RIVER NILE
River of Life River Nile
The Ancient Egyptians called the
river Ar or Aur which meant
black because of the colour the
sediment left on the landscape
after the river’s annual flood. The
name Nile, from neilos meaning
river valley, was coined much
later by the Greeks.
The Nile measures 6,670km in
length and is the longest river in
the world. About 105 million
people live along its river banks,
most of these in Egypt. In fact,
about 95% of Egypt's present
day population lives within 15km
of the river.
Most people associate the Nile
with Egypt, but only 22% of the
river’s course actually goes
through that country. The Nile
also runs through Sudan,
Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and
Burundi. The Nile’s significance
to the whole of Africa cannot be
overestimated since it drains
about 10% of the continent’s
land area. Zaire, Kenya,
Tanzania and Rwanda all have
tributaries which flow into the
Nile or into Lake Victoria.
The Nile in Egypt is made up of
water from two principal sources:
the Blue Nile provides 60% of
the waters that reach Egypt and
the White Nile provides 14%.
The balance is provided by two
tributaries, the Sobat and the
Atbara. The Blue Nile and the
White Nile meet at the Sudanese capital city of Khartoum.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River of Life White Nile
Up until the twentieth century, the source of the White Nile (named from the
whitish clay suspended in its waters) was in hot dispute. For years it was
thought to be Lake Victoria (Africa’s biggest lake) on the border of Tanzania,
Kenya and Uganda. But the lake itself has feeder rivers and one of these, the
Kangara and its tributary the Ruvubu, with its headwaters in Burundi, is now
considered to be the true source of the Nile.
When the Albert Nile, as the river is known here, leaves Lake Victoria, near the
town of Jinja on the northern edge of the lake, it proceeds via the Owen Falls
Dam and the Bujagali Falls to Lake Kyoga. From there, it heads for the
northern tip of Lake Albert and just before it reaches it, the water tumbles 122m
over the spectacular Murchison Falls.
After Lake Albert, the river (called
locally Al Jabal – mountain river)
passes through gorges and rapids and
then enters a giant swamp called the
Sudd (from the Arabic ‘obstacle’) in
southern Sudan. The Sudd is one of
the biggest wetlands in the world and it
slows the river (called Al Zeraf – river
of the giraffes) to such an extent that
half of its waters are lost to
evaporation here.
The Sudd is around 600km long and
covers up to 32,000 square kilometres.
There is not a tree in sight, papyrus
towers four metres above the water.
The area has remained largely
unchanged and unexplored for
thousands of years and is still
populated by indigenous Dinka and
Nuer peoples.
The marshes and flood plains of the
Sudd support some of the greatest
concentrations of large mammals on earth. The rivers, lakes and marshes
teem with fish. But it is most notorious for its vicious mosquitos. Over 63
species have been identified so far.
Today, a struggle for control of the Sudd’s 3 billion barrels of crude oil and its
significant resources of water and fertile soil have fuelled one of the world’s
longest civil wars. In the last 20 years alone, hundreds of thousands of people
have been killed or displaced.
After the Sudd, the White Nile is joined by the Ghazal and the Sobat rivers,
which replace most of the water lost in the swamp and the White Nile, as the
river is known from this point, broadens into a slow-moving channel. Five
hundred kilometres later, the White Nile is joined by the Blue Nile at the twin
cities of Khartoum and Omdurman and from this point the river is called simply
the Nile.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River of Life Blue Nile
The White Nile and the Blue Nile have very different
characteristics. The White Nile has a constant flow which is
regulated by the Sudd whereas the Blue Nile is faster flowing
and has a flood season between July and October, caused by
heavy rainfall in the Ethiopian Highlands.
The Blue Nile, which is just 1,610km long, rises in the springs
around Mount Gishe by Lake Tama in the Ethiopian Highlands.
Although some 60 rivers flow into the lake, only the Abay Wenz
flows out. Just a few kilometres downstream, the river plunges
forty-five metres. This waterfall, called Tis Isat (Smoking Fire),
is the second largest waterfall in Africa and it converts the Blue
Nile into a raging torrent.
After joining the White Nile at Khartoum the river is joined by
only one tributary, the Atbara, before it reaches the
Mediterranean. The river then executes a huge curve (visible
left) before entering Egypt. Its northern journey is interrupted
by six sets of rapids called cataracts.
