Rivers in the WANA

1. Rivers in West Asia and North Africa
Nile River
• The Nile River, considered the longest river in the world, is approximately 4,258 miles
(6,853 kilometres) long, but its exact length is a matter of debate. Flowing northward
through the tropical climate of eastern Africa and into the Mediterranean Sea, the river
passes through 11 countries: Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.

3. • 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 Mc Grigor said he'd travelled to the Nile's most
distant source at the beginning of the Kagera River, Lake Victoria's longest feeder river.
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.
Tigris-Euphrates River System
• Tigris-Euphrates river system, great river system of south-western Asia. It comprises the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which follow roughly parallel courses through the heart of
West Asia. The lower portion of the region that they define, known
as Mesopotamia (Greek: “Land Between the Rivers”), was one of the cradles of
civilization.
• The Tigris and Euphrates, with their tributaries, form a major river system in Western
Asia. From sources in the Taurus mountains of eastern Turkey they flow
by/through Syria through Iraq into the Persian Gulf. The system is part of the Tigris–
Euphrates eco-region, which includes Iraq and parts of Turkey, Syria, Iran, Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan.

4. • From their sources and upper courses in the mountains of eastern Anatolia, the rivers
descend through valleys and gorges to the uplands of Syria and northern Iraq and then
to the alluvial plain of central Iraq. The rivers flow in a south-easterly direction through
the central plain and combine at Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab and discharge into
the Persian Gulf.
• The region has historical importance as part of the Fertile Crescent region, in which
civilization is believed to have first emerged.

5. Jordan River
• Jordan River, Arabic Nahr Al-Urdun, Hebrew Ha-Yarden, river of south-western Asia, in
the West Asia region. It lies in a structural depression and has the lowest elevation of
any river in the world.
• The river rises on the slopes of Mount Harmon, on the border
between Syria and Lebanon, and flows southward through northern Israel to the Sea of
Galilee (Lake Tiberius).

6. • Exiting the sea, it continues south, dividing Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank to
the west from Jordan to the east before emptying into the Dead Sea.
• The surface of the Dead Sea, at an elevation of about 1,410 feet (430 metres) below sea
level in the mid-2010s, is the lowest land point on Earth.
• The Jordan River is more than 223 miles (360 km) in length, but, because its course is
meandering, the actual distance between its source and the Dead Sea is less than 124
miles (200 km).
• After 1948 the river marked the frontier between Israel and Jordan from just south of
the Sea of Galilee to the point where the Yābis River flows into it from the east (left)
bank.
• Since 1967, however, when Israeli forces occupied the West Bank (i.e., the territory on
the west bank of the river south of its confluence with the Yābis), the Jordan has served
as the cease-fire line as far south as the Dead Sea.