Talk:Nile

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Please help maintain these conventions throughout the article. Noleander (talk) 20:38, 10 January 2026 (UTC)

Status update: I started implementing the above style/cite conventions on 14 Dec 2025. Before starting this effort, there were no style/cite conventions uniformly applied throughout the article. A month has gone by, and as of today, I've converted about half the article to adhere to the above conventions. I should finish the process by the end of January or early February, 2026. Noleander (talk) 00:56, 15 January 2026 (UTC)
Bump date to prevent archiving. Noleander (talk) 13:07, 16 February 2026 (UTC)

Nile water discharge wrong

Mean Nile discharge should be around 2800 m3/s. The value stated in article, 150 m3/s, is laughably wrong. How could that happen in semi protected article? ~2026-95821-3 (talk) 14:11, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Fixed, thanks for reporting that. Noleander (talk) 14:49, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
... the 150 value was correct for discharge from delta into the Med. sea. The 2,800 or 2,700 figure is the flow at Aswan, which is probably what most people will want to see. A third figure (flow at Cairo) is also available, and is in the body text of the section. Noleander (talk) 14:52, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Search for the source of the Nile

This section seems very undue, and the human history section currently just covers Ancient Egypt for precolonial history (incredibly given less coverage than European exploration). Not sure I'd give this topic more than a few sentences/small paragraph. Shoup 2017 and Booth 2010 are broad-view histories which can guide proportion, Said 1993 part 3 looks helpful, possibly Conniff et al 2012 as well. Hopefully can be worked on before someone picks up the GAN? Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 14:56, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion. I agree that the human history section is not proportional, though that is always tricky to determine since it based on the sources one looks at. I was hoping to resolve the proportion issue before featured article nomination, but I could certainly work on it earlier ... Who knows how long it will be till the GA review begins. I'll take a look at those two new sources you identified... they may be able to assist with this task. Noleander (talk) 15:22, 15 February 2026 (UTC)
Thank you, I'm surprised there aren't more environmental histories on the Nile tbh Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 15:29, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

GA review

Passed. Amitchell125 (talk) 21:23, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

This review is transcluded from Talk:Nile/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Noleander (talk · contribs) 19:49, 13 February 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Amitchell125 (talk · contribs) 10:10, 16 February 2026 (UTC)


Happy to review this one. AM

Progress template for GA review by Amitchell125

Good Article review progress box
Criteria: 1a. prose () 1b. MoS () 2a. ref layout () 2b. cites WP:RS () 2c. no WP:OR () 2d. no WP:CV ()
3a. broadness () 3b. focus () 4. neutral () 5. stable () 6a. free or tagged images () 6b. pics relevant ()
Note: this represents where the article stands relative to the Good Article criteria. Criteria marked are unassessed


(Unrelated comment: "with unusually high flood levels occurring every few thousand years" doesn't seem correct to me - Nile discharge is not a periodic value, there was early in the Holocene high discharge during the African humid period followed by lower discharge. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 17:00, 16 February 2026 (UTC))

Thanks for pointing that out ... I'll fix it. Noleander (talk) 18:14, 17 February 2026 (UTC)
I replaced that sentence with this: The high water levels of both the Blue Nile and White Nile have fluctuated over the past 15,000 years, with unusually high levels occurring several times between 15 KYA and the present. based on the source, which says ... indicate that White Nile levels were high around 14.7–13.1 ka, 9.7–9.0 ka, 7.9–7.6 ka, 6.3 ka and 3.2–2.8 ka. The Blue Nile record is more fragmentary and that of the main Nile even more so except for the Holocene Nile delta. Calibrated radiocarbon ages for high Blue Nile flows indicate very high flood levels towards 13.9–13.2 ka, 8.6 ka, 7.7 ka and 6.3 ka. . So there were several high level periods; but - as you say - they were not periodic. Noleander (talk) 18:24, 17 February 2026 (UTC)

Outside comment: There ought to be a section about the exploration of the Nile, starting with Greco-Roman beliefs about the river (e.g., that it was one of the few North-flowing rivers known to the ancients; that for centuries the Niger was mistakenly believed to be part of its upper reaches) & extending to the accounts of 19th-century European explorations. Despite the fact humans have lived in or around its banks since the emergence of the species. -- llywrch (talk) 18:00, 19 February 2026 (UTC)

