The Great Nile River

The River

The Nile river is the longest river in the world. It's 4,132 miles in length and 1,107,000 sqare-mile basin. The Nile river is made up of two rivers the White Nile and the Blue Nile. These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on on their large journey. The white Nile is a lot bigger then the Blue Nile..

There is no better way to trace the course of Egyptian history than to follow the course of the Nile. The river has been Egypt's lifeline for millenniums, fertilizing the narrow strip of land along its bank with a deposit of silt after each annual inundation - now controlled by the High Dam at Aswan. Along its length Pharaohs, nobles and lesser mortals have all built monuments and tombs to immortalize themselves.

The Nile is Associated with Life

"Egypt is the gift of the River Nile", said Herodotus, the great Greek historian, on his only visit to Egypt. Egyptians would still agree wholeheartedly with his words today. At the end of every year, they are eager to hear good news about the water level in the River Nile. In 1994 the volume of inlet water was considered high. In the High Dam Lake, water reached its highest ever level.

Since time immemorial, Egyptians have associated the River Nile with life, fertility and development. They care about it, and it, in turn, runs in their blood. It has always been their source of prosperity, and was the main factor in building their great civilization. It is from the River Nile that Egyptians draw their friendly character. They have gained generosity, sincerity and fidelity from its flow, flood and purity. Every day, its banks witness thousands of true love stories, as lovers meet on its banks. It provides them with hope and promises them happiness. It had always been a source of inspiration and creativity for all kinds of arts. Many songs are dedicated to the River Nile. And in ancient times, Egyptians made sacrifices for its sake and transmitted its legends through successive generations.

History Tells

Egyptians are blessed with the River Nile, and they appreciate that. They have always built dams, barrages and gauges to maintain it. Akhenaton thanked his god for it in lengthy prayers. Amenamhat III built EI-Lahoon dam in Fayoum city to manage the irrigation system. Another dam was then constructed at Madris Lake, topped by a 100km bridge.

Alexander the Great then extended both Alexandria and Cisostris canals. The latter joins the River Nile and the Red Sea, and was later rebuilt by Amr Ibn El-As. In 1861, Mohammed Ali constructed barrages to substitute the basin irrigation system with a year-round system. Several waterways, such as El-Mahmoudia, El-Ibrahimia and El-Ismailia, were then dug.

In 1901 a new dam was built in Aswan, which was then elevated many times later until finally, Egyptians built the High Dam in Aswan.

The High Dam

The High Dam was seen to symbolize the iron will and great steadfastness of the Egyptian people.

It protected them against the annual River Nile inundation, saved the excess water to be used later at different times, and thereby spared them the sufferings of drought. The High Dam is the most important project that Egyptians have implemented for Nile water management. In fact, it is a landmark in their history. This eminent dam reflects positively on various areas such as irrigation, agriculture and power generation. Hundreds of feddans are now continuously irrigated instead of using the basin system, and more than a million feddans are now reclaimed. Moreover, electrical power is generated on daily basis.

Lake Nasser

Lake Nasser is a man-made lake created by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, opened in 1971. The dam was built to regulate the flow of the Nile River. The lake it formed stretches over the distance of 312 miles.

The shoreline covers an overall distance of 4,875 miles. Gone were the days when the Egyptians would worry that the Nile would flood too high, destroying their crops, or too low, not providing the proper irrigation resulting in crop failure.

The water surface of the lake has reduced the average temperature in the region! The dam has also harnessed the water for the production of electricity and navigation has been improved. Technology often introduces unforeseen problems that can disrupt of human life and nature. The eco-system has been disrupted in the region.

Farmers are forced to use chemical fertilizers because the rich top soil is now deposited in Lake Nasser. The Nile is no longer flowing strong enough to keep salt water from the Mediterranean Sea from forcing its way up the Nile, disrupting the animal habitat and sterilizing the soil in the northern delta region where the banks of the Nile are becoming badly eroded.

Thousands of people, called Nubians, lost their homes when Lake Nasser was made and ancient sites were either moved or permanently covered and destroyed by the water.

Long and Wide

The River Nile's downstream surface is 2.9km2. It is considered the longest river in the world, as it flows for 6690km, starting from Tanganicka Lake to the Mediterranean Sea. On its journey it passes through nine different countries; namely Tanzania, Kenya, Zaire, Burundi, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, the Sudan and Egypt. Along its way it encounters many rocky waterfalls, makes sudden deep drops, then flows along rapidly up and down to reach Egypt's land quietly and safely.

If you ever visit Egypt and drink water from the Nile even once, you will be sure to come back. Indeed Egyptians, as well as all their guests, believe in that.

The Longest River In The World

From Lake Victoria in east central Africa, The Nile flows generally north through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea, for a distance of 5584 km. From its remotest head stream, the Luvironza River in Burundi, the river is 6671 km long.
The river basin has an area of more than 2,590,000 km. The source of the Nile is one of the upper branches of the Kagera River in Tanzania. The Kagera follows the boundary of Rwanda northward, turns along the boundary of Uganda, and drains into Lake Victoria.