After Lake Nasser and the Aswan High Dam, the river enters
the Nile Valley – a strip of fertile land some 12km wide on
either side of the river. Beyond this floodplain are the barren
deserts of the Sahara. Just north of Cairo, the river splits into
several branches, the two main ones being the Damietta and
the Rosetta, to form the Nile Delta – some of the most
productive agricultural land in the world.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River of Life Mammals
Acting like a giant oasis set in the middle of the desert, the
Nile concentrates wildlife. Fish are plentiful, including Nile
perch, catfish and tilapia. The tilapia is also known as the
Egyptian Mouth Breeder. When they are born, parents
incubate the tiny fry by holding them in their mouths. The
parents take turns, alternately holding the fry and then
passing them to their partner so that they can swim off and
feed themselves.
The Nile is a staging post on the migratory corridor
between Europe and Africa, and so every year the
Egyptians witness the arrival and departure of flocks of
birds in their thousands. There are over 300 species of
bird to be found along the Nile in Egypt. The ibis was
considered a sacred bird by the ancient Egyptians. On
temple walls, the Egyptian god Thoth, god of wisdom and
writing, is depicted with the head of an ibis.
In Ancient Egyptian times, elephants, rhinos, hippos, lions,
hyenas and giraffes roamed the valley although these
were gradually hunted and pushed out as civilisation grew.
However, Nile crocodiles still survive. The Nile crocodile is
one of the largest of all the world’s crocodiles. At nearly six
metres in length and weighing in at 700kg it is a fearsome
predator. The word crocodile means ‘lizard of the Nile’ and
the Ancient Egyptians considered them to be so sacred
that sanctuaries were built to honour them and when they
died they were mummified. At a temple complex called
Crocodilopolis, the sacred beasts were fed with roast meats. By the
twentieth century, of the great creatures, only crocodiles remained in
Egyptian waters and now sadly they are gone too. The construction of
the Aswan Dam in the 1960s pushed the crocodile south into Sudan.
The Ancient Egyptian god Sobek is usually depicted as a crocodile or a
human male with the head of a crocodile. Sobek is a protector of men
against wild beasts and hostile forces that live in the marshes and
waters of the Nile. Ancient Egyptians kept crocodiles in pools and
temples and ornamented them with jewels in honour of Sobek.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Polluted River Nile in Egypt
Nile pollution in Egypt became a problem
after 1970 and the completion of the Aswan
High Dam. Before then, river pollutants were
washed away with the annual flood. The dam
has however tamed the surging floodwaters
that would annually flush pollutants out of the
Nile system and into the Mediterranean.
Farmers have been forced to use about a
million tons of artificial fertilizer as a
substitute for the nutrients which no longer
fill the flood plain. There has been a fourfold increase in the use of chemical
fertilizers since the dam and much of this
pollutes the Nile as run-off.
Poor drainage and over-irrigation has led to
increased salinity. Over half of Egypt's
farmland is now rated as medium to poor
soil.
Parasitic illnesses have increased, notably
bilharzia – associated with the stagnant
water of the fields and the reservoir.
Key sources of pollution in the Nile include:
Agricultural run-off from irrigation –
chemical fertilizers are seeping back
into the river – and, because more
water evaporates in irrigation systems,
it has higher saline levels.
Sewage from cities, towns and villages
is dumped into it in untreated or
partially treated form.
Industrial waste from factories situated
along the river.
Domestic rubbish.
Fisheries.
Though Egypt is dependent on the Nile for
98% of its water needs, the nation has fouled
the river with untreated municipal and
industrial wastes and agricultural chemicals.
From the Aswan High Dam north to the
Mediterranean Sea, the Nile's waters are
used again and again by each village and town and by every farmer's field.
Before it even gets to Cairo, the river is laden with pollution and carrying so
much salt leached from croplands that the water must be desalinated before it
can be used for agricultural and municipal purposes further downstream.
