essay on river nile

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Where is the Nile River?

What is the historical significance of the nile river, how long is the nile river.

• By what other term are the kings of Egypt called?

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• Ancient Egypt Online - The River Nile in Ancient Egypt
• World History Encyclopedia - Nile
• Ancient Origins - The Nile: How One River Helped Build a Civilization – 10 Amazing Facts
• National Geographic - Nile River
• Academia - The Significance of the Nile
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History - Egypt and the Nile
• Nile River - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Nile River - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

The Nile River’s basin spans across the countries of Egypt , Sudan , South Sudan , Eritrea , Ethiopia , Kenya , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Burundi , Rwanda , Uganda , and Tanzania . The Nile is composed of two tributaries: the White Nile and the Blue Nile . The White Nile, which is the longer of the two, begins at Lake Victoria in Tanzania and flows north until it reaches Khartoum , Sudan, where it converges with the Blue Nile. The Blue Nile begins near Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The Nile River empties into the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt.

The Nile River was extremely important to settlement patterns in Egypt . The soil surrounding the Nile is very fertile, unlike the arid landscape typical in the rest of the country. The Nile is also featured in a number of Egyptian myths . It became so important to life and culture that it earned the nickname “the father of African rivers.” The river used to flood on a yearly basis, but now the Aswan High Dam , built in the mid-20th century, allows surrounding countries to control the floods.

The Nile River is approximately 4,100 miles long and was historically thought to be the longest river in the world. There is plenty of debate surrounding this, however, for many believe the Amazon River in South America might be longer. According to the United States Geological Survey, the Nile is about 100 miles longer than the Amazon.

Nile River , the longest river in the world, called the father of African rivers. It rises south of the Equator and flows northward through northeastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea . It has a length of about 4,132 miles (6,650 kilometres) and drains an area estimated at 1,293,000 square miles (3,349,000 square kilometres). Its basin includes parts of Tanzania , Burundi , Rwanda , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Kenya , Uganda , South Sudan , Ethiopia , Sudan , and the cultivated part of Egypt . Its most distant source is the Kagera River in Burundi .

The Nile is formed by three principal streams: the Blue Nile (Arabic: Al-Baḥr Al-Azraq; Amharic: Abay) and the Atbara (Arabic: Nahr ʿAṭbarah), which flow from the highlands of Ethiopia, and the White Nile (Arabic: Al-Baḥr Al-Abyad), the headstreams of which flow into Lakes Victoria and Albert .

The name Nile is derived from the Greek Neilos (Latin: Nilus), which probably originated from the Semitic root naḥal , meaning a valley or a river valley and hence, by an extension of the meaning, a river. The fact that the Nile—unlike other great rivers known to them—flowed from the south northward and was in flood at the warmest time of the year was an unsolved mystery to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. The ancient Egyptians called the river Ar or Aur (Coptic: Iaro), “Black,” in allusion to the colour of the sediments carried by the river when it is in flood. Nile mud is black enough to have given the land itself its oldest name, Kem or Kemi, which also means “black” and signifies darkness. In the Odyssey , the epic poem written by the Greek poet Homer (7th century bce ), Aigyptos is the name of the Nile (masculine) as well as the country of Egypt (feminine) through which it flows. The Nile in Egypt and Sudan is now called Al-Nīl, Al-Baḥr, and Baḥr Al-Nīl or Nahr Al-Nīl.

The Nile River basin , which covers about one-tenth of the area of the continent, served as the stage for the evolution and decay of advanced civilizations in the ancient world. On the banks of the river dwelled people who were among the first to cultivate the arts of agriculture and to use the plow. The basin is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean; on the east by the Red Sea Hills and the Ethiopian Plateau ; on the south by the East African Highlands , which include Lake Victoria , a Nile source; and on the west by the less well-defined watershed between the Nile, Chad , and Congo basins, extending northwest to include the Marrah Mountains of Sudan , the Al- Jilf al-Kabīr Plateau of Egypt, and the Libyan Desert (part of the Sahara).

The availability of water from the Nile throughout the year, combined with the area’s high temperatures, makes possible intensive cultivation along its banks. Even in some of the regions in which the average rainfall is sufficient for cultivation, marked annual variations in precipitation often make cultivation without irrigation risky.

The Nile River is also a vital waterway for transport, especially at times when motor transport is not feasible—e.g., during the flood season. Improvements in air, rail, and highway facilities beginning in the 20th century, however, greatly reduced dependency on the waterway.

