The Kagera and its tributary the Ruvubu, with its headwaters in Burundi , is now considered to be the true source of the Nile. It is from here that the Nile is measured as the world's longest river. What are the two main rivers that flow into the River Nile? These rivers meet in Sudan and then go on their long journey northwards towards the sea. Most Egyptians lived near the Nile as it provided water, food, transportation and excellent soil for growing food.
Ancient Egypt could not have existed without the river Nile. Since rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, the floods provided the only source of moisture to sustain crops. Every year, heavy summer rain in the Ethiopian highlands, sent a torrent of water that overflowed the banks of the Nile.
When the floods went down it left thick rich mud black silt which was excellent soil to plant seeds in after it had been ploughed. The ancient Egyptians could grow crops only in the mud left behind when the Nile flooded. So they all had fields all along the River Nile.
Find out about Egyptian Farming. Reeds, called papyrus, grew along side the Nile. Artwork from the Old Kingdom , which existed from to B. Boats were so important to the Egyptians that they buried deceased kings and dignitaries with boats that sometimes were so well-constructed that they could have been used for actual travel on the Nile.
The Nile influenced how Egyptians thought of the land in which they lived, according to Haney. They divided their world into Kemet , the "black land" of the Nile Valley, where there was enough water and food for cities to thrive. In contrast, the hot, dry desert areas were Deshret, the "red land. The Nile also played an important role in the creation of the monumental tombs such as the Great Pyramid of Giza. An ancient papyrus diary of an official involved in the construction of the Great Pyramid describes how workers transported massive blocks of limestone on wooden boats along the Nile, and then routed the blocks through a canal system to the site where the pyramid was being constructed.
Donkeys and horses came from Asia around B. During the time of the early pharaohs, camels were unknown. T he Nile River was the highway that joined the country together. Up until the nineteenth century, travel by land was virtually unknown. Since there are no forests in Egypt, wood was brought from Lebanon. Acacia wood was used in Lower Nubia to build the boats that transported granite for the construction of pyramids. Today, the felucca, a small open sailboat, is a common mode of transporting people and goods on the Nile.
T he Nile River Valley is truly a gift to Egypt. The Nileometers came in different shapes and forms, from vertical columns submerged in the Nile, to steps down to the river. The priests who monitored them obtained power and mystique by predicting crop yields and determined tax to be paid in kind by peasants to their rulers.
Historical records showed on average that one in five years the flooding was too little or too much. In when the Aswan High Dam was completed, the annual Nile floods and sediment stopped for most of Egypt's civilisation which lived downstream. In addition to creating electricity, the dam allowed Egyptians to control the flow of water and build upon the Nile's banks with certainty that it wouldn't be flooded.
Unfortunately the massive Lake Nasser that formed behind the dam swallowed up much of the Nubian civilisation and stopped the silt that had naturally fertilised Nile Valley farmers' crops for many millennia. The silt is now building up behind the dam causing all sorts of headaches for the Egyptian Government.
In addition, the White Nile's route in Southern Sudan is through the Sudd, the biggest swamp in the world. Less than half of the White Nile's flow is lost in the Sudd. The timing of the Nile River floods was crucial to our attempt to become the first to paddle from the Blue Nile source to sea.
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