The Nile and the rise of Egypt

1A river in a desert

Study the map. The green strip is the only land where crops could grow; everything beige is desert. Then read what the Greek historian Herodotus wrote after visiting Egypt about 450 BCE.

"For even if a man has not heard it before, he can readily see, if he has sense, that that Egypt to which the Greeks sail is land deposited for the Egyptians, the river's gift."

Herodotus, The Histories, book 2, chapter 5, translated by A. D. Godley (1920). Public domain.

Why did Herodotus call Egypt "the river's gift"? Use the map to explain in one sentence.

2How the Nile made Egypt

Almost no rain falls in most of Egypt. Every year, however, the summer rains in the Ethiopian highlands swelled the Blue Nile, and from about July the river rose and spread over the valley floor. When the water went down in autumn, it left a layer of rich black mud (silt). Farmers sowed wheat, barley and flax in the wet soil and harvested them in spring. The Egyptians called their land Kemet, "the black land", after this soil, and the desert Deshret, "the red land".

3Why a civilisation grew here: the factors

1. Water and fertile soil. The flood watered the land and renewed it every year, producing a large surplus of grain.
2. A highway. The river flows north, while the wind usually blows from the north, so boats could drift downstream and sail upstream. Stone, grain and soldiers could be moved easily.
3. Natural protection. Deserts on both sides, the sea to the north and the cataracts to the south made invasion difficult.
4. The need to cooperate. Canals, banks and granaries had to be organised over large areas, which encouraged strong local leaders and, in time, one government.
5. Leadership and unity. About 3100 BCE, Upper Egypt (the valley) and Lower Egypt (the delta) were united under one king, remembered as Narmer or Menes.
6. Resources and trade. Stone, clay, papyrus reeds and fish were close at hand; gold and other goods came by trade from Nubia and beyond.

4Case study: the Nile begins in the Great Lakes

The White Nile, which carries water all year round, begins in the Great Lakes region. Rwanda's Nyabarongo River, fed by the Akanyaru and other streams, flows on as the Akagera (Kagera) into Lake Victoria, from which the Nile leaves at Jinja in Uganda. In 1898 the German explorer Richard Kandt traced one of the Nile's most distant headwaters to the Nyungwe forest in south-western Rwanda. Every drop that falls in much of Rwanda may one day pass the pyramids of Giza.

The flood that made Egyptian farming possible, however, came mainly from the Blue Nile and the Ethiopian highlands. The two rivers meet at Khartoum. Today the countries of the Nile basin, including Rwanda, still negotiate how to share the river's water.

5Discussion

Class debate: "Without the Nile there would have been no Egyptian civilisation." Do you agree completely? Use at least two factors from the list that are about people rather than geography.