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Why the Nile River Was So Important to Ancient Egypt

By: Patrick J. Kiger

Updated: August 6, 2024 | Original: July 12, 2021

When the Greek historian Herodotus wrote that the ancient Egyptians' land was "given them by the river," he was referring to the Nile , whose waters were essential to the rise of one of the world’s earliest great civilizations.

The Nile, which flows northward for 4,160 miles from east-central Africa to the Mediterranean, provided ancient Egypt with fertile soil and water for irrigation, as well as a means of transporting materials for building projects. Its vital waters enabled cities to sprout in the midst of a desert.

In order to benefit from the Nile, people who lived along its banks had to figure out how to cope with the river’s annual flooding. They also developed new skills and technology, from agriculture to boat and ship building. The Nile even played a role in the construction of the pyramids, the massive marvels that are among the most recognizable reminders of their civilization. Beyond practical matters, the vast river had a profound influence upon the ancient Egyptians’ view of themselves and their world, and shaped their religion and culture.

The Nile was "a critical lifeline that literally brought life to the desert," as Lisa Saladino Haney, assistant curator of Egypt at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, writes on the museum's website. "Without the Nile, there would be no Egypt," writes Egyptologist in his 2012 book, The Nile .

The Nile Was a Source of Rich Farmland

The Nile's modern name comes from the Nelios , the Greek word for river valley. But the ancient Egyptians called it Ar or Aur , meaning "black," a reference to the rich, dark sediment that the Nile's waters carried from the Horn of Africa northward and deposited in Egypt as the river flooded its banks each year in late summer. That surge of water and nutrients turned the Nile Valley into productive farmland, and made it possible for Egyptian civilization to develop in the midst of a desert.

The Nile Valley's thick layer of silt "transformed what might have been a geological curiosity, a version of the Grand Canyon, into a densely populated agricultural country," explains Barry J. Kemp in Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization .

The Nile was such a focal point to the ancient Egyptians that their calendar began the year with the first month of the flooding. The Egyptian religion even venerated a deity of flooding and fertility, Hapy , who was depicted as a chubby man with blue or green skin.

According to the UN’s Food And Agriculture Organization , ancient Egyptian farmers were one of the first groups to practice agriculture on a large scale, growing food crops such as wheat and barley, as well as industrial crops such as flax for making clothing. To get the most out of the Nile's waters, ancient Egyptian farmers developed a system called basin irrigation . They constructed networks of earthen banks to form basins, and dug channels to direct floodwater water into the basins, where it would sit for a month until the soil was saturated and ready for planting.

"It is obviously challenging if the land on which you have built your home and grow your food gets flooded by a river every August and September, as the Nile used to do before the Aswan High Dam," explains Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., a retired Penn State University professor of Middle East history and the author of A Brief History of Egypt . "Creating dikes, channels and basins to move and store some of the Nile waters required ingenuity and probably much trial-and-error experimentation for the ancient Egyptians."

To predict whether they faced dangerous floods or low waters that could result in a poor harvest, the ancient Egyptians built nilometers —stone columns with markings that would indicate the water level.

The River Served as a Vital Transportation Route

In addition to nurturing agriculture, the Nile provided ancient Egyptians with a vital transportation route. As a result, they became skilled boat and ship builders who created both large wooden craft with sails and oars , capable of traveling longer distances, and smaller skiffs made of papyrus reeds attached to wooden frames . 

Artwork from the Old Kingdom , which existed from 2686 to 2181 B.C., depicts boats transporting cattle, vegetables, fish, bread and wood. Boats were so important to the Egyptians that they buried deceased kings and dignitaries with boats that sometimes were so well-constructed that they could have been used for actual travel on the Nile.

The Nile Valley as Part of Identity

The Nile influenced how Egyptians thought of the land in which they lived, according to Haney. They divided their world into Kemet , the "black land" of the Nile Valley, where there was enough water and food for cities to thrive. In contrast, the hot, dry desert areas were Deshret, the "red land." They linked the Nile Valley and oases in the desert areas with life and abundance, while the deserts were associated with death and chaos.

The Nile also played an important role in the creation of the monumental tombs such as the Great Pyramid of Giza . An ancient papyrus diary of an official involved in the construction of the Great Pyramid describes how workers transported massive blocks of limestone on wooden boats along the Nile, and then routed the blocks through a canal system to the site where the pyramid was being constructed. 

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ENCYCLOPEDIC ENTRY

The Nile River flows over 6,800 kilometers (4,000 miles) before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. For thousands of years, the river has provided a source of irrigation to transform the dry area around it into lush agricultural land. Today, the river continues to be a vital freshwater resource for millions of northeast Africans who rely on it for irrigation, drinking water, fishing, and hydroelectric power.

