The Gift of the Nile

Like a giant snake, the Nile River slithers through some of the driest desert land on earth to create a narrow green valley. The ancient Greeks called this land Aegyptus; we call it Egypt.

For more than five thousand years, civilizations thrived along the banks of the Nile. About 450 BCE, a Greek historian named Herodotus called Egypt the “Gift of the Nile” because Egyptian civilization depended on the resources of the great river.

The Annual Flood

Every spring, seasonal rains in the mountains of East Africa sent a torrent of water that overflowed the banks of the Nile and flooded the river valley. The rushing river picked up bits of soil and plant life called silt. As the annual flood receded, a strip of black topsoil emerged every year along the banks of the Nile. The silt was rich in nutrients, providing the people of Egypt with two or three crops each year.

Geography of the Nile Valley

That green valley enabled the people of ancient Egypt to form one of the first civilizations in history.  A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnic background, or history. The land beyond the Nile River Valley is the Sahara Desert. A desert is land that receives less than ten inches of rain in a typical year. Since it is nearly impossible to grow much food in the desert, few people lived far from the banks of the Nile. South of the city of Aswan, giant boulders and rocky rapids called cataracts made travel along the Nile difficult and limited contact with people to the south. The Nile flows into the vast Mediterranean Sea, forming a natural border to the north. Egypt’s isolation led to its unification.  People living along the banks of the Nile River spoke the same language and worshipped many of the same gods more than five thousand years ago.

The Aswan High Dam

The Nile no longer overflows its banks because modern Egyptians built a massive dam in Aswan. Since 1970, the Aswan High Dam has held back the water that annually flooded the banks of the Nile River. The dam also provides a reliable water supply for Egyptian farmers during the dry season. The people of Egypt can now convert the predictable flow of the Nile into electricity. The Aswan High Dam initially provided electricity to more than half of the villages along the Nile. The population of Egypt has grown since then, but the Aswan High Dam still accounts for about ten percent of Egypt’s electricity. Unlike oil, flowing water is renewable, so the river will not run out. Ancient and modern civilizations have relied on the mighty river, proving that Egypt truly is the “Gift of the Nile.”