Why Egypt is Called the Gift of the Nile?

            Do you know which the longest river of the world is? It is none other that the river Nile of Africa. The river Nile is considered the life of Egypt and Sudan. It flows for 4145 miles 6671 kilometers through north east Africa. It flows from the mountains of Tanganyika to the Mediterranean Sea.

The Nile River

            Egypt is called the gift of the Nile because the valley of Nile is extremely fertile mainly due to the yearly floods and it was this fertility that made its ancient people prosperous and helped them survive calamities. Had it not been for the Nile, Egypt would have bee a barren land many years ago.

            The ancient religion of the Egyptians was based on the Nile, and the lives of the ancient Egyptians centered on the river. It is on the banks of this river that one of the oldest civilizations of the world flourished. This ancient Nile valley civilization goes back to more than 5000 B.C. the headwater lakes-Victoria, Albert and Edward- are in the tropical country, south of the equator.

            Most of the rain there falls during the winter months. The great lakes hold this water and feed it into the Nile gradually during the entire year.

            The Blue Nile and Atbara are the rivers that mainly cause floods. Humus and mud are distributed by the flood waters along the banks of the lower Nile. So the land regains a green oasis that would have been a desert otherwise.

            Did you know that 95% of Egypt’s population lives along the bank of river Nile, which is less than one-thirteenths of Egypt’s entire land? The construction of the Aswan high dam has made the Nile more useful. The dam regulates the floodwaters, generates hydroelectric power and irrigates thousands of acres of formerly unproductive land.

            Lake Victoria ranks as the Nile’s largest source. The river sabot along with others flows into the Nile and increases its volume considerably. From here onwards, it is called the White Nile. The Blue Nile is the longest tributary of the Nile and has its source in Ethiopia like Lake Tana. At Khartoum, the blue and white Nile comes together.

            There are six navigable cataracts between this place and the sea. In Sudan, the cataracts are used to produce an enormous quantity of electricity. They are circumnavigated by waterways.

            The two very big dams built on the Nile, and the cataracts are the main source of a large part of Egypt’s electric power.