Anthropology, Sociology, Geography, Social Studies, Ancient Civilizations

Women and Children on the Banks of the Nile

Even today, families come to the banks of the Nile River to gather water for their day, against the backdrop of ancient Egyptian ruins.

Photograph by David Boyer

The Nile River , the longest river in the world, flows from south to north through northeastern Africa. It begins in the rivers that flow into Lake Victoria (located in modern-day Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and travels more than 6,800 kilometers (4,000 miles) to the north, emptying into the Mediterranean Sea on Egypt’s coast. The river’s three main tributaries are the Atbara, the Blue Nile and the White Nile . The entire Nile River basin —made up of interconnected streams, lakes and rivers—threads its way through 11 African countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Nile River was critical to the development of ancient Egypt . The soil of the Nile River Delta between Cairo, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea is rich in nutrients, due to the large silt deposits the Nile leaves behind as it flows into the sea. The banks of the Nile all along its vast length contain rich soil as well, thanks to annual flooding that deposits silt. From space, the contrast between the Nile's lush green river banks and the desert through which it flows is obvious.

For millennia , much of Egypt's food has been cultivated in the Nile Delta region. Ancient Egyptians developed irrigation methods to increase the amount of land they could use for crops to support a thriving population. Beans, cotton, flax and wheat were important, abundant crops that could be easily stored and traded.

The Nile River Delta was also an ideal growing location for the papyrus plant. Ancient Egyptians used the papyrus plant in many ways, such as making cloth, boxes and rope, but by far its most important use was in making paper. Besides using the river's natural resources for themselves and trading them with others, early Egyptians also used the river for bathing, drinking, recreation and transportation. Today, National Geographic Explorer Raghda (Didi) El-Behaedi studies how ancient societies responded to a shrinking water supply, particularly focusing on Lake Moeris and the Nile. Informed by technologies such as remote sensing and GIS, El-Behaedi seeks to better understand ancient landscapes and subsequently bolster cultural heritage preservation efforts in Egypt.

Today, 95 percent of Egyptians live within a few miles of the Nile. Canals bring water from the Nile to irrigate farms and support cities. The river's water is a vital resource for millions of people who depend on it for irrigation, drinking water, fishing and hydroelectric power . The river has served as an important transportation route for thousands of years. Today, some residents of Cairo have begun using private speed boats, water taxis or ferries to avoid crowded streets.

Dams , such as the Aswan Dam in Egypt, have been built to help to tame the river and provide a source of hydroelectric power. However, the silt and sediment that used to flow north, enriching the soil and building the delta, is now building up behind the dam. Instead of growing in size through the soil deposits, the delta is shrinking due to erosion along the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, annual flooding no longer occurs along parts of the Nile. These floods were necessary to flush and clean the water of human and agricultural waste. As a result, the water is becoming more polluted.

The many habitats in the Nile River basin support biodiversity in the region. The basin is home to a variety of animals, including the hippopotamus, the monitor lizard and the fearsome Nile crocodile. The Nile River Delta is also a vital winter stopover for millions of birds migrating along the East African flyway .

The rivers and lakes are filled with a variety of freshwater fish, including the sharp-toothed tigerfish and the Nile perch, a large fish that can grow to weigh more than 79 kilograms (175 pounds). Fishing is a way of life for many inhabitants of northeast Africa, who depend on it for food and a way to earn money. Today, however, the Nile River system is threatened by pollution, as it harms the fish and other wildlife that live in its aquatic environment. This pollution is also impacting the people who depend on the Nile for their drinking water and for irrigating their crops.

With so many countries sharing and relying on the interconnected water resource that is the Nile River basin, it is essential for them to cooperate in regard to its use. Unfortunately, these countries do not always agree on how to manage the water supply. One of the countries most impacted by pollution and water shortages is Egypt, which gets 90 percent of its water from the Nile. As the country’s population increases, experts say Egypt’s demand for water may soon exceed its supply. The United Nations predicts that Egypt will face a water shortage by 2025.

This need for cooperation led to the formation of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) in 1999. The NBI brings representatives from all 11 countries in the Nile River basin together to discuss ways to manage and share the water. In 2010, one NBI initiative saw four nations—Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda—enter into a Nile River water-sharing agreement. The agreement, called the Cooperative Framework Agreement, allows the countries to use the Nile River system in their borders to encourage cooperation and sustainability. Kenya and Burundi later signed onto the agreement, which remains in place today.

