Egypt - the Gift of the Nile

Egypt: The Gift of the Nile

In the past, Egypt was called "The Gift of the Nile" for many reasons, including the abundant agriculture from the rich waters, the extended trade, and the protection from attack from the surrounding deserts and guarded Nile ports. The Nile River flows over 600 miles through the Sahara Desert and ends in the Mediterranean Sea, one of the few rivers flowing South to North. The twisting currents carried mud and silt to the cataracts, and every year at Innundation, or the Annual Flooding, the old used dirt from the agricultural people was washed away and replaced with new, fertile dirt. Because of the annual flooding and the close-by, everlasting supply of water from the Nile, Egypt was a rich agricultural society, able to maintain different crops, vineyards, and animals such as oxen, cattle, and goats. This agricultural advantage allowed Egypt to be almost self-reliant, because they were supplied with olives and grapes to make essential wines, oils and foods, and meat from the animals they raise. For this reason the only trade they needed was for non-essential items, luxury items per say, such as exotic woods, spices, jewels, and more importantly; gold. Because the Nile stretches through the desert, the Egyptians then were able to trade with ports all through Africa upstream, and the European societies when they traveled downstream and out into the Mediterranean. They were able to get wood from Cypress and Lebanon, turquoise from the Sinai Desert, and what gold they didn't mine from their own lands they brought in from Nubia in the south. Egypt was often envied by other civilization because of its richness and beauty, and the strategic advantage of the cities and ports. On both sides of the Nile there stretched vast deserts, difficult to travel through then, especially with large armies. All the cities were on or near the river, and since there was constant trade and regulation, it would be extremely difficult for a fleet or armada from any direction to enter and destroy the capitols from the river. Egypt truly was a gift from the Nile, with its self-reliant agricultural society, its rich trade and luxurious tastes, and the protection from the surrounding land, allowing Egypt to become one of the most powerful super-forces in ancient history.