Cairo suffers from water pollution as the sewer system tends to fail and
overflow. On occasion, sewage has escaped onto the streets to create a health
hazard. This problem is hoped to be solved by a new sewer system funded by
the European Union, which could cope with the demands of the city. The
dangerously high levels of mercury in the city's water system has alarmed
global health officials who are concerned over related health risks.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Resourceful River Annual Flood
The Ancient Egyptians relied on the natural fact that at the
hottest, driest time of the year, in what would otherwise
have been desert, the Nile broke its banks with an ocean of
water, rich with silt. All a farmer had to do was to wait for
the waters to subside and then he would plant his crop in
the black sludge and sit back and wait. “The Egyptians,”
wrote Herodotus, “gather in the fruits of the earth with less
labour than any other people.” Although current opinion is
that the Egyptian farmers were put to work on pyramid
building when they weren’t occupied on their fields.
The Nile's waters increase in the summer due to heavy
rainfall in the Ethiopian highlands. In April, flooding begins
in southern Sudan. It is July before the floods reach Egypt.
A rise of about 7.5m is expected as the river rises. The
Ancient Egyptians placed stone measuring devices
(nilometres) along the banks at the southern end of the
country to record the height of the water. A nilometre usually consisted of a
series of steps against which the increasing height of the Inundation, as well as
the general level of the river, could be measured. Too high a
flood from their river, and villages would be destroyed; too low a
flood, and the land would turn to dust and bring famine. Indeed,
one flood in five was either too low or too high.
Flooding occurred throughout the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta
region. After the river peaked, the levels fall quickly. In
November, the water begins to recede revealing a land
blackened with sediment that is a rich, natural fertilizer. This was
the season for planting and growing. The waters continued to
recede, reaching their lowest point in March at harvest time.
This annually recurring flooding is now controlled by means of
the Aswan Dam, which was completed in 1970.
One of the main reasons for the rise of Egyptian civilisation was
the development of ways to control the river’s flood waters. They
appreciated that extra crops could be wrung out of the silt by efficient irrigation
and the entire nation was involved in building elaborate systems of
embankments, dykes, barriers, canals and basins to manage
the flow of water. The two most commonly used mechanisms for
raising water have been in use since Ancient Egyptian times: the
chaduf, a see-saw instrument that lifts buckets of water and the
noria, a large water wheel. So productive was the land that after
the Roman conquest of Egypt in 30 BC, the country became
known as the bread basket of the empire.
Recently, global warming has changed the pattern and quantity
of rainfall in the Ethiopian Highlands. This has affected the flow
of the Blue Nile and Atbara rivers. In 1998, Khartoum suffered
its worst flooding in fifty years. Yet a few years earlier, it was
suffering from severe droughts. If sea levels rise at the rate
currently predicted of 1m by 2100, then 30% of the Nile Delta
will be submerged.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Resourceful River Aswan High Dam
Construction work on the Aswan High Dam (a huge rock-fill dam known as
Saad el Aali in Arabic) was started downriver from an earlier dam in 1959 and
was completed in 1970. It was constructed to allow for navigation through its
four locks. The dam was built to supply power, to provide water for irrigation,
and to protect the crops and the people living in the areas downstream from
heavy flooding. The scale of the dam is impressive: it is 140 feet thick at the
summit and 3,430 feet thick at the base. It is 12,600 feet long and 388 feet
high. By its sheer weight (the material in the dam is equivalent to seventeen of
the great pyramids at Giza) it can resist the power of the water of Lake Nasser,
which is over 350km long, between 7km and 20km wide and up to 100m deep.
Benefits of the Dam
It controls the annual floods on the Nile River and prevents the damage
which used to occur along the floodplain.
The regular water supply means that farmers can now grow three crops in a
year.
Farmland in Egypt has increased by 25% – mainly in the Nile Delta.
It provides a significant amount of Egypt's power supply.
It has improved navigation along the river by keeping the water flow constant.
Problems associated with the Dam
The construction of the dam led to the total disappearance of the region
immediately upriver called Lower Nubia. Over 90,000 people were forced to
abandon their homes and native villages for unknown lands. Those who had
been living on the Egyptian side were moved only 45km away but the
Sudanese Nubians were relocated more than 600km from their original
homes.
A campaign was launched by UNESCO in 1960 to save the archaeological
remains of the area before they were flooded. As a result, the Temple of
Rameses II at Abu Simbel was carried 224 feet from its original site to higher
ground to prevent its disappearance in the rising water levels. It took 900
people almost five years to complete this move.
