From its most distant source to the Mediterranean, how many kilometres long is the Nile?
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Answer
About 6,700 km
The Nile's basin touches eleven countries, and whether it or the Amazon is the longest river on Earth is still argued over by geographers.
How to estimate it
The Nile starts just south of the equator, around 3 degrees south, and reaches the sea at 31 degrees north: 34 degrees of latitude. One degree is 40,000 / 360 = 111 km, so the straight line is 34 × 111, about 3,800 km. Big rivers wander, typically adding 70 percent: 3,800 × 1.7 = 6,500 km. The usual quoted length is about 6,700 km.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
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