@Llywrch - Thanks for the insightful feedback. The article already has a "exploration" section named Nile#Search_for_the_source_of_the_Nile, but you are correct: more detail could be given to the readers. I'll see what I can do. The article is presently over 9,000 prose words, so WP:SUMMARY STYLE and WP:SIZERULE suggest splitting off additional details into sub-articles. Within the section Nile#Search_for_the_source_of_the_Nile is a paragraph that moves in the direction you are suggesting:
Since the times of the ancient Greeks, Europeans have been intensely curious about the source of the Nile and the origin of its floods, yet concrete knowledge about the source of the Nile was not discovered until the late Middle Ages. Herodotus was a Greek historian who visited Egypt in 457 BC, and traveled up the Nile to Aswan. In the second century BC, the Greek scientist Eratosthenes drew a map of the Nile from the Mediterranean to Khartoum, and speculated that the source was a collection of lakes. Other Europeans that inquired or speculated about the source of the Nile included Ptolemy, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Emperor Nero, and Pedro Tafur. In the 12th century, the Arabian geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi published a book Tabula Rogeriana which showed the Nile flowing from a large lake in Africa’s interior.
There is also a paragraph:
Isis was a major diety in the Egyptian religion who was strongly associated with the Nile river. Cults based on Isis spread from Egypt into Europe in the second century BC. An example of the influence of the cult of Isis in Europe is the Nile mosaic of Palestrina, located in Rome and dated to first century BC: the 4 by 3 meter mosaic depicts a detailed Nilotic landscape.
in the religion section. Maybe I'll create a new sub-article on European perception of the Nile, or Nile in European history or something along those lines? Noleander (talk) 00:19, 20 February 2026 (UTC)

1a - Prose

  • Nile perch or Nile Perch?
 Done Used lowercase "p". Noleander (talk) 17:23, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • so the Sea evaporated. – as all seas do this, ‘the Mediterranean evaporated away’?
 Done Went with "... and the Atlantic ocean could no longer fill the Mediterranean Sea, so the Sea completed evaporated. The empty Mediterranean caused the ancestor Nile ..." Noleander (talk) 17:23, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • These measurements conducted at various dates, ranging from 1997 to 2019 needs to be rewritten to improve the prose.
 Done Changed wording to "The sediment transport data was gathered over a wide range of years, spanning from 1997 to 2019. Every measurement site had unique collection time spans, specified in the sources provided for each datum." Also: put that sentence into a efn footnote (vs body text) since it seems rather ancillary. Noleander (talk) 17:40, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 4.3 Water sources and sinks - The water balance of a region can be represented by the following equation - as the equation and its variables are not used in the article again, I would explain sources and sinks without it.
 Done Deleted the equation from the body text and replaced it with a prose summary that should be agreeable to lay readers: "For a given region, hydrologists measure (or estimate) precipitation, evaporation, transpiration, ...". Moved the equation into an efn footnote. The equation is useful to advanced readers because all the sources about hydrology use the abbreviations (Q, D, ET, etc) exclusively. So keeping as an efn footnote will help bridge between this article and the sources. Noleander (talk) 17:40, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Consider recolouring the cells in the table(s) – in b/w the light greys are hard to distinguish from the other ones.
 Done - Made the red/green/yellow cells more vibrant. If I misunderstood which colors you were referring to, let me know. Noleander (talk) 17:55, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • used to measure the level of the Nile for thousands of years. – 'used for thousands of years to measure the level of the Nile.' is what is meant, I think.
 Done. Used the wording you suggested. Noleander (talk) 17:57, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Fish are abundant in the Nile Basin: the total number of species is estimated at over 800. - no connection should be implied between abundance and the number of species, this implied by the clauses being linked.
 Done - Removed "abundant"; changed to The total number of fish species found in the Nile Basin is estimated at over 800. ... Noleander (talk) 18:00, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • During the past thousand years, the ranges of some species have been reduced, probably due to human encroachment on habitat. – is very vague and imo adds little to the article.
☒N I think it is an important fact .. perhaps I've worded it poorly. The sources say something like: Many bird species used to have extensive ranges. Over the past thousand years, as the number of humans have proliferated around the Nile, the range of many species have been reduced (and some made extinct). Scientists are not 100% certain why, but they speculate the human encroachment on habitat is a cause. A complicating factor is that the article also has a section named "Conservation and human impact", and this "bird range" material could go there instead. Noleander (talk) 18:04, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 5.3 Pollution – what is refractory?
 Done removed "refractory" from the list. Cannot tell if source meant refractory or not. Noleander (talk) 18:07, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • KYA (thousand years ago) - 'thousand years ago (KYA)'?
 Done Noleander (talk) 18:09, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • a pronounced gradient needs clarification or a link
 Done Could not find a link; so changed wording to "... pronounced transition". Noleander (talk) 18:12, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • the 21st century include a 2 to 4 °C increase - can be misread.
 Done - Changed to "Some projections for the 21st century predict a temperature increase of 2 to 4 °C." Noleander (talk) 18:15, 23 February 2026 (UTC)
  • increasing dryness and drought - what is increasing? frequency/length/severity?
 Done - Read the source. Mostly they leave it vague, but they do specify increases for both intensity and frequency within the article. So changed to "... predict an increase in frequency and severity of both dryness and drought ... Noleander (talk) 00:43, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • one third of the Nile Delta – a third of the volume? area?
 Done - Changed to "... may cause one third of the surface area of the Nile Delta to disappear within... " Noleander (talk) 00:43, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 6 Geological history - The first stage of the Nile's geological history is the Pre-Egyptian Nile / The second stage of the Nile's geological history is the Ancestral Egyptian Nile / The third geological stage of the Nile is the modern Nile, are all unnecessary.
 Done - Good suggestion. Noleander (talk) 00:47, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 9.1 Art and literature – this comes across as a very Eurocentric view of the art and literature associated with the river Nile. Two works of art have a whole paragraph devoted to each – the balance doesn’t seem right.
 Done Added a new source focusing on art of Ancient Egypt. Added 2 new sentences. Put text about Ancient Egy. before text about European. Added two images from ancient Egypt. Noleander (talk) 17:45, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