The sediments carried down the Nile have been filling the reservoir and thus
decreasing its storage capacity. This accumulation of silt creates mini-dams
when it dries in the low water season and behind this mini-dam the same
process repeats upstream. Some fear that in a year of high flood (as
happened in the Mississippi), the flood water will gather and create surges of
ever greater intensity as the water breaks each mini-dam. It is thought that by
the time it reaches the Aswan Dan, the water will have enough force to
sweep the structure aside and flood Egypt.
Erosion has increased along the river banks at an alarming rate. Marine
erosion has increased too, since the Nile no longer has the power to push
back the Mediterranean. Some say the delta will disappear by 2030.
Fish stocks in the Nile are down. Pre-dam, the annual sardine catch was
18,000 tonnes a year. Now 500 tonnes is a good annual haul.
And, to cap it all, the surplus of hydro-electrical power has not materialised to
the extent originally estimated.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Resourceful River Water Politics
More than 85% of the Nile's water originates in Ethiopia yet the vast majority of
the Nile's flow is used by Egypt, the last nation on the Nile's path to the
Mediterranean Sea. The Nile provides almost all the fresh water used by more
than 60 million Egyptians living along its banks. In the past, Egypt saw no
reason to worry about its dependence on the Nile's waters. However, upstream
nations are starting to harness the Nile to provide economic prosperity for their
own growing numbers and that is causing Egypt some concern.
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Egypt’s Al Salam Canal and pipeline is a 180km project taking water
from the Damietta branch of the Nile in the Delta to irrigate the deserts of
northern Sinai. When complete, it will increase Egypt’s irrigated farmland
by 20% and allow the resettlement of 1.5 million people from the overcrowded Nile Valley.
Egypt’s Mubarak Pumping Station (opened in 2005) is the centrepiece
of the ambitious Toshka Project. Seen as a solution to the overpopulation of the Nile Valley, the project aims to increase Egypt’s
inhabitable land area from 5% to 25% by 2017, and resettle 7 million
people in the new territory. Mubarak will be the largest pumping station in
the world, pumping water from Lake Nasser to irrigate the Toshka area in
southern Egypt. Sceptics question the wisdom of developing a waterhungry agriculture in the hottest part of the country.
Sudan’s Jonglei Canal was planned to bypass the Sudd. Digging began
in 1978 but was halted in 1984 because of Sudan’s civil war. 267km of
the 360km canal was built. If the canal is ever completed, the negative
impact on the environment will be enormous.
In 1925, an enormous irrigation scheme was built in Sudan in the area of
land called Al-Jazirah, between the White and the Blue Nile. Al-Jazirah
provides 25% of Sudan’s cotton crop.
Uganda plans to build a dam at Bujagali Falls and this will destroy one
of the country’s most beautiful natural reserves and will do nothing to
help 95% of Uganda’s population who are not connected to the country’s
national grid.
Ethiopia has recently emerged from a long period of civil war and famine
into a period of accelerated growth and economic development. The
government envisages the construction of more than 200 small dams as
part of a project to irrigate an area of land larger than Belgium. Irrigating
only half this land area with water from the Nile could reduce the river's
flow to Egypt by 15%.
Ethiopia’s plans to build a dam at Lake Tans escalated into a serious
international incident. The dam would have prevented 40% of the Blue
Nile waters from flowing downstream with severe knock-on effects to the
economies of Sudan and Egypt. When Egypt threatened war the
Ethiopians backed down.
It is expected that the population of the Nile basin, which was about 160 million
in 1990, will grow to 300 million by 2010 and 550 million by 2030.
Reliable access to water remains key to increasing agricultural productivity,
providing employment, and raising the standards of living of the people who
live in the ten countries along the Nile. On the other hand, the Nile also
represents a vast resource for hydropower generation. Competing projects
combined with the impacts of climate change could send the region’s overtapped water resources into crisis. In a historic effort, on 22 February 1999, the
ten countries of the Nile basin adopted a shared vision for sustainable
development – the Nile Basin Initiative.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Working River Boats
Ancient Egyptian civilization did not use wheeled vehicles
for travel or transportation – the Nile was their highway and
during the floods, boats could reach almost anywhere on
the floodplain. The Nile flowed from south to north at an
average speed of about four knots during the inundation
season. The water level was 25 to 33 feet deep and
navigation was fast. A river voyage from Thebes (modern
Luxor) north to Memphis (near modern Cairo) lasted
approximately two weeks. During the drier season when
the water level was lower, and speed slower, the same trip
(680km) would last two months. Travelling upstream was
slower, but boats could generally rely on the prevailing
northerly winds.
