Land of the River |
“All of Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” |
It was the Greek historian Herodotus who made
that observation. The remarkable benefits of the Nile are clear to everyone,
but through history he was the first to talk about it and consider its fascination.
Through history, the Nile played a major role in the building of civilizations.
The first civilizations to appear in history started on a river valley or
in a place where resources are numerous and example of these are in India
where Indus river is found and Tigris where Euphrates is found and many other
places (cradles of civilization).
The Nile is the longest river in the world, cuts a swath of green and life
through the bareness of the giant Sahara desert in northern Africa. It is
almost 4160 miles long from its remotest head stream, the Lavironza river
in Burundi, in central Africa to its delta on the Mediterranean sea north
east of Egypt. The river flows northward and drain 1100100 square miles, about
tenth the size of Africa, passing through ten African countries. It has many
tributaries but there are two main ones: the White Nile fed by lake Victoria
and the Blue Nile coming from Ethiopian mountains. These two main branches
join near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and they continue together as Nile
proper until meeting the Mediterranean Sea and forming the Nile delta in northern
Egypt.
Around 5000 BC, one of the first great civilizations developed in the northern
Nile river valley dependent on agriculture in a land called Egypt. Water;
Fertile soil; and river’s flow north while prevailing wind blows south
made the Nile the best transportation way, were examples of the Nile gifts.
Another gift is that every year the flood came bringing disaster and famine
due to destroying the crops and their villages. The first forms of government
appeared in Egypt when the Egyptians organized their efforts under one leadership
to avoid the disasters of the yearly flood.
On
the other hand Nile flooding caused some problems in landmarks. Simple geometry
had to be found to keep the boarder and a simple system metric (invention
of the nilometer) to study the Nile flow and flood every year. As the state
grew and more complex religious and political systems started to emerge, the
need for a system to record events and rituals was growing too. Therefore,
the need to have written records was of great importance. Because of that,
the papyrus paper was found to satisfy that need. These are mainly the gifts
of the Nile.
Being a rich source of water The Nile is seen as the foundation of life in
ancient Egypt. Egyptians’ water uses were numerous. Mainly water was
used for drinking and for watering plants and crops. Irrigation systems were
among the biggest achievement of the ancient Egyptians’ civilization.
They were primitive types of irrigation that depended very much on the physical
geography and geology of the area but to their time, they were of great importance.
All irrigation systems depend on taking water from a natural resource and
diverting it to artificial channels or ponds where it is applied to crops.
At first, before the irrigation systems were of great use and importance,
Egyptian agriculture along the Nile was based on growing winter crops after
flooding had subsided. But after many enhancements made in the field of irrigation
methods, they were able to have more than one harvest a year and having more
yields. These irrigation systems allowed them to grow plants that need watering
all the time thus leading to more variety of crops. And due t the great amount
of water the river delivers, it provided a constant water supply to the people
of Egypt. Moreover, water uses are not limited to drinking and watering but
it is also used for washing, bathing, manufacturing, building and many others.
The influence the Nile has is so extensive. Ancient Egypt was an agricultural
estate and mainly relied on the flooding of the Nile for fertile soil. Inundation
is the yearly gradual overflow of the Nile water or as we can say flood. Each
year, in June and extending to the end of November, land would be covered
with water and slowly water drains and flows back leaving behind high fertile
soil. Its annual cycle of flooding and depositing of silt creates a new layer
of topsoil each year. This topsoil is rich in organic nutrients and basic
elements for plants such as ammonia and nitrogen. Besides this, when water
recedes in October, it leaves behind pools of water in depressed areas whish
is stored for some time until the soil could absorb more water therefore acting
as a reservoir. On the other hand, the mud left by the flooding would be the
best medium for planting their crops. Thus concluding that without the yearly
flooding the soil would loose its fertility, as well as agriculture will loose
its importance.
Nile gifts are not limited, another important issue arises from the unique
river, which is transportation. The river’s flow north and the prevailing
wind blows south made it obvious to the Egyptians to use it as a facilitated
way of transportation. As known, Egypt was of two estates, Upper and Lower
Egypt. For trade and moving from upper to Lower Egypt, the Egyptians used
the Nile River as a highway. To go from Lower Egypt to Upper Egypt they used
the flow of the river. Whereas moving from upper to Lower Egypt they used
sail ships using the power of wind. An example of the Egyptians using this
high way was when they transported the stones for the pyramids from Lower
Egypt.