1b MOS

  • The following subsections in the article do not seem to have been mentioned in the lead section: 1 Names and etymology; 3 Physical geography (3.1 – 3.5); 4 Hydrology (4.1-4.4); 5 Ecology (5.1-5.5); 6 Geological history (6.1-6.3); 7.3.3 Post-colonial era; 8.1 Agriculture; 8.2 Fisheries; 8.5 Tourism and recreation; 9.1 Art and literature.
 Done Except omitted two or three sections from lead because significance of these section is relatively minor (compared to other sections); adding a sentence from low-priority sections into the lead would cause other, more important material to be removed. Example of low-priority sections omitted from lead: "In culture" and "Tourism/recreation". Noleander (talk) 18:05, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • in the lead - a prosperous society – by whose standards?; numerous dams have been built - numerous is too vague.
 Done. Changed # dams to "Over a dozen". They are building new dams every couple of years; so I'm reluctant to put int a specific number because it will soon be out of date. Changed "prosperous" to "flourishing" (every source makes a big deal out of the agricultural success of Ancient Egypt: enabled so much spare time, they could build the pyramids, etc.) Noleander (talk) 01:14, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • between the cataracts – is unclear; a large reservoir, Lake Nasser. – is large needed?
 Done - Changed to "... which render the river unnavigable; although ships may travel in certain calm stretches between the cataracts..... Removed "large". Noleander (talk) 01:17, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • both discussed in the section on Tributaries. I would cut this.
 Done Noleander (talk) 01:19, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • a spectacular gorge is an opinion
☒N Several major sources on the Nile extol the gorge; apparently it is very majestic and deep ... and also exceedingly remote and difficult to access. I'd prefer to leave it in, since multiple sources use words similar to "spectacular". But I can remove it if you prefer. Noleander (talk) 01:22, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • contribution to the Nile is insignificant – can insignificant be replaced with a better word?
 Done - Changed to "...its contribution to the Nile is small compared to other tributaries.... Noleander (talk) 01:24, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • the Blue Nile has tremendous variability – an example of puffery
 Done - Changed to "..the flow of the Blue Nile varies widely through the year...". Noleander (talk) 03:18, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • the variability of flow in Egypt was significant - why was it?
 Done Changed to ".. Prior to the construction of dams on the Nile, the flow of the Nile in Egypt varied seasonally ..." Noleander (talk) 03:19, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • measured at several locations are listed below. These measurements conducted at various dates - 'was measured at several locations and at various dates'?
 Done - Explained multiple sites, and how each site had its own measurement time span. See new footnote: "The sediment transport data was gathered over a wide range of years ... Noleander (talk) 03:24, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • A large number of Cichlid species – large is meaningless.
 Done - Removed the word "large". Noleander (talk) 03:26, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Europeans have been intensely curious – not all Europeans and then not always intensely.
 Done - Changed to " ... some Europeans have been curious about the source of the Nile ..." Noleander (talk) 03:26, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Although the ancient Egyptians were proficient at canal-building - maybe some were. Can this be rephrased so as to suggest that it is Egyptian society that's being described?
 Done - Struggling to come up with good wording. I changed it to "Although the ancient Egyptian civilization was proficient at canal-building (which it used to divert floodwaters into basins and floodplains) it did not successfully build dams or reservoirs." Noleander (talk) 03:29, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Egypt and Sudan became completely independent from Britain - why completely?
 Done - Removed word "completely". They were partially independent before then, but it is complicated; no need to bother readers with the subtleties. Noleander (talk) 03:31, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 7.3.4 Late 20th century disagreements and negotiations - Throughout the 20th century, there was a marked imbalance – if this true it is in the wrong subsection.
☒N That is the first sentence of the "Late 20th century disagreements and negotiations" section: "Throughout the 20th century, there was a marked imbalance in political power within the Nile Basin: Egypt and Sudan in the north wielded more power than other ten nations to the south." It serves as background (or segue) into the following sentences, which deal with the latter half of the 20th century. Moving it into the prior section would be much worse for readers, I believe. Noleander (talk) 03:36, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • contain a large number of waterfalls... - imo a large number of is superfluous.
 Done - Removed those words. Noleander (talk) 03:36, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 8.5 Tourism and recreation - the source of vast amounts of travel literature – vast is puffery; Perhaps the most visited – if it is, say so – if not, why mention it?; a large group of tourist – is there a number?
 Done (but see 3rd bullet immed below):
  • Changed "vast" to "large"
  • Changed "Perhaps most .." to "One of the most visited tourist destinations ..."
  • Regarding "a large group of tourists" I cannot find a number in the sources. The essential fact for the reader is that there was little tourism to the Nile before; but upon completion of the Suez Canal, the Nile became a popular tourist destination for Europeans. And one of the first recorded tourist events (on the Nile river) was that cruise. Noleander (talk) 03:41, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • rich and abundant – why rich?
 Done changed to "...characterized by a river scene featuring plant and animal life..." Noleander (talk) 03:45, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