The felucca (an Italian term applied loosely to any kind of
pleasure boat) was the most common boat on the Nile. The
feluccas seen today were invented in 3350 BC. The lighthulled boats are generally long and very narrow and were
usually sailed, although they can also be rowed when the
wind is not favourable. These days, feluccas are most
commonly used in the tourist trade.
Solar Boats were high status, regal vessels built in the
image of the boat that took the Sun God Ra across the
heavens. Historians knew of these vessels only via
hieroglyphic references until 1954 when archaeologists
discovered the components of a Solar Boat in a regal
tomb. The reconstructed boat is now housed in its own
museum near the Great Pyramid at Giza. It is 44m long
and 5.9m wide. The hull is made of boards stitched
together with twisted hemp and leather thongs that shrank
in contact with water. There was provision for just six pairs
of oars and as this would not have provided much
propulsion, these oars might have been used for steering
and the boat either towed or pulled along by ropes. Early
sails resembled venetian blinds made of papyrus, but more
suitable materials were soon found and sails became
works of art painted in rich colours and embroidered with
the emblem of the king’s soul.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
Working River Nile Cruise
The concept of travelling for pleasure
starts with the Roman Empire. The
great tourist attraction of the ancient
world was the Nile Valley. It offered
exotic landscapes, monuments,
luxuries and, above all, excellent
communications. Tourists travelled by
boat from Ostia to Alexandria and
from there by boat down the Nile.
To impress Caesar, Cleopatra took
him on a two-month Nile cruise. With
an escort of 400 ships, they cruised in
a double-decker floating palace, 90m
long and 14m wide. They were
propelled by banks of oarsmen and by
a 30m linen sail fringed in purple.
Meals and entertainment were
provided for up to sixty guests, who
stretched out on couches in a saloon
panelled in cypress and cedar. Guests stayed in
private cabins. The lower deck contained a mock cave
made out of slabs of stone lined with gold.
Travel books and the excitement caused by the Burton
& Speke expedition (1859), and then Livingstone &
Stanley’s (1870s), to discover the source of the White
Nile generated huge interest among the European
upper classes in all things Egyptian.
Early Nile Cruises were taken on six- or eight-cabined
Arab sailing vessels called dahabiyyas. Thanks to
popular published accounts like Amelia Edwards’ A
Thousand Miles up the Nile and Agatha Christie’s
Death on the Nile, Nile cruising became more and
more popular from the mid-nineteenth century and
there were hundreds of dahabiyyas plying for trade
along the Cairo waterfront. Sensing an opportunity, the
budding package holiday provider Thomas Cook
commissioned steamers (the first in 1870) for the everexpanding Nile Cruise market.
The present type of cruise ship with fifty to eighty
cabins – like floating hotels – was introduced in 1959.
In 1975, there were still only a couple of these large
boats on the Nile. By 1991, the number had increased
to over twenty. Today the river is congested with over
300 boats, most of them offering three- to five-day
cruises between Luxor and Aswan.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River City Cairo
With a population of 17 million people (12 million people
live in the city and 5 million people travel in), Cairo is
the largest city in Africa and the Middle East.
Cairo marks the head of the Nile Delta and marks the
division between Upper and Lower Egypt. Across the
Nile is Giza – technically a different administrative
region, but in fact part of the same urban sprawl.
The city has been settled since neolithic times.
Founded in the fourth Millennium BC, Memphis (sited in
present day Giza) was the first political capital of Egypt.
In the tenth century AD there was a royal enclosure
called ‘Al-Qahirah’ and it was this area which was then
mispronounced by Italian merchants as ‘Gran Cairo’, a
name which caught on throughout Europe.
