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Blue Nile River
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Blue Nile Falls cascades over a wide cliff surrounded by lush green vegetation, with mist rising and sunlight streaming through clouds in Ethiopia. Map of Africa highlighting the course of the Blue Nile River in blue, flowing from Ethiopia into Sudan. Surrounding countries and major bodies of water such as the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean are labeled for geographic context. Blue Nile River Map of the Nile River basin showing the river's full course from its sources in East Africa through Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea. The map highlights physical features including elevation, irrigated areas, swamps, sand areas, intermittent streams, dams, waterfalls, rapids, and canals, as well as major lakes and cities along the drainage network. Map showing the routes of major nineteenth-century European expeditions exploring the Nile River, with color-coded lines tracing the journeys of Bruce, Burton and Speke, Speke, Speke and Grant, and the Bakers through Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and surrounding regions. Key locations such as Lake Victoria, Lake Albert, Lake Tana, and major cities like Cairo, Khartoum, and Kampala are labeled.
Quizzes
Tower Bridge over the Thames River in London, England. Opened in 1894. Remains an Important Traffic Route with 40,000 Crossings Every Day.
Guess the City by Its River Quiz
water glass on white background. (drink; clear; clean water; liquid)
Water and its Varying Forms
Mount Kenya in Mount Kenya National Park is the highest mountain in Africa. UNESCO World Heritage Site. Giant Lobelia in foreground. (Mt. Kenya; Mt. Kenya National Park; mountains; rugged mountain; African geography, African landscape, stratovolcano)
Africa’s Physical Features
Quick Facts
Arabic:
Al-Nīl Al-Azraq or Al-Baḥr Al-Azraq
Amharic:
Abāy
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Blue Nile Falls cascades over a wide cliff surrounded by lush green vegetation, with mist rising and sunlight streaming through clouds in Ethiopia.
Blue Nile Falls, on the Blue Nile River, Ethiopia

Blue Nile River

river, Africa
Also known as: Abāy River, Al-Baḥr Al-Azraq, Al-Nīl Al-Azraq
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•History

Blue Nile River, headstream of the Nile River and source of almost 70 percent of its floodwater at Khartoum. It reputedly rises as the Abay from a spring 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) above sea level, near Lake Tana in northwestern Ethiopia. The river flows into and out of the lake, runs through a series of rapids, and then drops into a gorge. It flows through a deep canyon southeast and west around the Choke Mountains and then turns northwest through Sudan to join the White Nile at Khartoum. Its length is about 907 miles (1,460 km). By far the greater part of the Blue Nile’s waters come from such tributaries as the Dinder and Rahad rivers, which rise in the Ethiopian highlands.

Map of Africa highlighting the course of the Blue Nile River in blue, flowing from Ethiopia into Sudan. Surrounding countries and major bodies of water such as the Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Indian Ocean are labeled for geographic context.
Blue Nile River

The river is home to several dams. In Ethiopia the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, in Benishangul-Gumaz, generates hydroelectricity. The Al-Ruṣayriṣ and Sannar dams in Sudan irrigate 1,000,000 acres (400,000 hectares) in the plain of Al-Jazīrah (Gezira) between the Blue Nile and White Nile rivers; the Sannar Dam also produces hydroelectric power.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Mindy Johnston.
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