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NILE

(Gk. Neílos; Lat. Nilos)

One of the principal forces shaping Egyptian history (Heb. yĕʾōr; Egyp. i[t]rw). The political division of the land into two areas, Upper and Lower Egypt, had its origin in the Predynastic Age. The terms Upper and Lower are determined by the direction of the flow of the Nile. Since the river flows north, Lower Egypt or downstream was located in the north and Upper Egypt or upstream in the south. Lower Egypt lies between the Mediterranean and Cairo. This flat, fertile area is in the shape of a triangle with the apex at Cairo and formed by the fanning out of the branches of the Nile, of which only two of the original seven remain open. Herodotus first called the area the Delta because of its triangular shape, like the capital “D” in the Greek alphabet. Upper Egypt lies between Cairo and Aswan.

Egypt receives scarcely any rain, and the desert encroaches on either side of the fertile area watered by the Nile and irrigation. The Nile is formed by two rivers with their sources in Africa. These are the White Nile (Baḥr al-Abyad) and the Blue Nile (Baḥr al-Azrâq), with the Atbara tributary. The White Nile begins in Lake Victoria and joins the Blue Nile at Khartoum. The other sources are in the western plateau of Ethiopia, which has the headwaters of the Sobat which flows into the White Nile. The headwaters for the Blue Nile are found in the Goiam highlands at Lake Tana, and the river runs north to Khartoum. The Atbara River rises in the Begemir and Simen region of Ethiopia and is joined by the Tekeze River in the Sudan and enters the Blue Nile ca. 320 km. (200 mi.) N of Khartoum. The Blue and White Nile receive their waters from two separate, but related monsoon storm systems. The Blue Nile and its tributaries receive water from the monsoons that reach Ethiopia from the Indian Ocean. The White Nile receives its water from the branch of the Atlantic monsoon which comes across Africa to the Lake Plateau region. The Blue Nile and its tributaries account for 75 percent of the total annual discharge, but during the annual flooding of the summer and fall contribute 90-95 percent of the total discharge. During the spring and early summer when the Blue Nile is low, the White Nile contributes 75 percent of the total discharge.

The length of the Nile from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean is 6450 km. (4000 mi.). Before it reaches Aswan, the river passes over six cataracts or waterfalls and rapids, which makes navigating the length of the river almost impossible. Before the modern hydroelectric dam was built, Egypt relied on the annual flooding of the Nile for silt and moisture to grow crops. The flooding was regular and not destructive as is the case with many other rivers, but it was not consistent year to year. In the years that the Nile was high, more land was available for growing crops and there would be a surplus of food. If it were extremely high, the flood could destroy towns and villages. It is possible that some of the flood waters flowed into the Fayum and would increase the amount of farm land in that area, but the high water could also be destructive. When the Nile was low, there would be less land and less food. If there were a succession of low Niles over a period of years, famine could occur.

Bibliography. M. S. Abu al-Izz, Landforms of Egypt (Cairo, 1971); J. Baines and J. Malik, Atlas of Ancient Egypt (New York, 1980); K. W. Butzer, Early Hydraulic Civilization in Egypt (Chicago, 1976); W. B. Fisher, The Middle East, 7th ed. (London, 1978); F. A. Hassan and B. R. Stucki, “Nile Floods and Climactic Change,” in Climate, History, Periodicity and Predictability, ed. M. R. Rampino et al. (New York, 1987), 37-46.

Lawrence A. Sinclair

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

NILE

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)