All About the Nile
Quick Facts
The longest river in the world is the Nile River.
It runs 4,145 miles through Northeast Africa.
It flows into the Mediterranean Sea.
Every summer the Nile floods certain areas.
The Nile's largest source is Lake Victoria.
Around 70% of the Nile River comes from the Blue Nile.
North of Cairo, Egypt, the Nile divides into separate channels in the Nile Delta.
Dependence on the Nile
Egyptian people depended on the Nile River for existence. Egyptian worked on Khufu's pyramid. They had time to work on it for three months because they weren't down by the Nile River. During the three months when the Nile River was flooded they were busy baking bread, building boats, honoring the gods, weaving cloth, farming, and writing everything down in pharaohs records.
Dependence on Agriculture
In about 5,000 B. C. The first great African civilization formed in the northern Nile valley. Dependent on agriculture, this state called Egypt relied on flooding of the Nile River for irrigation and soils.
Monuments
Temples, pyramids, and other monuments of these civilizations blanket the river valley in Egypt and northern Sudan. The source of the Nile was one of the earths great wonders until the middle of the 1800s. Ancient Egyptians wrote that the Nile River originated in snowcapped highlands.
Irrigation Along the Nile
Irrigation along most of the Nile River supports the growth of agricultural products such as sorghum, wheat, sugarcane, various legumes, cotton, and citrus fruit. People love to fish in the Nile River. In the late 19th century to raise water levels for irrigation, several dams were built across the Nile River, the most important being at Quina, Asyut, and North of Cairo.