More comments to follow tomorrow. Please add  Done after comments and I will cross them out once I can see they are sorted.Amitchell125 (talk) 16:59, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

Citations

  • Is Popular Science reliable?
 Done - Removed it. There were two other sources for the same sentence. Noleander (talk) 21:23, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Is EnterpriseAM reliable?
☒N Cannot find a better source. EnterpriseAM is not great, no. But it seems like a solid trade journal covering business news in Egypt & Saudi Arabia. I have spent a lot of time trying to find sources for current transportation on the Nile: looked in WP:TWL and Google. Found almost nothing on freight or ferries. One key fact is that Egypt uses roads (trucks) and rail for 99% of its transport - the river is hardly used for cargo ... so apparently it is not something that authors talk about. Since I can find no better sources, this newspaper is all I can provide at this point in time. I'll keep searching, and maybe can find something better before FA nomination. Noleander (talk) 17:51, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • The Nile Basin is home to several parks and nature reserves – this paragraph is uncited, as are a number of the footnotes listed at the end of the article.
  • ☒N The paragraph listing parks: I could not find any source that contained such a list. So I created the list myself. I considered providing separate sources for each: but some of sources mentioning the parks do not mention the Nile, so that would be a WP:SYNTH issue. The approach currently used in the article is to treat that paragraph much like a "See Also" section (which does not require citations) ... the paragraph is simply a list of links to other articles, with some content-free connecting words. If it is an obstacle to GA status, I can convert the paragraph to a See Also section; or remove the paragraph. Noleander (talk) 21:23, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  •  Done Footnotes missing cites: Added cites to footnotes that were stating facts. Did not add cites to some cites (one or two dozen?) which are simply providing a gloss (rather than stating any facts); these footnotes are intended to be interpreted in conjunction with the existing citation that is attached to the same sentence that the footnote is attached to. Noleander (talk) 21:23, 24 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Holl is listed under Books but is not cited. Could this source be placed in Further Reading instead?
 Done Removed it. It was supporting a sentence that was removed a couple of weeks ago. Noleander (talk) 21:23, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

More tomorrow. Amitchell125 (talk) 19:15, 24 February 2026 (UTC)

Images

  • Water balance in the Nile basin is analyzed…–the image shouldn't be any larger than upright=1
 Done Noleander (talk) 21:45, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • The flow of the Nile River varies widely… is also too large.
☒N I agree, but I cannot figure out how to make it smaller. That is a graph, not an image, and it is generated by Template:Image frame which contains a #invoke:Chart bar-chart. I have studied the template, but cannot find a way to shrink it. Noleander (talk) 21:45, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
Green tickY - it can't be done without redrawing it by hand to make an SVG file, a reasonably easy task as it turns out. Chart replaced, please ask if you would like it amended in any way. Amitchell125 (talk) 21:47, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
Thanks .. new version looks much better! Noleander (talk) 23:38, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
  • 5.1 Animals The Hippopotamus amphibius is a mammal that lives in Nile Basin and spends a large amount of time in the water. This specimen is near Lake Edward, one of the lakes that feed the Nile. – duplicate information here? Maybe ‘Examples of Hippopotamus amphibius near Lake Edward, one of the lakes that feed the Nile’.
 Done Noleander (talk) 21:48, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • This map shows the Köppen climate classification zones in the Nile Basin'—‘This map shows the Köppen climate classification zones in the Nile Basin and the surrounding region’ is technically more accurate imo.
 Done Noleander (talk) 21:49, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Geological data, as seen in this map of northeast Africa, are used by geologists to reconstruct ancient topography and water flows.—I couldn't see why this was permitted by Wikimedia Commons, it seems to be copyright.
 Done Good catch. I removed the image. I've noticed Commons has _lots_ of copyrighted images. I think the volunteers there are overworked and cannot catch them all. I posted an inquiry in Commons asking the uploader to provide some "free use" justification ... I hope they can find some ... it is a useful map. Noleander (talk) 22:03, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
I'm looking at the journal where that map was published https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsl/jgs/article/174/2/301/317987/A-detrital-record-of-the-Nile-River-and-its That journal's website says Open Access articles: In general, content published as part of an Open Access (OA) article – under a CC-BY license, – can be used freely without the need for formal permission. However, when reusing content (figures, images and so forth), authors must acknowledge the author and the source of the material. In addition, authors should check each figure caption to make sure the figure for reuse does not require permission from an original source. Articles seeking to reuse more than 25% of an OA article, may be deemed to be duplicating publication and be in contravention of publishing ethics. ... OA articles (denoted by a CC-BY license and/or the OA padlock logo) can be shared and posted to websites or servers without permission. However, if you reuse figures or other parts of the article, you must acknowledge the source of the material and comply with normal publishing ethics." [emphasis added] The article in question has an icon of an orange padlock, in unlocked position. I wonder if that is an "Open Access" indicator that the original Commons uploader relied on? If so: the image may be free-use, provided attribution is provided. Noleander (talk) 22:14, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • John Hanning Speke was the first European… Speke seems to have randomly chosen from those people mentioned in the text—if he is there purely illustrative reasons, I wouldn't keep the image.
 Done- Removed the image. Noleander (talk) 22:16, 25 February 2026 (UTC)
  • The gradient of the Nile is generally steeper—the image seems superfluous, the concept of gradient is discussed elsewhere in the article, but the data in the image isn’t referred to.
 Done - Removed the image. Noleander (talk) 22:21, 25 February 2026 (UTC)

