The Nile River has two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile’s water and fertile soil, the former being the longest. The White Nile rises in central Africa and joins the Blue Nile, which rises in Ethiopia, near the Sudanese capital Khartoum. From here to Aswan is a rocky area known as Nubia and the river here is obstructed by six cataracts (rapids). The northernmost cataract is counted as the first and marks the original southern boundary of Egypt. Between Aswan and Cairo the Nile has cut a broad floodplain through the sandstone. At Cairo the river divides in several channels to form a large delta emptying into the Mediterranean.
From the first cataract to Memphis (near modern Cairo) was known as Upper Egypt. Downstream the land that included Memphis and the Delta was known as Lower Egypt. The area between Asyut (central Egypt) and Cairo is sometimes called Middle Egypt. Lower Nubia between the first and second cataracts is now southern Egypt. Upper Nubia between the second and sixth cataracts is now northern Sudan
The people in antiquity realized that to control and regulate the Nile waters they needed to act communally. The land was divided into compartments by constructing earth dykes. When the river flooded, the water was channelled into these compartments through canals and held there while the rich silt was deposited. When the flood subsided any remaining water in the compartments was drained off and the land could then be ploughed and the crops sown.
But the effect of the inundation on Egypt was unpredictable: in a high-water year, the whole crop could be wiped out; in a low-water year there was drought and famine. With the modern construction of a series of dams along the river, culminating in the building of the High Dam at Aswan, the water is now held back and when required for irrigation it is released through a series of canals.
Its natural barriers protected Egypt against invasion, at least in the earlier periods. In the north the Mediterranean served as a trading route but it was also a deterrent to invaders. The cataracts and the jungles beyond them impeded invasion from the south. To the west there is an irregular chain of oases, scattered across the Libyan desert. The Egyptians had close contact with the Libyans, but they were not a threat to Egypt’s security and stability until later times. Protection to the east was given by the Red Sea, but above this, across the northern part of the Sinai desert, was the one relatively easy route into the Delta and the Nile Valley. Although Egypt’s predictable climate and abundant crops attracted invaders, it was never subjected to the waves of conquest that engulfed other early civilizations.
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