On leaving Lake Victoria the Nile rushes for 483 km between high rocky walls and over rapids and cataracts until it enters Lake Albert. The section between the two lakes is called the Victoria Nile. The river leaves the northern end of Lake Albert as the Albert Nile, flows through northern Uganda, and at the Sudan border becomes the Bahr al-Jabal. At its junction with the Bahr al-Ghazal, the river becomes the Bahr al-Abyad, or the White Nile.

At Khartum the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile, or Bahr al-Azraq. The Blue Nile, 1529 km long, gathers its volume mainly from Lake T'ana, in the Ethiopian Highlands. From Khartum the Nile flows northeast; 322 km below that city, it is joined by the Atabarah (Atbara) River. The black sediment brought down by this river settles in the Nile delta and makes it very fertile. Below Khartum navigation is rendered dangerous by cataracts, the first occurring north of Khartum and the sixth near Aswân.

The Nile enters the Mediterranean Sea by a delta that separates into the Rosetta and Damietta distributaries. The first dam on the Nile, the Aswân Dam, was built in 1902 and heightened in 1936. The Aswan High Dam was dedicated in 1971; it impounds one of the world's largest reservoirs, Lake Nasser.

Discovery of the Nile

Egypt was blessed by the Nile in many different ways. Because of the Nile Egypt became one of the great cradles of world civilation. The Nile provided the people that moved to it's valley in the year 5000 b.c. water to drink, irrigation water, farming oppertunity, fish and waterfowl for food, papyrus reeds grew on the banks of the Nile and they were used for boats and for houses. these reeds also allowed the ancient Egyptians to make paper on which to write important documents. The Nile River was gaurded by desert on either side of it and that offered protection. In ancient egypt the nile would flood yearly covering up the farmlands. This would make the land very fertile for farming, thus improving Egypts agriculture. But the aswan high dam stopped the grat river from flooding each year.

Equator

The equator is an imaginary circle on the surface of the earth, equidistant from the north pole and the south pole, and dividing the earth in half. The Nile has to cross the Equator in order to continue its long journey. Marine Officer James Corbett says on the Equator there are chunks of vegetation that breaks loose from the shore. This makes it very wavy and hard to steer. Some boatsÕ engines give out and people are stranded in the middle of the Equator. All year thunderstorms crash and it rains and pours. The Nile is not the prettiest river when people are crossing it.

History of the Nile

The first few settlers of the Nile River built houses of papyrus reeds that were all tied together in columns, with thatched roofs. The walls were made of straw, mud, and clay. Later settlers used the clay to build bricks. With the bricks they built stronger houses. Small villages started to appear along the Nile River. The people of these villages learned to irrigate and divert the water during the flooding season. As time passed the residents of the Nile River became better farmers.

The Land Around The Nile

The land on and next to the Nile has growing plants as do the oases, but other wise the land is all dry deserts. The land gets no water there for they can not grow much. But where the little water is they grow trees and plants and there most populaur tings dates. The dates provided food and shade.

Water Use of the Nile

The Nile river's mingled waters are poured into the Mediterranean. Many Cities get their water suply from the Nile such as Burundi, Rwandi, Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. One 8th of the Niles water is supplied by Atbara.

Weather

Most of the weather around the Nile river is hot and very dry. They hardly get any rain. Instead of having rain or snow storms they have sand storms. Sand storms are when the strong winds blow the sand around and force it into sand hills which are hill made of sand. These sand storms are not a good thing to be stuck in because when the sand is being throwen around it feels like sand paper on your skin.

Egypt

There rose a leader int the year 3100b.c. He came from Upper Egypt. His name was Menes. He started a dynasty that would rule for about 3000 years. Menes organized and had extensive irrigation ditches built to provide more land for cultivation. One of the achievements that he made was that he built a temple inside of his capital called Ptah. The other achievement that he accomplished was a tomb for himself. He would set the pace for all of his successors. Menes was known as a god to the residents of the Nile River and to people today.

Ethiopia

The population of Ethiopia is about 51,000,000. It is located in northeast Africa. It is also formely known as Abyssinia. It is bordered by Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya and Sudan. Addis Ababa is the capitol. Ethiopias largest lake is named Lake Tana. In Ethiopia the main export is coffee with 60% of all exports. The other leading exports are oilseeds, hides skins, and grain. Amharic is the official language of ethiopia.

Uganda

The population in Ugnada is estimated to be 19,386,000. It is located in East Central Africa and it is bordered by Tanzania, Rwanda, Zaire, Sudan, and Kenya. The capital of Uganda is Kampala. Uganda is located across the equater. Lake Kyoga is located in the center of the country. The highest point in Uganda is Margherita Peak with an elevation of 16,794 ft. The main type of economy is agriculture. They farm these types of crops-cassava, sweet potatoes, plantains, millet, and sorghum, the big producer crop is coffee with 90% of all of the cash crops. The other cash crops are cotton, tea, and tobacco.

Sudan

Sudan is the largest country on the african continent. One major topographical fature of Sudan is the Nile river. The White Nile goes into the country through the Uganda border and meets the Blue nile at a point near Khartum, and forms the Nile proper. the Blue nile rises in the Ethiopian plateau , and flows across east central Sudan.