Flooding yearly caused many problems to Egyptians. In addition to its benefits
to agriculture, each year flooding causes disasters to Egyptians present in
the risk of their villages being damaged and their crops destroyed. So, Egyptians
suffered many loses due to this yearly flooding. As an effect of that, the
first form of government appeared when the Egyptians organized their efforts
under one leadership to avoid these disasters and the yearly flooding following
the concept of authority (decision making). As time past, the ruler (pharaoh)
became more important with more power and influence on Egyptians. That simple
government dealt with many problems that Egyptians were looking forward to
control it like the irrigation systems, storage of food surplus, harvest cycle
and many other tasks. But these acts were not for free and the government
would not stand without having a resource or income so they had to follow
the tax method. By time this form of government started to become more and
more complex.
Inundation had to be studied after all to know exactly when is the flood going
to happen and when shall they plant their crops. For that, the Egyptians invented
a device called a nilometer to measure the level of the Nile and thus predict
the extent of the flooding. Nilometers were built in various places along
the river, they had three different formats – a slab or pillar, a well
or a series of steps but all three were calibrated using the same unit of
measurement, the cubit (about two inches shorter). These nilometer readings
were taken by priests and then studied by Egyptian architects and astronomers.
The most important nilometers, built and studied all time, were located at
Elephantine Island, Philae Island, and at Edfu between Luxor and Aswan. Knowing
that the Nile flooded ever year, a yearly calendar was made depending on that.
This calendar consisted of twelve months and divided each one to thirty days
and it was the most accurate in its time. For time knowledge the Egyptians
used the sundials but they also used water dial more extensively (they used
them during cloudy days). Furthermore, because of flooding erasing the boundaries
of land. A simple form of geometry was found to redraw them.
On the banks of the Nile arose one of the most advanced and powerful civilizations in the ancient world. The Nile represented the life of Egypt every time it flooded and brought about its fortunes. All the scientific, political, and agricultural advancements were a direct results of the existence this river
Egypt
photos
King
Tut or Tutankhamun (reigned 1343-1325 BC), Egyptian pharaoh
of the 18th dynasty, the son-in-law of Akhenaton, whom he succeeded.
He became Pharaoh about the age of 9 and ruled until his death; which
was about the age of 18. Peace was brought to Egypt during his reign
as the worship of Amon, abandoned under Akhenaton, was restored and
Thebes, the city sacred to Amon, was again made Egypt’s capitol.
Although he was not an important king, Tutankhamun is well known today
because of his tomb, containing fabulous treasurers, was found virtually
intact by the British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon
in 1922. 
Cleopatra
(69-30 BC), ill-fated queen of Egypt (51-30BC), celebrated for her
love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Cleopatra, or more
precisely, Cleopatra VII, was the daughter of Ptolemy XII Auletes,
king of Egypt. On her father's death in 51BC Cleopatra, then about
17 years old, and her brother, Ptolemy XIII, a child of about 12 years,
succeeded jointly to the throne of Egypt with the provision that they
should marry. In the third year of their reign Ptolemy, encouraged
by his advisers, assumed sole control of the government and drove
Cleopatra into exile. She promptly gathered an army in Syria but was
unable to assert her claim until the arrival at Alexandria of Julius
Caesar, who became her lover and espoused her cause. He was for a
time hard pressed by the Egyptians but ultimately triumphed, and in
47BC Ptolemy XIII was killed. Caesar proclaimed Cleopatra queen of
Egypt. 
Nefertiti, ancient Egyptian queen who was the chief
wife of Akhenaton, the pharaoh of Egypt, with whom she initiated many
religious, artistic, and cultural changes. Nefertiti may have exercised
the priestly office, a position normally reserved for kings. 
Ramses
II (reigned 1279-1212 BC), ancient Egyptian king, third ruler
of the 19th dynasty, the son of Seti I. During the early part of his
reign Ramses fought to reign the territory in Africa and Western Asia
that Egypt had held during the 16th and 15th centuries BC. His principle
opponents were the Hittites, a powerful people of Asia Minor, against
whom he waged a long war upon. The major battle of this war was fought
in 1274 at Kadesh, in Northern Syria, was hailed by Ramses as such
a great triumph. In 1258 BC a treaty was signed whereby the contested
lands were divided and Ramses agreed to marry the daughter of the
Hittite king. 
The
country of Egypt consisted of two narrow strips of arable land lining
either bank of the river Nile, from Aswan to the northern Delta. Just
beyond the farmlands lay enormous deserts. The Nile was the lifeblood
of Egypt. Its cycle of flooding -- growth, death, and rebirth to new
growth -- became the cycle of everyday life, and also of Egyptian
religion and understanding of an afterlife. The people of Egypt were
dependent on the river for more than their food. It insured a line
of communication and transportation among the provinces of the kingdom.
The pharaohs took advantage of the Nile as a means to transport their
armies, thus maintaining a strong, unified nation.
