Nile River Facts

"O'er Egypt's land of memory floods are level,
And they are thine, O Nile! and well thou knowest
The soul-sustaining airs and blasts of evil,
And fruits, and poisons spring where'er thou flowest." - Percy Bysshe Shelley

Haven’t we heard of the phrase from early childhood that Egypt is the "Gift of Nile"? Yes it is a fact that Egypt would not have inhabitable in the absence of River Nile. The Nile flooded and still floods the land in Egypt and deposits black sediment, which is why Egyptians called it "Ar" which means "black". The river was named Nile since there is a Semitic word "Nahal" and then it was later named "Neilos" which meant River Valley. The Egyptians rightly termed it as "River of Life" since it has infused life not only in the land of Egypt but also its culture and civilization. The Egyptian Civilization grew up on the banks of Nile as the river deposits extremely fertile soil, which provided soil for the Egyptians to grow food crops, which sustained them amidst the desert. This has been repeated time and again and Nile has time and again proved itself to be the life giving force of Egypt. As we know most of the civilization come up along the banks of one river or the other primarily because the river provides drinking water for people, which is one of the essentials for human life after oxygen.

Interesting Facts about River Nile

• The Nile originates in Burundi, which is located South of the Equator and then flows across Northeastern Africa, finally crossing Egypt and then drains into the Mediterranean Sea.
• It is one of the longest rivers in the world; it used to be the longest but recent studies suggest that Amazon River can be longer than Nile. The length of the river is approximately 6695 km and the river has two tributaries.
• Only 22% of the river passes through Egypt, the other countries through which Nile passes are Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zaire, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania.
• The cities that Nile flows past are Cairo, Khartoum, Gondokoro, Aswan, Karnak, Thebes and the town of Alexandria.
• River Nile has two tributaries namely the Blue Nile and the White Nile; the volume of water of Nile is mostly determined by the Blue Nile, which contributes more than 50% of the water of the Nile River but then fertility wise, both the tributaries contribute considerably. In fact White Nile is called so because it appears white due to the presence of silt. White Nile originates at Lake Victoria and then the Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, joins in Sudan and proceeds northwards.
• The source of the river is debatable since it is commonly known that the source of the river is Lake Victoria, which is the biggest lake in Africa, but it is observed that on the northern side of the lake there is a waterfall called Ripon Falls, which has a small opening and seemingly that is where the water in the River Nile comes from but then this cannot be held as the ultimate truth since there are many rivers that flow into Lake Victoria therefore which one of these or if all of them are the sources of The Nile. Presently River Kagera and its tributary, which is called Ruvubu whose headwaters are in Burundi, are considered to be the source of the River Nile.
• Nile also played an important in the building if the famous Pyramids since the blocks of stone, which were used to make these pyramids, were actually transported from the source to the site with the help of Nile.

If you have read the quote carefully it also mentions about the "blasts of evil" associated with the river, by evils probably Shelley meant the risks of flood that Egyptians initially had and now it has converted to greater risks after the construction of the Aswan Dam. Nile is also home to many deadly crocodiles, which are in abundance in the river since the female crocodiles lay approximately 60 eggs at a time but in spite of all the evils Nile still remains the ever-generous endowment of nature.