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Environment – the Nile River| Egypt, a very old country with a long history, is situated in the north-east of the great continent of Africa. Here the coastline of Egypt meets the Mediterranean Sea; west of Egypt is the Saharan and Libyan deserts; to the east is another vast desert and the Red Sea, and to the south lies the Sudan. More than 90% of the land of Egypt is desert. |
 Click image for full size map. MAP OF ANCIENT EGYPT with the Delta in the north (Lower Egypt) and the long Nile Valley to the south (Upper Egypt), © MACU |
| The centre of all this is the mighty Nile River (6741 km long), the longest river in the world, which has its source in the modern Uganda. The river runs from south to north to form the Nile Delta where it enters the Mediterranean Sea. For thousands of years the water of the Nile was the only water source available to the ancient Egyptians and it was used for growing crops, to wash and drink, and for navigation. |
 Fig. 1: The Nile, SACHM Photo Archives Fig. 2: Model of boat, Luxor Museum, SACHM Photo Archives |
| In the summer months, beginning in July, the Nile rises reaching its peak in September. This flooding leaves a rich layer of Nile silt on the riverbanks. Between October and November the crops are planted. When the ancient Egyptians called their land the ‘Black Land’ or ‘kemet’ they were referring to the fertile black silt left behind by the annual inundation of the Nile. The red sandy desert was named the ‘Red Land’ or ‘deshret’. The god of this desolate region was Seth and red was his specific colour. |
 Model of wooden plough with hieroglyph inscription and falcon-head, Ptolemaic period, SACHM 72/27 |
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Since 3000 BCE, the ancient city of Memphis, a few miles south of Cairo, was the centre from which ancient Egypt, called ‘the Two Lands’, was ruled. ‘The Two Lands’ were divided into two regions: Upper Egypt (the Nile Valley to the south) and Lower Egypt (the Delta area).
In 1971 the Nile River was tamed by the building of the High Dam in Aswan, which holds back the annual floodwaters. This has created one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, Lake Nasser, named after one of the former presidents of modern Egypt. This enormous lake has changed the environment, as clouds form over the lake and rain occasionally falls causing the average monthly temperature in Aswan to drop by more than 10%. |
 Fig. 3: The Nile and desert region at Aswan, SACHM Photo Archives |