There are still disagreements over the management of the Nile's waters. Ethiopia recently built its own dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, over the Blue Nile tributary. The Blue Nile supplies most of the water that flows into the Nile River. This has created conflict between Ethiopia and the two countries, Egypt and Sudan, that are downriver. Egypt and Sudan depend on the flow of water from the Blue Nile.

The dam, however, is a big benefit to Ethiopia. It will allow all of its citizens to have access to electricity. In 2015, the three "downriver" countries impacted by Ethiopia's dam—Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan—signed an agreement to cooperate as the dam was built and its reservoir slowly filled. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is now Africa's largest dam. It began producing electricity in 2022.

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Impact of the Nile River on Ancient Egypt

In the thousands of years after the end of the last Ice Age, North Africa had a much wetter climate than it does today. Over time, the climate became drier as the wetlands turned into the Sahara Desert we know today. The land became dry and difficult for human societies to live in. In the midst of the desert, however, was a flowing river called the Nile.

The Nile supported and allowed life to thrive in the grueling climate. The earliest inhabitants along the river found that the river provided many sources of food, and more importantly, discovered an annual 6 month period where the Nile flooded. The brown layer of silt that the Nile left when it receded was full of nutrients that allowed for farming to occur. Through the use of irrigation canals, agriculture was born which paved the way for the emergence of Egyptian civilization.

This painting depicts the vitality the Nile River brings to the arid climate. Without it, Egyptian civilization could not have existed.

The inhabitants utilized the Nile to adapt to the changing environment. Instead of roaming the land, they saw the opportunity the Nile provided them through agriculture. Similar to how the Mayans developed Neolithic techniques through maize, beans, and squash in the tropical climate of Guatemalan rainforests, early Egyptians were able to grow wheat, beans, and cotton on the banks of the Nile. By determining when the Nile flooded, the river proved to be a sustainable way to live life.

The flooding of the Nile was not a perfect occurrence. This gave rise to the belief in the gods and a highly stratified social structure. At the top of the social structure were gods such as Ra and Osiris because the Egyptians believed that they controlled the universe. The Egyptians tried their best to please the gods because if they were happy, then the Nile would flood producing an abundance of crops and preventing famine. After the gods came the pharaohs in social status. The Egyptian people believed the pharaoh to be a god in mortal form. They had absolute power over the dominion which required protection through the help of government officials and soldiers. The rest of the people’s status went in the order of scribes, merchants, artisans, farmers, and finally slaves.

This wall painting depicts the King Tutankhamen with Egyptian gods Anubis and Nephthys. King Tutankhamen ruled from 1333- 1323 BCE.

This social stratification was necessary for a civilization as large as ancient Egypt to function. Slaves were utilized to build infrastructure, farmers produced the food for the society, and the other social levels contributed by either governing, defending, or producing commodities for the civilization. Social mobility was possible in ancient Egypt though. Sending sons to schools to learn how to read and write could make it possible for them to become a scribe, boosting social status.

Ancient Egyptian civilization was created and greatly influenced by the Nile River. The flooding of the Nile was sustainable but not perfectly reliable, creating the belief in gods and social stratification. The Nile River provided sustenance to Egypt for around 3000 years. In 332 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and Ptolemaic period of Macedonian rule began.

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/3b.asp

http://www.ushistory.org/civ/3a.asp

http://www.timemaps.com/ancient-egyptian-history-3500bc

http://egyptiansyear4.weebly.com/the-uses-of-the-river-nile.html

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-egypt/pictures/egyptian-relief-sculpture-and-paintings/wall-painting-of-tutankhamun-accompanied-by-anubis-and-nephthys-2

Further Readings:

http://www.ancient.eu/article/997/

http://www.livescience.com/32616-how-were-the-egyptian-pyramids-built-.html

2 thoughts on “ Impact of the Nile River on Ancient Egypt ”

As population grows social stratification and job specialization occurs. With a multitude of river valley civilizations did social stratification manifest in a similar fashion? Can social class exist without the human rights violations of slavery?

As the size of any civilization increases, social stratification and job specialization will inherently have to grow in order to support the resources necessary for the people. Everyone cannot be performing the same job. Some of the population needs to specialize in agriculture, some in government leadership, and others in maintenance. Everyone needs to have a specific niche in order to run civilizations at such a grand scale. Take for example the Chinese Terracotta Army and the Pyramids in Egypt. If everyone worked on the building of the structures, then no one would be able to produce food and lead the civilizations. This is where social stratification occurs as the more favorable jobs (high leadership positions) are given to people who are higher up on the social ladder.