Other points (not necessarily needed for GA)

  • I automatically remove duplicate links when I work on articles—not a GA requirement, but in this article there are quite a lot. How do you feel about removing them?
My philosophy on duplicate links is to avoid them on smaller articles, but use them (at most once per top-level section; and in image captions) on larger articles. That is permitted in MOS:REPEATLINK which says "Link a term at most once per major section, at first occurrence. Do not re-link in other sections if not contextually important there. Other mentions may be linked if helpful, such as in infoboxes, tables, image captions, footnotes, and hatnotes. " [emphasis added]. For the Nile article, at 9,000 words, avoiding duplicate links in the bottom sections would discourage a reader from going to the linked article. That said, links should be limited to at most one per major section. Noleander (talk) 16:31, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Several of the subsections consist of one paragraph, and of these, several contain a short amount of text. How do you feel about combining the contents of (i) 3.6 Tributaries (ii) 6 Geological history?
The size of paragraphs and sections requires a balancing test weighing (a) separating different topics into distinct groups of text; and (b) avoiding the visual clutter of many small groups. Small sections are common in FA articles, e.g. for topics like "Etymology", or "Personal Life", or "In Culture". Small paragraphs are permitted if appropriate. WP:PARA has only vague guidance "Single-sentence paragraphs can inhibit the flow of the text; by the same token, long paragraphs become hard to read." My preference is to leave the "tributaries" section within "Physical Geography" because a key point of the PG section is to enumerate the seven geographic regions of the Nile river; a major source lists the seven, so all seven (including 2 tributaries) should be within the "Physical Geography" section (vs Geology section). Noleander (talk) 16:40, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
  • Some sections have quantities that I would automatically convert so that both metric and imperial units are shown (e.g. 102,000 km3 to '102,000 kilometres (63,000 mi)'. How do you feel about this? Amitchell125 (talk) 09:27, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
    That is a difficult decision. Certainly a large number of WP readers are from US and want Imperial units. There are three options for the article:
    a) Metric (for all values)
    b) Conversions (for all values)
    c) Metric in InfoBox and Tables; Conversions in body text.
    MOS:CONVERSIONS says "Where English-speaking countries use different units for the same quantity, provide a conversion in parentheses ...[example omitted] ... But in science-related articles, supplying such conversion is not required unless there is some special reason to do so." [emphasis added]. I'm treating the article as a science article (under the science of geography), hence using metric only. I'm prepared to fall back to (c) if some FA reviewer insists. The renowned FA article Sun uses option (c). Option (b) is not acceptable: I experimented with conversions in the tables in the Hydrology section, and it made the tables unreadable. Noleander (talk) 16:51, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
Thanks for the above, I'm not pushing on any of the points I raised. Amitchell125 (talk) 18:21, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
@Amitchell125 - Thanks for all your insightful feedback. I believe I've addressed all the issues raised above. If I overlooked any, or if you disagree with any "Not done" rationale, let me know and I'll fix it. Noleander (talk) 18:30, 26 February 2026 (UTC)
I've to check a sample of the citations and then I think we are there. I'm happy that all is good so far, it's an impressive article. Amitchell125 (talk) 18:56, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

Refs check (randomly picked)

  • Ref 176 - just to let you know I had to go to elsewhere to find Hamza, the link you provided was unavailable.
Understood. I read the 2009 Dumont (ed) book as the source, so I was obligated to put that book as the source in the citation. I believe several of the chapters were also published in journals or proceedings in 2009 (by the individual chapter authors). Confusingly, one or two of the authors used the same title for the book chapter and the journal article, yet the text of the two versions varies somewhat. So, even though some of the chapters are available in an online journal without a password, I cannot use that URL in the citation, because I did not read it. Noleander (talk) 23:43, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

Passing the article

Passing now, great stuff! Amitchell125 (talk) 21:21, 27 February 2026 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Isbn hyphens

Thanks for looking at citations and trying to clean up the formatting. However the ISBNs in this article do not use hyphens that's an arbitrary stylistic convention that was established earlier. See above in this talk page. If you could please keep that style choice intact that would be great. Noleander (talk) 16:37, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Hyphens are an arbitrary choice. I don't bother hyphenating mine but I don't complain if someone else does it. If they think that's a good use of their time, go ahead. Is there any reason to prefer 10-digit ISBNs over 13s though? HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:36, 28 February 2026 (UTC)
I prefer 13 digits over 10 digits, If both are available.
Regarding hyphens: I omit them when working on an article because sometimes the available ISBNs for new sources have no hyphens. And once I have insert one ISBN with zero hyphens, then all ISBN's in the article must have zero hyphens for the sake of uniformity. Once the article is completed I have no objection to running a tool to add hyphens to all ISBNs. I'll be working on this article for the next couple of months. I'm not familiar with the tool that's used to clean up ISBNs... I'll probably check it out when I finish the article and maybe run the tool myself. Noleander (talk) 18:47, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

