25 facts about the nile river25 facts about the nile river

It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Arturo de Frias Marques, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Here's a distribution map. 05 At its deepest, the river has a depth of 11 meters. Enjoy our range of interesting facts about the Nile River. The northern section of the river flows through an area that is almost entirely desert, providing a source of water and a small strip of highly fertile land. [84][85], Several attempts have been made to establish agreements between the countries sharing the Nile waters. Do crocodiles live in Africa? Artwork from the Old Kingdom, which existed from 2686 to 2181 B.C., depicts boats transporting cattle, vegetables, fish, bread and wood. The Egypt Nile River is one of the most important rivers in the world.is one of the most significant rivers. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. This rift is possibly still active, with reported tectonic activity in its northern and southern boundaries. [17][18] Homer called the river , Aiguptos, but in subsequent periods, Greek authors referred to its lower course as Neilos; this term became generalised for the entire river system. 04 On average, the river has a depth of 9.5 meters. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia[11] and flows into Sudan from the southeast. North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta. The famous Rosetta stone was found in the Nile Delta in the city of Rosetta In 1787. The Nile has two major tributaries the White Nile and the Blue Nile. A canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents the Eonile that flowed during 235.3million years before present. [citation needed] A tune, Hymn to the Nile, was created and sung by the ancient Egyptian peoples about the flooding of the Nile River and all of the miracles it brought to Ancient Egyptian civilization.[64]. Security concerns have limited cruising on the northernmost portion for many years. 02 The river's basin covers a total area of an estimated 3.4 million km. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Paul Goodman (author) from Florida, USA on October 06, 2018: In my experience, some people like to learn information through watching videos, either as well as, or instead of through reading. Nile River, the longest river in the world, called the father of African rivers. Nice facts, but they are all im not fanning them. "If you look at the Nile on a map of Egypt, you don't think it has moved very much, but the river is very violent and has moved over time.". The Nile Basin Initiative promotes a peaceful cooperation among those states. Canals bring water from the Nile to irrigate farms and support cities. [16][17] Beyond that, however, the etymology is disputed. In Coptic, the word , pronounced piaro (Sahidic) or phiaro (Bohairic), means "the river" (lit. Over 600 models were run. In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called 'p (Hapy) or Iteru, meaning "river". Ancient Egyptians were dependent on the river for drinking water, food, trade, and transportation. [12], The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Nubian Desert to Cairo and its large delta, and the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. Today, some residents ofEl Qhira (Cairo)have begun using private speed boats, water taxis, or ferries to avoid crowded streets. Just south of the town is the confluence with the Achwa River. Omissions? During the wet season, the peak flow of the Blue Nile often exceeds 5,663m3/s (200,000cuft/s) in late August (a difference of a factor of 50). Its basin includes parts of Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Sudan, and the cultivated part of Egypt. I liked that it told who the god of the Nile is. The Nile River was extremely important to settlement patterns in Egypt. The Blue Nile, which begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, is so named due to the dark color of the silt it carries. Its three main tributaries are the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbara. In Biblical Hebrew, it is .mw-parser-output .script-hebrew,.mw-parser-output .script-Hebr{font-family:"SBL Hebrew","SBL BibLit","Taamey Ashkenaz","Taamey Frank CLM","Frank Ruehl CLM","Ezra SIL","Ezra SIL SR","Keter Aram Tsova","Taamey David CLM","Keter YG","Shofar","David CLM","Hadasim CLM","Simple CLM","Nachlieli",Cardo,Alef,"Noto Serif Hebrew","Noto Sans Hebrew","David Libre",David,"Times New Roman",Gisha,Arial,FreeSerif,FreeSans}, Ha-Ye'or or , Ha-Shior. Before the completion of the High Aswan Dam in 1970, the Nile's annual floods were somewhat unpredictable. 