspended in its waters. From there, the river flows to Khartoum.
The Blue Nile springs from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue Nile flows about 1,400 km (850 miles) to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join to form the "Nile proper". Most of the water carried by the Nile (about 80-85%) originates from Ethiopia, but this runoff happens only in summer, when the great rains fall on the Ethiopian Plateau; the rest of the year, the great rivers draining Ethiopia into the Nile (Sobat, Blue Nile, and Atbara) flow weakly, or are dry.
After the Blue and White Niles merge, the only remaining major tributary is the Atbara River in northwest Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is approximately 800 km (500 miles) long. It joins the Nile approximately 300 km (200 miles) past Khartoum.
2006-09-11 17:42:18
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answer #1
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answered by ♥ lani s 7
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