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The River Nile, near Aswan, Egypt
The River Nile, near Aswan, Egypt
  • Source: Betancourt, P.P (2007). Introduction to Aegean Art. Institute for Aegean Prehistory. pp. 93, 122, 146, 190. ISBN 9781623030841. Retrieved 1 January 2026. Versluys, M. J. (2002). Aegyptiaca Romana : Nilotic Scenes and the Roman views of Egypt. Brill Publishers. pp. 3–4, 23, 28–30, 43–50, 55, 65. ISBN 9004124403. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
  • ALT1: ... that although the Nile (pictured) is the longest river in the world, the amount of water it carries is only about 1% of the Amazon, 6% of the Congo, and 12% of the Yangtze?
Source: Liu, Shaochuang; et al. (2009). "Pinpointing the Sources and Measuring the Lengths of the Principal Rivers of the World". International Journal of Digital Earth. 2 (1): 80–87. Bibcode:2009IJDE....2...80L. doi:10.1080/17538940902746082. ISSN 1753-8955. S2CID 27548511. Archived from the original on 23 December 2018. Retrieved 23 December 2018. Tvedt, Terje (2021). The Nile: History's Greatest River. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-7556-1680-0. Retrieved 10 December 2025. Sutcliffe, John; et al. (2009). "The Hydrology of the Nile Basin". In Dumont, Henri (ed.). The Nile: Origin, Environments, Limnology and Human Use. Springer Netherlands. p. 340. ISBN 9781402097263. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
Improved to Good Article status by Noleander (talk). Number of QPQs required: 1. Nominator has 7 past nominations.

Noleander (talk) 22:08, 28 February 2026 (UTC).

  • Suggest ALT2: ... that several species of animals have become extinct in the Nile Basin due to human activity? or ALT3: ... that over 90 agricultural drains discharge industrial wastewater into the River Nile?--Launchballer 18:20, 1 March 2026 (UTC)
I dunno ... ALT2 and ALT3 seem more boring than ALT0 or ALT1. But I'll defer to whatever the DYK community deems best for the encyclopedia. Noleander (talk) 19:54, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

ALT4 ... that hippos, crocodiles, and papyrus of the Nile River (pictured) are commonly featured in Nilotic landscape artworks? Thriley (talk) 06:51, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

More information General: Article is new enough and long enough ...
General: Article is new enough and long enough
Close
More information Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems ...
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Close
More information Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation ...
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Close
More information Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px. ...
Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
Close
QPQ: Done.

Overall: Approving all hooks, with a personal preference for ALT1 or ALT4; I agree with Noleander that ALTs 2 and 3 are fairly on the non-exceptional side. ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 11:07, 6 March 2026 (UTC) ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 11:07, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

If we uses ALT4, which focuses on Nilotic landscape artworks, we'd want to use a different photo such as File:Animals in a nilotic scene, mosaics (from Pompeii).jpg (shown here). We'd have to crop that image and enhance it. ALT1 can use the river/boat image at the top of this page. Noleander (talk) 20:47, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Peer review

Nile

Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch • Watch peer review


I'm planning on nominating Nile for Featured Article status, and I would like suggestions that will help achieve the goal. Specifically:

  • Does the article meet FA criteria?
  • Are there areas where the prose can be improved?
  • Is there any material missing from the article that should be added?

Any an all input is appreciated. Thanks! Noleander (talk) 20:03, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Drive-by from Icepinner

One thing I wonder about the English name for the Nile is why the river was called nilus in Latin, especially how other rivers during the Roman Empire had more "unique" names rather than just being called "river" (example: Tiber).

I also remember a user on WP:DISCORD pointed out that a biblical name for the Nile, Sihor, is not mentioned in the article. Based on a cursory search, there seems to be some debate on what the term actually refers to. Do you think it's worth mentioning this? Icepinner (Come to Hakurei Shrine!) 02:49, 2 March 2026 (UTC)

