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The Nile River By: Christopher C. Zrazik
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Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 Physical Features…………………………………………………………3, 4, 5 Resources…………………………………………………………………………5-6 Traveling on the River/Boats…………………………………………….6 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….6-7 Glossary……………………………………………………………………………7 Bibliography………………………………………................................8
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Have you ever thought that the Nile River is just a tiny, non-important river in the middle of the Egyptian desert? If you did, you’re wrong. The Nile River is the longest river in the world. It is 4,160 miles long (6,695 kilometers)!!! In this paper you will learn many things. First, you will learn about the physical features of the Nile. Second, you will learn about the resources the Nile provided. Lastly, you will learn about who traveled on the river and the boats they traveled in. If you want to learn more about this amazing river, DO NOT abandon this paper, KEEP READING.
Physical Features The Nile had some very important physical features. One of them, as I mentioned before, was that it is the longest river in the world being 4,160 miles long (6,695 kilometers). A unique physical feature that the Nile has is that it flows from South to North. The Nile’s source is Lake Victoria which leads to the White Nile and meets the Blue Nile that comes from the Ethiopian Mountains. They meet in Sudan. The Nile Valley (Neilos in Greek) has a canyon running 660 miles long with a floodplain occupying 4,250 square miles. The Delta, which is the Northern part of the Nile, spans some 8,500 square miles. The Delta is 200 kilometers (124 miles) from north to south and 400 kilometers (249 miles) from
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east to west. The other countries that the Nile flowed through were Burundi, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Sudan. I thought that was really interesting that the Nile flowed through the big country of Sudan.
There were three seasons. Akhet was the inundation season (flood). Peret was the growing season, and shemu was the drought or harvest season. The flood waters started rising in June and lasted until November. Before we move on, do you know what the rising ground at the edge of a lake, river, or sea is? That’s called the bank. Now that you’ve learned about some physical features of the Nile, let’s move on and learn about some of the resources the Nile provided.
insideevs.com The desert was very close to the Nile. The Nile’s banks were home to houses, farms, plants, and many more things.
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Hapi was the god of flooding. I wonder if his name was Hapi because he made ancient Egyptians happy. ď Š www.2travel2egypt.org
Resources
Resources The Nile provided many resources. One of them was papyrus reeds which could be made into paper. It was actually the first paper ever made. Papyrus is a plant that grew along the banks of the Nile. After the flood, the Nile left rich black soil which would form space for growing crops, plants, and trees. That was called the Black Land which in the Egyptian language was called Kemet. The opposite of Black Land is Red Land which is the inhospitable desert. The flooding was so important that the Egyptians created a calendar to keep track of when it happened. The Nile was depended on for farming, fishing, and raising animals. It was like this, because the land was fertile, meaning it was producing vegetation or crops plentifully. In other words, it was rich. If you were a farmer with fields far from the Nile, what would you do? You would use irrigation which was an act of irrigating. Irrigating was to supply with water by artificial means (man-made). Fish were very important for the diet of an ancient Egyptian, even though they were considered unhealthy. Some animals that could be resourceful from the Nile were tiny water snails, massive crocodiles, birds in the marshes, hippos, and Nile perch. In some cases hunters would be killed by hippos because of an attack. Hippos may seem nice on the outside, but on the inside they’re vicious. Are you wondering how birds were caught? Were they speared? They were caught with a net when
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they flew low. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! So many interesting facts, let’s move on to traveling on the river and different boats the ancient Egyptians had.
Traveling on the river and boats WHOOSH! WHOOSH! That’s the sound of the river to a traveler on the river. As you might know, the Nile was used for transportation. The crew and boat belonged to the god Thoth. The most important passenger was the baboon, sacred to Thoth. Wouldn’t you think that the captain or someone with a high ranking would be the most important passenger? Well, I did, until I read about this information. There were many different boats, but let’s start with the papyrus reed boat (a.k.a a small boat). They were made from bundles of papyrus reeds lashed together with ropes. They were used for fishing and short trips. Another boat was a cargo boat. It carried granite, cattle, and food to people along the river. Things that probably were carried down the river were coffee beans, wheat, or furs. The royal family and priests had wooden boats made from cedar wood that came from Syria. Once a year, the pharaoh would board his royal barge and sail down the Nile on an inspection of farming, granaries, and other different jobs the ancient Egyptians had. Do you wonder if those Egyptians felt pressure, because the pharaoh was a very royal person? People who were trading would trade with other nations to get money. Traders usually sailed in large graceful ships to trade with other countries. The word that you always hear between traders is: “DEAL” (of course in their language). Now let’s stop and think about this for a minute, you’ve learned so much, but there’s still so much more to learn. So much that scientists might not have learned yet. Some things might be figured out tomorrow or maybe in 1,000 years. We’ve learned a lot about this fantastic river. The first thing we learned was that there are different physical features. The second thing we learned was that the Nile provided many different resources. And, the last thing was who traveled on the river and the different boats that were used. It sure would be wonderful to travel down this amazing and historic river someday.
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Glossary Akhet was the inundation season (flood). Banks are the rising ground at the edge of a lake, river, or sea. Black Land was the rich black soil that was left after the flood. There was usually space formed. Fertile land was where it was producing vegetation or crops plentifully. Irrigating was to supply with water by artificial means (man-made). Irrigation was an act of irrigating. Kemet was the same thing as Black Land, except in the Egyptian language. Neilos was the Nile Valley, except in the Greek language. Papyrus reeds are a 5 to 9 foot tall plant that grows on the banks of the Nile. Papyrus was the first form of paper, ever! Peret was the growing season. Red Land was the inhospitable desert. Shemu was the drought or harvest season.
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Bibliography Think Quest. (1992). Retrieved April 2013, from The Nile River: http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0210200/ancient_egypt/nile_river.htm The Nile River. (1996). Retrieved 3 25, 2013, from Tour Egypt: http://www.touregypt.net/egypt-info/magazine-mag05012001magf4a.htm Ancient Egypt Online. (2008). Retrieved March 2013, from The River Nile Facts: http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/river-nile-facts.html Chrisp, P. (2002). Ancient Egypt Revealed. New York: DK Publishing. Kaplan, L. C. (2004). Land and Resources of Ancient Egypt. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group.