Nile Crocodile

Some crocodiles live on the banks of the Nile river. They are called the Nile Crocodile. As the male reptiles, with four disict heart chambers, are catching their pray with a little help from their strong tail the female is at home laying eggs. The female crocodiles starts being eligible to lay eggs around the age of 10 years old. She lays 20 to 90 eggs depending on how old she is. These crocodiles lay their eggs along the sandy banks of the Nile river where the sit on the eggs till a baby crocodile is hatched. The Nile is a big part of a crocodiles life. These animals are blamed for the deaths of a number of people each year.

Nile Lakes

From the end of the Ice Age about 11,600 years ago until about 6,000 years ago, the Nile River Valley was a good place to live where the people of the Ice Age Civilization could continue their high culture without much disruption, in marked contrast to the situation in China where the end of the Ice Age brought great turbulence. Here are some details about the post-Ice Age Nile River Valley:

At 11,600 years ago, about when the Vela X supernova was seen in Earth, a very sudden (50 years or so) warming event
ended the Ice Age and marked the start of the HOLOCENE AGE of warm climate and glacial retreat.
 
As the glaciers melted, lakes filled the Nile River Valley. From 11,600 years ago to 9,000 years ago, the lakes wre filling up.
 
From 9,000 years ago to 6,000 years ago, the lakes were full, and the Nile River Valley was rainy, with over 30 cm per year net precipitation over evaporation loss.
 From 6,000 years ago to 4,500 years ago, the lakes dried out, leaving few with high levels, some medium, but most low, and the net precipitation declined.

From 4,500 years ago to now, the Nile River Valley had few lakes and a dry climate.
 
As Schwaller de Lubicz, West, Schoch, Bauval, and Hancock have noted, the Sphinx shows clear geological signs of rain-water weathering, so the Sphinx must have been built before the end of the rainy weather in the Nile River Valley.
 
The Sphinx and the Giza Pyramids were probably all built together, either by the Ice Age Civilization of 36,525 to 11,600 years ago, or later, but no later than 6,000 years ago.
 
The 11,600 to 6,000 year old civilization occured after the sudden warming event ended the Ice Age 11,600 years ago.
There was a continual benevolent Nile River Valley climate until the rains stopped and the lakes dried up 6,000 years ago.
 
The period from 6,000 to 4,500 years ago must have put great stress on the Sphinx-Giza Civilization,
as it was losing its lakes and rains.
 
To see what happened, look at the geography of the Nile River Valley.

The map shows elevation of the region from the headwaters area of the Nile River around the Abyssinian Highlands to the mouth of the Nile River at the Mediterranean Sea in the North.
The Red Sea is on the East.
 
The lowest levels are the dark green, under 656 feet, roughly the elevation of the top of the two large Giza Pyramids.
The lowest lands are mostly North of the Safsaf Oasis, marked x labelled SafSaf.
It is about 200 miles West of the current bed of the Nile River.
 
 
The Nile flows north about 200 miles to the East.
 
The small channels probably formed during relatively wet climatic periods.
 
The image clearly shows that in wetter times, the valley would have supported game animals and vegetation.
 
Today, as a result of climate change, the area is uninhabited and lacks water except for a few scattered oases.
 
You can see that during rainy times, such as the time of the civilization of 11,600 to 6,000 years ago, a broad region (roughly light green + dark green) was probably covered by a network of lakes and rivers.
 
Most of the real-estate development of the Sphinx-Giza Civilization would probably have been along the banks of those old lakes and rivers, now buried by sand and only visible by radar.
 

The Nile

A Way of Life

Most of the people they take on falucca rides are tourists from other countries, but some of their customers are Egyptians who just want to spend some leisure time on the Nile. The Nile is a quiet, slow, river which makes most of their trips nice and leisurely. Some of Mohammed's and Kamel's jobs on the boat may look like fun, but most of them are certainly not leisurely. On a busy day they may take out five or six different groups on long trips. At times, they've sailed 24 km (about 15 miles) away from their port -- which is a long way on a boat that is under the mercy of the wind and the waves. There is no motor on their boat!

The Nile may be a slow-moving river but the occasional storms are by no means mild. Kamel says that he would have to be out of his mind to take out his boat in some of the storms that they have, but they have never been caught out in the river in one of the bad ones. There are certain warning signs that let an experienced sailor know when bad weather is coming. Kamel said that he always looks to see if the weather is coming from the east, in which case it might be bad.

Egypt has often been called "The Gift of the Nile." This is because the Nile River has many beneficial qualities that have helped Egypt throughout the centuries. One of these qualities is that the Nile flows south to north, but the winds tend to blow north to south. This way a boatman can float to go in one direction or sail to go in the other. Either way, boat transportation is not very difficult and does not require heavy rowing or towing.

The simple, functional sailboats that frequent the Nile today are very similar to the sailboats that occupied this river thousands of years ago. They are called "falucca" and they consist of a single mast with a triangular sail. Today they are often used by tourists as a way to see the Nile up close while getting a feel for the main means of river transportation back in the time of the pharaohs.