Cairo’s iconic bridge, the 382m long Kasr el Nil Bridge,
was inaugurated in June 1933, just 14 months after the
Sydney Harbour Bridge. Both bridges were constructed
by the same UK-based company. Kasr el Nil replaced
an earlier crossing. The first bridge was opened to
traffic in February 1872. It was unofficially referred to as
Kobri el Gezira or Gezira Bridge. Four bronze lions
adorn its entrances. The bridge served first and
foremost as a catalyst for the development of Gezira
Island and the expanse that lay beyond. Within a
century of being built, the 4,000 year-old Giza pyramids
would no longer be seen from downtown Cairo.
Today, in Cairo’s city centre, there is very little public
access to the Nile waterfront. Busy roads line most of
the riverside edges. The roadways are constructed
some 10 to 15m from the river itself leaving an exposed
strip of land between road and river. This riverbank area
is generally left unlandscaped and vegetation is allowed to grow unconstrained.
There is no public access here, although some of Cairo’s poor and homeless
squat the land. Other parts of this exposed strip have been developed with
restaurants and discotheques. These have been constructed with no free
public access to the waterfront.
Very few people walk along the pavements beside the river. Perhaps because
of the noise and pollution of the roadways, perhaps because these roadways
are very difficult to cross! Perhaps also because even on the pavement,
pedestrians are cut off from the river itself. Strolling over the Nile bridges is
however a very popular pastime. In particular, on a Friday afternoon after work,
people bring foldaway chairs and picnics and sit looking out at the Nile through
the sunset and often well into the night. A rare exception on the Nile waterfront
which integrates access to the waterfront is located between Kasr El Nil Bridge
and 6 October Bridge in the north. This project has strengthened the
embankment, designing stepped terraces, parks and public spaces by the river.
The southern portion of the site is a 200m long park called the Al-Riyadi
Garden, meaning ‘the initial’. The garden is a successful model for allowing the
public to access the riverfront.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River Culture Ancient Egyptians
Ancient Egyptians believed that the Nile had its source
in underground seas that erupted from the depths in
the south at Aswan. The boundaries of their land were
clearly defined. In the north, there was the
Mediterranean; to east and west desert, and to the
south, a set of six unnavigable rapids – the cataracts.
Within these boundaries the Egyptians had all they
needed; outside existed a world of chaos and inferior
beings. Furthermore, they believed that their temples
were models of a perfect universe: the floors
represented the river; the stone columns, papyrus
reeds; and the ceilings, decorated with stars, the sky
above.
The Nile and its annual flood were basic to the
Egyptian world-view. Unlike most peoples, the
Egyptians oriented towards the south, from which the
river came, so that the west was on their right – with
the result that it was the 'good' side for passage into
the next world. The year and calendar were adjusted
to the Nile and the stars. New Year was in mid-July,
when the river began to rise for the inundation; this
coincided approximately with the reappearance of the
star Sirius (Egyptian Sothis) in the sky after 70 days'
invisibility. Sothis provided the astronomical anchor for
a 365 day calendar. The river defined three seasons of
four months: 'Inundation' when the land flooded;
'Emergence' when the land reappeared and could be
cultivated; and 'Heat' or Harvest, when crops were
gathered and the water was lowest.
Osiris was the god most closely associated with the
Nile. His face is painted green to symbolise the
renewal of life caused by the annual flooding. The
Ancient Egyptians believed that after death, the
pharoah’s spirit left its body and wandered through the
underworld in search of Osiris. Hapy was the god
associated with the flooding of the river and an annual festival was held in his
honour to bring on the Inundation. He is depicted as an image of abundance, a
fat figure bringing water and produce to the gods.
There are 87 pyramids along a 100km (60 mile) stretch of the Nile. The efforts
that went into the Great Pyramid were immense. The granite blocks required to
build the pyramid – some weighing 70 tonnes each – were brought 500 miles
down the river from Aswan on reed barges. The site for a pyramid was set far
enough back from the Nile so as not to be affected by the annual flood. The
blocks were drawn along a specially constructed causeway from the Nile to the
pyramid site. Herodotus describes shifts of 100,000 men taking ten years just
to build this enormous causeway, 18m wide from the Nile to the plateau.
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River Culture Blue Nile Explorers
The Greek traveler Herodutus (c490 BC to 424 BC) was the Nile’s first
recorded explorer. Four hundred years later, the Emperor Nero sent a small
group of soldiers south to discover the source of the Nile but their journey was
blocked by the Sudd. The soldiers reported, “so thick and tangled are the
plants in the waters that it is impossible to proceed either on foot or by boat.”