1 The Nile is the longest river in Africa. The Nile River is also a vital waterway for transport, especially at times when motor transport is not feasiblee.g., during the flood season. The basin is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the Red Sea Hills and the Ethiopian Plateau; on the south by the East African Highlands, which include Lake Victoria, a Nile source; and on the west by the less well-defined watershed between the Nile, Chad, and Congo basins, extending northwest to include the Marrah Mountains of Sudan, the Al-Jilf al-Kabr Plateau of Egypt, and the Libyan Desert (part of the Sahara). Learn more about the Nile River, including its hydrology and its plant and animal life, in this article. In contrast, the hot, dry desert areas were Deshret, the "red land." This was discovered by a French chemist. Nile River, Arabic Bar Al-Nl or Nahr Al-Nl, the longest river in the world, called the father of African rivers. According to Wikipedia, the Amazon measures 3,997 miles (6,400 km), making it 3-4% shorter than the Nile. Agilkia Island in Lake Nasser. The Nile was considered to be a causeway from life to death and the afterlife. Fact #1: The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! The Nile River basin, which covers about one-tenth of the area of the continent, served as the stage for the evolution and decay of advanced civilizations in the ancient world. [52], The Giza Pyramid Complex originally overlooked a branch of the Nile that no longer exists. However, the Nile used to run much more westerly through what is now Wadi Hamim and Wadi al Maqar in Libya and flow into the Gulf of Sidra. 01 The Nile runs an estimated length of 6,650 km. A composite satellite map of the full White Nile. This trading system secured Egypt's diplomatic relationships with other countries and contributed to economic stability. The Nile is formed by three principal streams: the Blue Nile (Arabic: Al-Bar Al-Azraq; Amharic: Abay) and the Atbara (Arabic: Nahr Abarah), which flow from the highlands of Ethiopia, and the White Nile (Arabic: Al-Bar Al-Abyad), the headstreams of which flow into Lakes Victoria and Albert. According to one study, they are responsible for between 275 and 745 attacks each year (about 63 percent of which are fatal). It is the longest river on Earth (about 6,650 km or 4,132 miles), and flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. The White Nile Rift system, although shallower than the Bahr el Arab rift, is about 9 kilometers (5.6mi) deep. The growth of the current Sahara began about 6,000, conquest of the northern and central Sudan, "Pinpointing the sources and measuring the lengths of the principal rivers of the world", Amazon Longer Than Nile River, Scientists Say, "The Quest for Cooperation in the Nile Water Conflicts: A Case for Eritrea", "What's the Blue Nile and the White Nile? [21] Another may be Nymphaea caerulea, known as "The Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile", which was found scattered over Tutankhamun's corpse when it was excavated in 1922. The White Nile, which is the longer of the two, begins at Lake Victoria in Tanzania and flows north until it reaches Khartoum, Sudan, where it converges with the Blue Nile. 19 (11thed.). wet period. Europeans had been resident in Ethiopia since the late 15th century, and one of them may have visited the headwaters even earlier without leaving a written trace. Crocodiles are a common sight in Africa. Some people think that the name comes from the Semitic word, nahal, which means "river." The average depth of the Nile River is between 26 and 36 feet. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed and are found along river banks. It flows from Lake Victoria in East Africa up north through the Sahara Desert and finally drains into the Mediterranean Sea. From the Sphinx of Egypt to the Kama Sutra, explore ancient history videos. The first cataract, the closest to the mouth of the river, is at Aswan, north of the Aswan Dam. On average, the depth of the Nile is about 26-36 ft (8-11 m). Thus, all tombs were west of the Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, they had to be buried on the side that symbolized death. Three expeditions under a Turkish officer, Selim Bimbashi, were made between 1839 and 1842, and two got to the point about 30 kilometres (20 miles) beyond the present port of Juba, where the country rises and rapids make navigation very difficult. Its vital waters enabled cities to sprout in the midst of a desert. The Sudd swamp which forms the central part of the basin may still be subsiding. Two start in Burundi: the Ruvyironza River (also known as the Luvironza) and the Rurubu River. 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. This part of the river is a regular tourist route, with cruise ships and traditional wooden sailing boats known as feluccas. Please select which sections you would like to print: Emeritus Fellow of Keble College, Oxford; former Lecturer in Geography, University of Oxford. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Until recently, it was also considered the longest river in the world, but in the face of recent research, it turns out that the Amazon is slightly longer. Ancient Egyptians referred to the river as aur, which means "black," because its annual flood deposited dark sediments along its banks. The source of the river was disputed for many years. Even today, families come to the banks of the Nile River to gather water for their day, against the backdrop of ancient Egyptian ruins. The annual sediment transport by the Nile in Egypt has been quantified.[40]. i think this is a great page how do i subcribe i am a kid so i dont know how 2. The Nile, which flows northward for 4,160 miles from east-central Africa to the Mediterranean, provided ancient Egypt with fertile soil and water for irrigation, as well as a means of transporting materials for building projects. This looks a bit confusing on a map because Upper Egypt is to the south and Lower Egypt is to the north. 1. pp. Telles also uses his account. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. It flows north for some 130 kilometers (81mi) to Lake Kyoga. The Atbarah overflowed its closed basin during the wet periods that occurred about 100,000 to 120,000 years ago. In addition to nurturing agriculture, the Nile provided ancient Egyptians with a vital transportation route. But the ancient Egyptians called it Ar or Aur, meaning "black," a reference to the rich, dark sediment that the Nile's waters carried from the Horn of Africa northward and deposited in Egypt as the river flooded its banks each year in late summer. Nile River The Nile River flows over 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles) until emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. This content is accurate and true to the best of the authors knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional. The Bahr al Ghazal's drainage basin is the largest of any of the Nile's sub-basins, measuring 520,000 square kilometers (200,000sqmi) in size, but it contributes a relatively small amount of water, about 2m3/s (71cuft/s) annually, because tremendous volumes of water are lost in the Sudd wetlands. Author of, Associate Professor of Economics, North Carolina State University at Raleigh. The great civilization of ancient Egypt developed on its banks. Mud from the river was also used to create bricks for building structures and shelters. Get HISTORYs most fascinating stories delivered to your inbox three times a week. They grow to an average length of 16 feet but can measure as long as 20 feet. [60], The other theory is that the drainage from Ethiopia via rivers equivalent to the Blue Nile, the Atbara and the Takazze flowed to the Mediterranean via the Egyptian Nile since well back into Tertiary times.[61]. [9] In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan. The Nile was "a critical lifeline that literally brought life to the desert," as Lisa Saladino Haney, assistant curator of Egypt at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, writes on the museum's website. The Tabula Rogeriana depicted the source as three lakes in 1154. Burton, recovering from illness and resting further south on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, was outraged that Speke claimed to have proven his discovery to be the true source of the Nile when Burton regarded this as still unsettled. It is also believed to be the longest river in the world but some scientists and sources cite that the Amazon is in fact the longest river by 105km (65 miles). The Nile even played a role in the construction of the pyramids, the massive marvels that are among the most recognizable reminders of their civilization. The Nile River flows north through Egypt and into the Mediterranean Sea. Below are 10 interesting facts about the Nile. (Photo: NASA) The Nile flows north for about 6,650 kilometers (4,132 miles), from the African Great Lakes. The length of the Nile River is approximately 6650 kilometres (4132 miles). The Blue Nile begins near Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The Nile Rivers basin spans across the countries of Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Tanzania. It begins in the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria (located in modern-day Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya), and empties into the Mediterranean Sea more than 6,600 kilometers (4,100 miles) to the north, making it one of the longest river in the world. Europeans began to learn about the origins of the Nile in the 14th century when the Pope sent monks as emissaries to Mongolia who passed India, the Middle East and Africa, and described being told of the source of the Nile in Abyssinia (Ethiopia)[67] Later in the 15th and 16th centuries, travelers to Ethiopia visited Lake Tana and the source of the Blue Nile in the mountains south of the lake. During the dry season the natural discharge of the Blue Nile can be as low as 113m3/s (4,000cuft/s), although upstream dams regulate the flow of the river.