Addendum: I note that Springer 2010 appears to be a children's book. Is there a better source? Icepinner (Come to Hakurei Shrine!) 03:05, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
@Icepinner - Thanks for the excellent feedback.
  • Why the river was called nilus in Latin? - I do not recall any source discussing that. I'll look into it and see if an explanation is available.
  • ... a biblical name for the Nile, Sihor, is not mentioned in the article. The sources say that the Nile is most likely the biblical river Gihon ... and that is mentioned in the religion section. I don't recall any sources mentioning Sihor. The Sihor article says that most scholars agree that Sihor is not the Nile.
  • ...Springer 2010 appears to be a children's book. You are correct. That is a holdover from prior editors before I started working on the article. A couple of months ago I noticed it was a kids book, so I added a 2nd source for the same fact: Allen 2000, p. 103. I think I left Springer in because it has lots of cool illustrations; but I'll remove it now - it can only raise questions during an FA review.
Much appreciated!! Noleander (talk) 03:19, 2 March 2026 (UTC)
Thanks, Noleander! I also feel like more cities should be added to the schematic Nile route map, such as Luxor, Damietta, and Giza, but I dunno... the article is already massive as it is. It's fine if you don't wanna add it. Any updates on the Latin etymology? Icepinner (Come to Hakurei Shrine!) 06:37, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "Nilus" etymology: I re-read the sources, and they say that the chronology was this: Semitic language called the river "naḥal". Then the Greeks adapted the semitic word into the Greek name "Neilos". Then the Romans adapted the Greek word into Latin "Nilus". So the Romans got the word Nilus by simply adapting a foreign (Greek) name for the river and Latinizing it. I suppose the Romans could have created a new name for the river based on a meaningful Latin word/phrase - but they did not. Noleander (talk) 14:39, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • Adding cities to route map: Luxor and Giza are both displayed in a map that was recently added to the "Geography" section: File:Nile_River_Landmarks.svg. I looked at other route maps (of other rivers/canals) and it looks like they generally focus on water features (docks, ports, waterfalls, locks, etc) and often omit cities and towns. In the route map for Nile, I included the cities of Cairo and Khartoum in the route map not because they are important cities but rather because they are locations of discharge measuring stations (and also Khartoum is the location of the confluence of the Blue & White Niles). In summary: cities, landmarks, and tourist sights are displayed in File:Nile_River_Landmarks.svg, but not in the route map. I'll think about adding Damietta or Alexandria to the former. Noleander (talk) 14:46, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
Fair enough then. Looks good to me. Icepinner (Come to Hakurei Shrine!) 15:18, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

Comments by Llewee

  • "Its drainage basin – the Nile Basin –" As someone who is fairly ignorant of this topic I think it could be made clearer what the basin is and why it is important.
Changed to The Nile Basin is all land that drains into the Nile River (see adjacent map). Eleven countries are wholly or partially within the basin: ... Noleander (talk) 03:31, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • I think terms like "tributary" or "cataracts" could perhaps also be explained.
Cataracts: re-worded as: Soon after leaving Khartoum, the river enters the Sabaloka Game Reserve and goes through large, powerful rapids that are impassible by boat. This is the sixth (and furthest upstream) of the renowned six cataracts of the Nile. Noleander (talk) 03:36, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
Tributaries: Added wikilink, and changed prose to "Several tributaries (smaller rivers that merge into the Nile) and segments of the river ..."
  • "wide variety of climates, ecosystems, and topographies" - Could you give a quick overview here.
Changed to "The basin covers a wide variety of climates, ecosystems, and topographies – ranging from arid, sandy deserts in the north, to flat, swampy wetlands in the middle, to rainy, forested mountains in the south." Noleander (talk) 15:02, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "Lake Victoria is relatively shallow." - You know what I'm going to say ;p
Changed to "Although it is a large lake – the second-largest freshwater lake in the world – Lake Victoria is relatively shallow, with an average depth of 40 meters." Noleander (talk) 03:53, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "slope of the ground in the Sudd is only 1:13,000" - not clear what unit this is
Changed to " The incline of the ground in the Sudd is only 1:13,000 rise over run, so the river slows down ..." Noleander (talk) 03:56, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "White Nile region" - Not much detail here.
Yeah, the sources don't say much about that stretch. If I added more detail, I'd be running afoul of WP:PROPORTION. If some FAC reviewer insists, I can add some detail at that time. Noleander (talk) 14:52, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "experiences significant losses due to evaporation" - I think I have been told off by reviewers in the past for saying that non-living things have experiences.
Changed to "undergoes". Noleander (talk) 03:57, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "the river goes enters the Sabaloka Game Reserve" - This seems like a grammar error. Llewee (talk) 00:37, 6 March 2026 (UTC)
Fixed, thanks for catching that. Noleander (talk) 03:58, 6 March 2026 (UTC)