In theory, explicit social class can exist without slavery, however it will never actually happen as the benefits that slavery provides to a civilization are enormous. For example, slaves and indentured servants were a major asset to the construction of the Egyptian pyramids.

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The River Nile’s Importance to the Ancient Egyptians Essay

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Analysis of abdul’s work, identification of abdul’s literacy demands, literacy teaching strategies for abdul.

This work is an analysis of Abdul’s assignment on the importance of the River Nile to the Ancient Egyptians. Abdul is a male student who started learning English in pre-school. His family migrated into Egypt from Somalia when he was three years old. He has been in the same school since kindergarten but has received literacy support for only two years. Their teacher gave them a task to “Reconstruct a day in the life of an Ancient Egyptian, which centred on the Nile River”. The class had two weeks to research, write, and submit their drafts to their teacher. This work analyses Abdul’s task in terms of the satisfaction of the demands of literacy and the NSW Board of Studies history curriculum.

Abdul demonstrates some elementary knowledge of the history of Ancient Egyptians. He talks about the rich and fertile soil, flooding, crocodiles and the Egyptian sun god, Ra. He demonstrates awareness of the uses of River Nile by stating that they used the Nile for food production, worship and leisure. This assertion is true because some communities in Ancient Egypt worshipped River Nile apart from using its water for irrigation and leisure activities such as swimming (Feez, 2012).

Abdul also demonstrates knowledge of the seasons in ancient Egypt. He writes, “The Egyptians would harvest their crops in March, and it would grow crops from October to March because from July until October there would be a flood…” However, he does not demonstrate detailed knowledge of the economic activities that the Egyptians practised. He does not talk about the type of crops or fish the Egyptians harvested. He does not even talk about the methods of flood prevention.

The instructor expected Abdul to recount the activities in an Ancient Egyptian’s day. However, he makes his work look like an informal letter. His work would achieve better results if he used the structure of a personal journal. The journal would have helped him recount every activity that the Egyptian did during the day. Therefore, his draft does not effectively achieve its social function because of the wrong structure.

A journal is more formal and communicates better than the friendly letter Abdul uses. Besides, Abdul’s paragraphs lack cohesion. They lack proper transitional phrases to help him move smoothly between paragraphs (Korner, Mclnnes & Rose, 2007). For example, he begins the fourth paragraph with the words, “I remember once…” He does not link them to the third paragraph.

Abdul’s draft is also full of grammatical mistakes. He misuses prepositions, pronouns, punctuation marks and clauses. When referring to the Egyptians, he says, “It would grow crops…” He uses the preposition “it” instead of “they”. He also omits commas when separating the main clauses and subordinate clauses. For example, he says, “I remember once that when we were swimming, there was a herd of crocodiles…” He should have put a comma between “swimming” and “there”.

He also misuses the preposition “until” when he says, “July until…” The preposition “to” could have been more appropriate in this context compared to “until”. He also has problems with spelling and capitalization. Instead of the word “use”, he says, “youse”. Instead of “harvest”, he says, “hardest”. The second misspelt word shows that he did not proofread his work. Worse still, he does not know that all proper nouns must start with capital letters. He writes, “river Nile” instead of “River Nile” (Korner, Mclnnes & Rose, 2007).

The syllabus requires learners to use historical terms that refer to physical features, roles of key groups, significant beliefs, values and practices. It also expects them to describe the role of significant people and contact groups when talking about ancient Egypt (Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority, 2012). However, Abdul only mentions a few beliefs and economic activities. His knowledge of the history of Ancient Egypt is shallow. He does not explain the information he talks about. Therefore, he needs to learn how to use more terms that relate to ancient Egypt.

The structure of his work is also wrong. It is too casual for an academic paper. Besides, it lacks cohesion between paragraphs. His language mastery is equally very poor. The instructor needs to teach him the best structure for recounting events that occur in a single day. In this case, a journal could have worked better than a letter. He also needs to learn that in academic writing, each paragraph carries a single idea, which the writer develops to the fullest.

The best teaching strategies for Abdul are modelling, deconstruction, joint construction and scaffolding. Almost all these methods involve the teacher’s guide to the students (Department of Education and Training, 2012). The teacher shows the students what to do, and they follow the teacher’s procedure in their assignments.

In modelling, the teacher performs a task as the learner observes. Learners then imitate the teacher in their tasks. Therefore, Abdul’s teacher should design an example of the task he expects Abdul to perform before letting him do it. He should develop a draft that simulates what Abdul should do. It should demonstrate the correct structure, details, cohesion and level of language.

