The River Nile (3)

                                          The River Nile is lifeline of Egypt 

Ancient Egypt couldn’t have existed without the Nile River. Since rainfall is almost non-existent in Egypt, the Nile River provided the only source of moisture to be able to sustain crops.


Heavy summer rains (that fell every year) in the Ethiopian highlands, sent a torrent of water that flooded the banks on the River Nile. When the floods went down it left thick, wealthy mud (black silt) which is excellent soil to plant seeds in after being ploughed.


The ancient Egyptians could grow crops only in the mud left out when the Nile overflowed. So they all had fields all over the River Nile.


Reeds, called papyrus, grew along the area of the River Nile. The Egyptians made paper and boats from these reeds.


The Nile also gave the early Egyptians food. They applied spears and nets to be able to catch fish. They would also use and create nets to catch different birds that flew close to the surface of the water.


Another way the Nile River helped the ancient Egyptians was with trade. The Nile was the quickest and easiest way to travel from a place to another.


The Nile River area was known as the Black Land. Further from the river Nile was the Red Land, a location of inhospitable desert.


The River Nile flooded on a yearly basis between June and September, in a special season the  Egyptians called ‘Akhet’: the inundation.


Melting snow and heavy summer rain within the Ethiopian Mountains sent the torrent of water causing the banks on the River Nile in Egypt to overflow in this flat desert land. And this is why the Nile flooded.


The reason why it does not flood now is because of the construction on the Aswan Dam in the particular 1960’s. Which means that by 1970 the flood was controlled.


Hapi was the Nile god. Honoring a god was crucial, and so very important. So the Egyptians when a flood came used to thank Hapi for bringing fertility for the land.

The Nile 

The Egyptians knew the time of the year that the Nile River would flood. They depended on the flooding to bring extra water and the rich soil and dirt that fertilised the fields for growing crops. Since the rains happened almost at the same time every year, the Egyptian civilisation and everyday life was based on the flooding of the Nile, the planting and harvesting of the crops. The Nile flooded the area for about three months and then it had time to empty out into the Mediterranean Sea and return back to its normal size and flow.Egyptian-civilisation Nile River was used by the ancient Egyptians to travel in boats for trade to other areas. It was also used to transport items to the various sections of the Egyptian kingdom. It is thought that many of the stones used for the pyramids and the great buildings in Egypt were ‘quarried’ (dug out from the natural rock) and then loaded onto barges and sailed to the location of the new buildings

Pharaohs had beautiful fancy ships built for themselves to travel up and down the Nile for pleasure and relaxation. The Nile River supplied Egypt with a way to have commerce as well as being the source for their crops.

Since the Nile River was so important to ancient Egyptian life, they added it as part of their religion. They believed the Nile River was the river way that was taken from life to death and then to enter the afterlife. The east was looked at as the place of growth and birth and the west was part of death. This is the same idea as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. In the Egyptian religion it was the way their Sun god Ra, traveled to birth, life, death and then to be reborn each day. This is why all of the burial tombs for the Egyptians are on the west side of the Nile.