MSincccc

  • I am occupied with school examinations in the coming week, but will be able to leave comments, mostly prose and images suggestions, if any. Meanwhile, I might make a few minor revisions if necessary. MSincccc (talk) 10:51, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
    @MSincccc - Any help you can give would be appreciated. Your feedback and changes are always welcome. Noleander (talk) 17:13, 7 March 2026 (UTC)
    I have made a few minor revisions for the time being. For now, I would just like to point out that a few reviewers at FAC tend not to appreciate articles greater than 9,000–10,000 words.
    But then, you obviously know more than a teenager who is still in search of an FAC mentor. Thank you for the article. MSincccc (talk) 14:11, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
    @MSincccc - Thanks so much for your detailed scrutiny of spelling & grammar, and the numerous fixes you made. I agree that size is an issue; the article is at 9,450 prose words now ... which should be okay, even given the current focus on size issues at WP:FAC.
    Regarding mentors: I suggest you pick a small article that you want to get to FA status, then get to WP:GA status first. Then, for FA, post a request for a mentor at Wikipedia talk:Mentoring for FAC and also post at Wikipedia_talk:Featured_article_candidates: in the post, ask for a mentor, and identify your article ... some FA person will certainly volunteer. Noleander (talk) 15:35, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
    Thanks for your response. The article has already been through GAN and has appeared on the main page as part of DYK. It relates to both British royalty and fashion. MSincccc (talk) 16:19, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
    @MSincccc - I can help you get that article thru the FAC process. The article already looks pretty good. Can you start a Peer Review (PR) for the article? Instructions to start a PR are here. After you start the PR, sent me a note, and we can do the mentoring process within the PR page. That way, all the ideas and discussions are located in one place. Noleander (talk) 17:07, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
    Thank you for the offer to help. I will start a peer review and leave you a note once it is set up. MSincccc (talk) 17:17, 9 March 2026 (UTC)
Prose
  • The article presently contains both "Nile river" and "Nile River". Could this be made consistent, or is there a reason for the variation? MSincccc (talk) 15:22, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
    Good catch. Changed all to use upper case "Nile river" -> "Nile River". Noleander (talk) 15:28, 10 March 2026 (UTC)
  • "particularly Egypt and Sudan who rely on the river" → should be “particularly Egypt and Sudan, which rely on the river”
    • American English prefers “which” for non-restrictive clauses.
Done. Noleander (talk) 14:28, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

MSincccc (talk) 09:25, 11 March 2026 (UTC)

Sources
  • "From this source, the river runs 7,088 km to the river's mouth" → "From this source, the river runs 7,088 km to its mouth"
    • Avoids repetition.
Hydrology
  • "scientists that study water movement" → "scientists who study water movement"
  • "as well as policy makers that negotiate water sharing issues" → "as well as policy makers who negotiate water sharing issues"
  • Some regions in the Nile Basin contribute to the river's flow, and other regions take from the river.
    • The second portion ("other...") could be rephrased.

MSincccc (talk) 09:16, 12 March 2026 (UTC)

Water politics in the modern era
  • Egypt was concerned that the dam will imperil
    • How about "would imperil" for tense consistency?
  • @Noleander: That should be all from me, lest you have to make any further additions. I look forward to its FAC. Cheers. MSincccc (talk) 08:54, 14 March 2026 (UTC)
    Implemented all of the suggestions recommended above. Thanks for the excellent, as always, peer review. Noleander (talk) 14:34, 14 March 2026 (UTC)

Cultures and civilizations: which to mention?

Posting some notes here for future reference: The question is: which cultures and civilizations (historical and modern) of the Nile Basin should this article discuss? According to Tvedt p 92, there are about a thousand cultures in the Nile basin (in 2021). It is not practical to list them all, let alone discuss them all. Looking at major, reliable sources on the Nile River (as opposed to sources about Africa, or the History of Africa, or the Nile Basin, etc) one sees:

  • Heavy emphasis on the river itself: hydrology, geography, geology, flora, fauna.
  • Moderate discussion of Ancient Egypt: how the river was central to the religion, agriculture, life, etc
  • Moderate discussion of modern Egypt and Sudan (water needs; irrigation; sole source of water)
  • Heavy emphasis on water politics, dam construction, hydro plants; including Ethiopian & Ugandan dams
  • Moderate emphasis on European fascination with the river; search for the source
  • Virtually no mention of individual cultures along the Nile (except for major nation states)
  • Small mention of Nubia, including Kerma culture, Kushite Empire, and 1960s displacement due to Aswan High dam.
  • Upstream nations with ample rainfall: emphasis on hydropower; but not much discussion of irrigation (from the river); very little discussion of upstream cultures relationship with (or dependency on) the river.

The pattern I'm seeing is that sources that focus on the river (as opposed to sources that focus on the History of Africa; or the History of Egypt or History of Uganda etc.) generally do not list or discuss specific cultures, with the exceptions listed above. WP:PROPORTION guideline says "... [an article] should strive to treat each aspect with a weight proportional to its treatment in the body of reliable, published material on the subject." So, this article should follow the sources and refrain from listing or discussing cultures and civilizations of the Nile basin, except those few cultures that river-focused sources discuss; and then the material should be proportional. Noleander (talk) 19:23, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Agreed, it's environmental history rather than general or political history. I'd hope a sentence or more would be due on Funj Sultanate and Muslim Egypt, and Nilotic peoples as a whole, but I don't know as haven't surveyed the literature (and don't plan to). Some more sources that may be helpful: Oestigaard 2018 Johnson 1986 UNESCO 2023 Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 23:53, 8 March 2026 (UTC)
@Kowal2701 - Thanks so much for your ideas and the list of sources. I'll check them out. I've recently added a whole (small) section on Nubian cultures, but the Funj Sultanate etc you mention above may also be appropriate for the article. Much appreciated! Noleander (talk) 23:58, 8 March 2026 (UTC)
There's also the Further reading section of this which may have something useful, but TWL isn't accessing Oxford atm so can't see Kowal2701 (talk, contribs) 17:26, 9 March 2026 (UTC)

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