The longest river in the world, flowing about 6,677 km (4,150 mi) through eastern Africa from its most remote sources in Burundi to a delta on the Mediterranean Sea in northeast Egypt. The main headstreams, the Blue Nile and the White Nile, join at Khartoum in Sudan to form the Nile proper. The river has been used for irrigation in Egypt since at least 4000 B.C., a function now regulated largely by the Aswan High Dam.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