The teacher can also combine joint deconstruction, joint construction and scaffolding in helping Abdul (Freebody, 2011). Joint deconstruction involves breaking down the text into individual paragraphs. This activity helps learners to identify the purpose of each paragraph (Cornish and Garner, 2009). In joint construction, the teacher writes while the students participate in organizing information into paragraphs and arranging them logically. Scaffolding entails an interaction between the learner and the instructor. The instructor must know the learner’s weaknesses before giving him support.

Australian Curriculum Assessment Reporting Authority. (2012). General capabilities in the Australian Curriculum . Web.

Cornish, L., & Garner, J. (2009). Promoting student learning . Pearson Education Australia.

Department of Education and Training. (2012). Teaching and learning: Literacy . Web.

Feez, S. (2012). Designing a literacy teaching sequence in EDEE400 literacies in context . Topic Lectures notes. University of New England.

Freebody, P. (2011). Literacy across the school curriculum . Web.

Korner, H., Mclnnes, D & Rose, D. (2007). Texts and language science . Sury Hills, NSW: NSW Adult Migrant Education Service.

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IvyPanda. (2020, July 8). The River Nile's Importance to the Ancient Egyptians. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-river-niles-importance-to-the-ancient-egyptians/

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IvyPanda . 2020. "The River Nile's Importance to the Ancient Egyptians." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-river-niles-importance-to-the-ancient-egyptians/.

1. IvyPanda . "The River Nile's Importance to the Ancient Egyptians." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-river-niles-importance-to-the-ancient-egyptians/.

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IvyPanda . "The River Nile's Importance to the Ancient Egyptians." July 8, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-river-niles-importance-to-the-ancient-egyptians/.

Essay on “River Nile” for School, College Students, Long and Short English Paragraph, Speech for Class 10, Class 12, College and Competitive Exams.

Diver Nile has the honour of being the longest river in the world. It starts in two branches in different parts of Africa but then joins into one river later on. The bigger branch is called, White Nile and starts from the Victoria Falls in Uganda. The smaller branch is called, Blue Nile and begins form the Thana River in Ethiopia. Nile and its helping rivers flow through nine countries. The White Nile flows through Uganda, Sudan and Egypt while the Blue Nile begins form Ethiopia and flows through Zaire, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi and then joins the White Nile. The 6,659-kilometer-long journey of Nile finishes when in it empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The people living in the water consumption area have been practicing farming from 5,000 years. The average population of the region is 1,000 people per square kilometer. Today with the increasing population and farming the people are extracting more water from the Nile than they should which results in the Nile loosing up strength and not emptying into the sea in the hot and dry seasons.

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How Did Nile Shape Ancient Egypt

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An analysis on the Poem To the Nile

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Evaluate the contribution of the Nile River to its occupants The Nile river played a fundamental role in the establishment of Egypt as an ancient super power, its contribution was unparalleled in terms of social, religious and political aspects. The emergence of the Nile as a culture of significance, dominance and prosperity was a direct ramification of the geographical location of the river and how its' occupants utilised the given resources in order to become a powerful civilisation. Through the employment of resources, the primitive existence of the Egyptians was effectively sustained, for this reason the father of History Herodotus describes the Nile as a gift, " The gift of the Nile ". The Nile determined the social conventions of the Egyptian people, specifically agricultural processes and the establishment of a hierarchical system of governing. Essentially the Nile river played an integral role in the emergence and power of its' ancient Egyptian occupants, contributing socially, economically and religiously, ultimately developing and sustaining life. c. 6000BC the world changed with the relocation of several tribes into the floodplains 1 of the Nile. The Nile's first occupants had to overcome a significant complication, the lower Nile flowed through the desert, spawning green lands the width of the floodplain, however Geographical location has played a quintessential role in the emergence and dominance of 1 civilisations, until the industrial era, all the 'mega' cities of the 21st century-New York, Paris, London, were kept to eight square miles of land. This was due to a simple matter of physics, humans had to be within walking distance from the agricultural process-close enough to producers and suppliers of food/water (farms) and civil administration-e.g. tax man and policeman needed to be able to physically service the territory effectively. Essentially this prompts the idea of 'the geography of limitation'-The Accidental Superpower (Peter Zeihan), civilisations could only operate within the confinements of their circumference, expanding beyond this eight square miles would have resulted in famine, disease and loss of government control, this kept cities fairly small.

