Riaan Bernard Joubert
Thongsook College
Abstract
There are multiple debates between historians and geologists on different aspects about The Nile River but most of them agree that without the Nile rive the Ancient Egyptian civilization could not have existed. The Nile was a big part in the development of The Ancient Egyptian civilization. The people of Egypt used the Nile in various aspects in their daily lives. Some of these aspects were farming, recreation, trade and transport. The Nile and natural surrounding areas created a safe haven for the Egyptians against their potential enemies. This safe haven was formed by the deserts in the east and west, …show more content…
It flows through nine countries in total and was only recently navigated from beginning to end (The River Nile Facts, 2016). When seeing pictures of the Nile River it looks like one long river but in fact consists of two separate sections. The main section is known as the White Nile and the other section is known as the Blue Nile (“River Nile Facts”, 2016).
Geography and Climate of the Nile
When looking at a map of Egypt the Nile looks like a Lotus flower with a thin stalk. The Delta of the river Nile looks like the head of the flower whilst the blue and white Nile looks like the stalk (White, 2002). The Delta can be better described as an inverted triangle that fans out into the Mediterranean at the mouth of Egypt (David, 1999).
During earlier times, around 5000 BC, the Delta and The Nile valley was not only covered with thick habitation but was also under water multiple months of the year making it virtually uninhabitable. During this time people lived on the outskirts of the desert. People moved down closer to the river and Delta when the climate and vegetation slowly started changing. During the period of around 4000 BC people started living together in small communities and this led to agricultural and religious concepts being developed (David, …show more content…
These peasant farmers relied on the rich top soil of The Nile to nurture their crops (The River Nile Facts, 2016). For a couple months of the year The Nile would flood its banks and bring with it the black mud the Egyptians named their country after. This black mud was extremely fertile and reasonably easy to grow crops in. This yearly cycle of water shortage replaced by excess water forced farmers to invent agricultural methods in order to control the water to their fields (Moret,