28 / 80
The Nile and its Tributaries
The River Nile has two major
tributaries, the White Nile and the
Blue Nile, the former being the
longer of the two, while the latter is
the source of most of the Nile’s
water and fertile soil.
The northern section of the Nile
flows almost entirely through desert,
from Sudan into Egypt, a country
whose civilization depended on the
river in ancient times. Most of the
population of Egypt, and all of its
cities, with the exception of those
near to the coast, lie along those
parts of the Nile valley north of
Aswan, and nearly all the cultural
and historical sites of ancient Egypt
are to be found along its banks. The
Nile ends in a large delta that
empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
During the Neolithic era, several
predynastic
cultures developed
independently in Upper and Lower
Egypt. A unified kingdom was
founded in around 3150 BC by King
Menes, giving rise to a series of
dynasties that ruled Egypt for the
next three millennia, the Nile valley
kingdoms reaching their apogee
from about 2700–1087 BC. These
kingdoms produced some of the
world’s most celebrated
monuments, including the pyramids
of the Giza Plateau and its Great
Sphinx, and the numerous ancient
artifacts of the southern city of
North Africa
LEFT:
Map showing the river Nile from
its source to the Mediterranean Sea.
OPPOSITE ABOVE:
The Temple
of Philae at Aswan on the banks of
the Nile.
OPPOSITE BELOW:
Lush vegetation on
the banks of the Nile.
28