RAS question
The Nile River, the longest river in the world, flows through how many countries?
Correct answer: (C) 11.
The Nile River flows through 11 countries: Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, DR Congo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.
Explanation
The answer is 11. The fact to remember is that the Nile is about 6,650 km long and is treated here as the longest river in the world. The Nile Basin Initiative page supports the same country count, listing Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. This is why option C is correct: the question is testing the full Nile country spread, not only the better-known downstream stretch in Sudan and Egypt. In exam terms, counting only the countries through which the main lower course is famous would understate the Nile system; the accepted list includes the wider set of countries named for the Nile Basin.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Seven is too low because the Nile country list contains 11 countries, not seven.
- (B) Three reduces the Nile to a very small part of its actual spread; the accepted list covers 11 countries across the Nile system.
- (D) Five is also an undercount, as the Nile Basin Initiative supports an 11-country answer.
Concept
This tests the World Geography theme of major rivers and their transnational basins. It recurs in RAS because rivers such as the Nile are often asked through map-based facts, country counts and regional geography links.