The Gift of the Nile

(A short essay)

        Water – or H₂O – is one of the most basic elements a living creature needs to survive. Thus it no small wonder that the greatest ancient civilizations had this commodity in abundance. When a person is seeking for a place to live they will prioritize on settling near a source of water. This is what the ancient Egyptians did on the banks of the Nile.

        Not until many hundreds of years after their first settling – it is certain – did the Egyptians come to recognize and appreciate the very unique attributes of their home river. For the Nile flows from South to North, emptying into the Mediterranean Sea, while over the Nile – because the Nile valley is surrounded by high cliffs – there blows a persistent, South-bound wind. If the Egyptians wished to travel up the Nile, then, they need only allow the current to bear them. If, however, they wished to travel down it, sails could be erected on their crafts which would catch the wind and bear them, slowly but surely, against the current. This is one of the ways the Nile and its environment shaped the Egyptian culture. By being an avenue for travel and trade, the Nile became Egypt’s greatest highway.

        Another aspect of the Nile that molded the Egyptian way of living were its annual floods which carried mineral-rich silt from the tropical forest-floors to the South and bearing it Northward, deposited the precious earth on the banks of the Nile. Because of this soaking and enriching the Egyptians became one of the most successful farming-based nations in the world – especially after they invented the aqueducts which channeled water from their Nile throughout the sun-dried fields.

        Thus it was that through both nature-supported communication and cultivation the Nile gave rise to the Egyptian civilization.