The
longest river in the world, stretching for 6741 km from East Africa to the
mediterranean, which is unquestionably the single most important element of the
geography of both ancient and modern Egypt.
Without
the waters and fertile flood-plain of the Nile, it is highly unlikely that
Egyptian civilization would have developed in the deserts of north-eastern
Africa.
The study of the topography and geology of the Nile valley has revealed a complex sequence of phases, whereby the river gradually changed its location and size over the course of millions of years.
The study of the topography and geology of the Nile valley has revealed a complex sequence of phases, whereby the river gradually changed its location and size over the course of millions of years.
Three rivers flowed into the Nile from the south:
the
Blue Nile, the White Nile and the Atbarah.
The
southern secrion of the Nile proper, between Aswan and Khanoum,was interrupted
by six 'cataracts' each of which consists of a series of rapids produced by
changes in the type of rock forming the river bed. This section of the Nile
valley corresponds to the land of Nubia, conventionally divided into Lower
Nubia (the nonhern hall), between the first and second cataracts, and Upper
Nubia, between the second and sixth cataracts. The border between the modern
states of Egypt and Sudan is located just to the north of the second cataract.
From the earliest times, the waters of the Nile, swollen by monsoon rains in Ethiopia, flooded over the surrounding valley every year between June and September - an event known as the inundation - and new layers of fertile soil were thus annually deposited on the flood-plain. From the early nineteenth century onwards, however, the Nile was subject to a series of dams and sluices, culminating in the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971. After more than a decade of rescue work, Lower Nubia was largely flooded by Lake asser. Since then, the Egyptian section of the Nile valley has ceased to be subject to the inundation, thus allowing thousands of acres of new land to be cultivated through irrigation schemes, as well as the production of electricity from a hydroelectric plant attached to the dam.
From the earliest times, the waters of the Nile, swollen by monsoon rains in Ethiopia, flooded over the surrounding valley every year between June and September - an event known as the inundation - and new layers of fertile soil were thus annually deposited on the flood-plain. From the early nineteenth century onwards, however, the Nile was subject to a series of dams and sluices, culminating in the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971. After more than a decade of rescue work, Lower Nubia was largely flooded by Lake asser. Since then, the Egyptian section of the Nile valley has ceased to be subject to the inundation, thus allowing thousands of acres of new land to be cultivated through irrigation schemes, as well as the production of electricity from a hydroelectric plant attached to the dam.
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