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• Published: 06 November 2013

The trajectory, structure and origin of the Chelyabinsk asteroidal impactor

• Jiří Borovička 1 ,
• Pavel Spurný 1 ,
• Peter Brown 2 , 3 ,
• Paul Wiegert 2 , 3 ,
• Pavel Kalenda 4 ,
• David Clark 2 , 3 &
• Lukáš Shrbený 1  

Nature volume  503 ,  pages 235–237 ( 2013 ) Cite this article

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• Asteroids, comets and Kuiper belt
• Meteoritics

Earth is continuously colliding with fragments of asteroids and comets of various sizes. The largest encounter in historical times occurred over the Tunguska river in Siberia in 1908, producing 1 , 2 an airburst of energy equivalent to 5–15 megatons of trinitrotoluene (1 kiloton of trinitrotoluene represents an energy of 4.185 × 10 12 joules). Until recently, the next most energetic airburst events occurred over Indonesia 3 in 2009 and near the Marshall Islands 4 in 1994, both with energies of several tens of kilotons. Here we report an analysis of selected video records of the Chelyabinsk superbolide 5 of 15 February 2013, with energy equivalent to 500 kilotons of trinitrotoluene, and details of its atmospheric passage. We found that its orbit was similar to the orbit of the two-kilometre-diameter asteroid 86039 (1999 NC43), to a degree of statistical significance sufficient to suggest that the two were once part of the same object. The bulk strength—the ability to resist breakage—of the Chelyabinsk asteroid, of about one megapascal, was similar to that of smaller meteoroids 6 and corresponds to a heavily fractured single stone. The asteroid broke into small pieces between the altitudes of 45 and 30 kilometres, preventing more-serious damage on the ground. The total mass of surviving fragments larger than 100 grams was lower than expected 7 .

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Acknowledgements

We thank D. Částek and O. Popova and her team (V. Emelyanenko, A. Kartashova, D. Glazachev and E. Biryukov) for providing the nocturnal in situ calibration images. We are obliged to all the videographers who posted videos of the Chelyabinsk superbolide on the internet. The work of J.B., P.S. and L.S. was supported by grant no. P209/11/1382 from GAČR and Praemium Academiae. The Czech institutional project was RVO:67985815. The work of P.B., P.W. and D.C. was supported in part by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office.

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Authors and affiliations.

Astronomical Institute, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-251 65 Ondřejov, Czech Republic,

Jiří Borovička, Pavel Spurný & Lukáš Shrbený

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 3K7, Canada,

Peter Brown, Paul Wiegert & David Clark

Centre for Planetary Science and Exploration, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada,

Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, V Holešovičkách 41, CZ-18209 Praha 8, Czech Republic,

Pavel Kalenda

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Contributions

J.B. made measurements from most of the videos, computed the bolide trajectory and velocity, and analysed its atmospheric fragmentation and dust trail. P.S. organized the calibrations, made measurements from the calibration images and participated in interpreting the results. P.B. participated in the acoustic analysis and in interpreting the results. P.W. and D.C. performed the orbital integration, analysed the parent-body linkage and analysed the asteroid visibility before impact. P.K. found many important videos and participated in the acoustic analysis. L.S. prepared the calibrations and participated in video measurements. All authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jiří Borovička .

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Extended data figures and tables

Extended data figure 1 visibility and orbital evolution of chelyabinsk asteroid in the past..

The results of backward integration of Chelyabinsk nominal orbit (red) and its 1,000 clones (black dots). a , Apparent magnitude as seen from the Earth at 30-day intervals during past 10 years. Green, mean of all clones. Plotted only for elongations >45° from the Sun. b , Minimum orbit intersection distance (MOID) between the Chelyabinsk orbit and the osculating orbit of asteroid 86039 during the past 2,000 years. c , Change in velocity required to reach Chelyabinsk orbit from the orbit of 86039 at MOID during the past 2,000 years.

Extended Data Figure 2 Light curve of Chelyabinsk superbolide in relative units and fragmentation altitudes as determined from sonic booms.

The luminous signal was computed in relative units from pixel sum values from substantial parts of the images, and then normalized to 100. Corrections to bolide range and atmospheric extinction were applied but no attempt to convert the signal to absolute units was made (for the absolute light curve, see ref. 5 ). For each video, the measured pixel sum was corrected using the estimated changes of automatic gain control of the camera. The absolute timing was obtained from the Nizhny Tagil video (L1) and the height scale from the Beloreck video (video 14, or L4). The fragmentation altitudes were determined from the timing of secondary sonic booms and numerical ray-tracing modelling of the sonic wave’s propagation from the bolide to the video sites. The videos used are listed in Extended Data Table 1 . a , Bolide light curve as a function of time. b , The same data as a function of height compared with the computed source heights of sonic booms detected (as image failures) in the Mirnyi video (A19). The fragmentations are marked by vertical bars at the corresponding height. The length of the bar is proportional to the number of video frames affected by the failure. c , The compilation of sonic boom source heights from all 19 videos used for acoustic analysis.

Extended Data Figure 3 Deviation of fragment F1 from the main trajectory.

Frame from video 15. The time is counted from 3:20:20  ut . The labelled marks identify points on the main trajectory at the given altitude (in kilometres). E represents the endpoint of the main trajectory.

Extended Data Figure 4 Predicted impact position of fragment F1, computed with four different wind fields, compared with the position of the hole in the ice (‘Crater’).

The point marked F1 was computed with Verkhnee Dubrovo radiosonde data (0:00  ut ). Point K is for Kurgan radiosonde (0:00  ut ), point U is for the UKMO wind model for Chelyabinsk (12:00  ut ) and point G is for the G2S model (3:00  ut ) (ref. 31 in Supplementary Information ). The distance between U and K is 960 m. The distance between F1 and the crater is 220 m. We note that the position of the crater was not used for the computation of the F1 trajectory and impact point. The background image is from Google Earth and was taken one day after the impact.

Extended Data Figure 5 Identification of fragments in a series of images from video 7.

Fragments F1–F7 originated at lower altitudes ( ∼ 25 km), whereas fragments F11–F16 originated at higher altitudes (>30 km).

Extended Data Figure 6 Dynamics of the dust trail and fragments and predicted impact positions of observed fragments.

a , Altitude as a function of time for the lower edge of the thick dust trail (TE) and hotspots within the trail (HS1–HS3). The hotspots are identified in Extended Data Fig. 7 . b , Altitude as a function of time for the main body (M), lower fragments (F1–F7) and upper fragments (F11–F16), plotted together with the dust trail features. The fragments are identified in Extended Data Fig. 5 . The main body and trail were measured primarily from video 2; and the fragments, from video 7. c , Upward motion of the main hotspot (HS1) within the dust trail. Vertical deviation of the centre of the hotspot from the trajectory is plotted against time. The linear fit gives upward velocity of 0.08 km s −1 . d , Predicted impact positions and dynamic properties of observed fragments. Ablation coefficients and terminal masses were obtained by fitting the observed decelerations. Masses are valid for assumed spherical shapes and bulk densities of 3,300 kg m −3 . In some cases, the ablation coefficient could not be computed because there was an insufficient number of data points.

Extended Data Figure 7 Images of the dust trail at early stages.

a – c , Images from a single video site (video 2) located north of the fireball trajectory. Time is counted from 3:20:20  ut . Three distinct hotspots (HS1–HS3) are identified. The labelled marks identify points on the trajectory at the given altitude (in kilometres). The unlabelled marks above them identify points at the same geographic coordinates but 1 km higher. They are provided to assess the width of the trail. d , Image from video 14, from the southwest. It demonstrates that the width of the fully illuminated fresh trail was ∼ 2 km over much of its length. For later evolution of the trail, see Extended Data Figs 8 and 9 .

Extended Data Figure 8 Evolution of the lower part of the dust trail as seen from Chelyabinsk during the first minute.

Three frames from video 6 (the video has colour defects). The time is given in minutes and seconds and is counted from 3:20:20  ut . The lower marks identify points on the trajectory in 1-km altitude intervals. The upper marks identify points at the same geographic coordinates but 1 km higher. The video demonstrates vertical ascent and splitting of the trail. When the original video is speeded up, rotation of the material in the trail is clearly visible. The trail was illuminated from below. The ‘bubble’ formed at the position of the main hotspot (HS1; see Extended Data Fig. 7 ) was in shadow most of the time. Only its illuminated top is visible on the third frame, just at the edge of the field of view.

Extended Data Figure 9 Longer-term evolution of the dust trail.

Five frames from an uncalibrated video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z20lnOVscpc , author D. Beletsky) taken from south of the fireball trajectory (on the road from Magnitogorsk to Chelyabinsk). The time is given in minutes and seconds and is counted from 3:20:20  ut . The trail was fully illuminated from this site. The video demonstrates the rise of the ‘bubble’ formed at the position of the main hotspot (HS1; see Extended Data Fig. 7 ). The maximum altitude was reached about 3 min after the bolide had passed by.

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Borovička, J., Spurný, P., Brown, P. et al. The trajectory, structure and origin of the Chelyabinsk asteroidal impactor. Nature 503 , 235–237 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12671

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Published : 06 November 2013

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