Ptolomy, writing in the second century, revealed remarkable clairvoyance
when he described the river emerging from snow capped mountains. Perhaps
he had taken the trouble to listen to Arab traders who must have used the Nile
as a trading route for generations.
By the tenth century Arab travelers like Al
Masudi had reasonably precise information
regarding the source of the Blue Nile, the
Mountains of the Moon.
The first Europeans to describe the source
of the Blue Nile were Pedro Paez and
Jerome Lobo, both Portuguese Jesuit
priests. They had entered Ethiopia (then
Abyssinia) from the Indian Ocean in 1611
and reached the source at Lake Tana in
April 1618. But this event was not widely
reported and the ‘discovery’ of the Blue Nile
was claimed in the late eighteenth century
by James Bruce, a Scottish explorer.
Although we have to assume that the slave
traders, who had been treading paths for
hundreds of years between the great slave
markets of Cairo, Khartoum and Zanzibar
already knew the landscape well.
James Bruce arrived in Egypt in 1768 with
a passion to discover the source of the Blue
Nile, despite the fact that he had read Paez
and Lobo’s account of their journey. Bruce
was well prepared. He had taken the
trouble to learn both Arabic and the
Abyssinian language. He was canny too.
When he arrived, via the Red Sea, at the
capital city of Gondar, he gained the favour
of the Abyssinian court by using
rudimentary medical skills to heal the
queen mother’s children and grandchildren
of smallpox. He reached Mount Gishe on 4
November 1770 and had returned to
London in 1774. But his descriptions of his
adventures were considered to be far too
incredible to be true and his assertions
were rejected by the academic community.
Bruce died in 1794, four years after
publishing his “Travels to discover the source of the Nile”, without the glory he
so craved.
Bruce entering Gondar and prostrate
(in Arab costume) in front of the
Emperor of Abyssinia from Bruce’s
Travels to Discover the Source of the
Nile
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River Culture Burton & Speke
The source of the White Nile has been the subject of controversy and debate
for thousands of years. Only the race to the moon in modern times has
mirrored the kind of excitement which was generated by the search for the
source of the Nile.
The Royal Geographical Society launched an
expedition to discover the source led by Richard
Burton (an intellectual giant with an amazing
ability to learn languages) and accompanied by
John Hanning Speke. The pair arrived in Zanzibar
in 1856. After eight months of travel inland they
were the first Europeans to set eyes on Lake
Tanganyika. But the difficult journey inland had
taken its toll. Speke was temporarily blind with an
eye infection and Burton was virtually paralysed
with an abscess on his tongue. Speke recovered
and, leaving Burton ill on the shores of the lake, he
travelled inland and discovered Lake Victoria.
Speke was awe-inspired with its scale, it is the
second largest lake in the world measuring 260km
long by 180km wide. Like all the other waterfalls
and lakes he and other European explorers
‘discovered’, they already had African names.
When he returned to Lake Tanganyika, Speke
claimed he had found the source of the White Nile.
Burton was disgusted with him and the two
became sworn enemies.
On their return to London in 1859 Speke was
declared a hero. But the question of what waters
fed Lake Victoria remained. Speke convinced the
Royal Geographical Society to give him the
opportunity to return to explore the lake and gather
proof that the source was here. Speke asked a
friend, Captain James Augustus Grant to
accompany him; they journeyed inland from 1860.
After two years of exploration, Speke discovered a
waterfall with a river flowing north from the lake
and determined that was the start of the Nile. He
named the waterfalls Rippon Falls. They returned
in 1863 claiming success but academics said he
had no irrefutable evidence that this was the source of the Nile.
While Speke and Grant were making their way home, Samuel and Florence
Baker were travelling upstream from Egypt on a self-funded mission to find its
source. Baker had been born into immense fortune. After his first wife died be
married Florence, a Hungarian refugee he had bought in a Turkish slave
market. Baker’s family money gave them total independence. In 1862 they
travelled up the Nile to Khartoum. It took them 40 days to navigate the Sudd
arriving in Gondokoro in 1863 just 12 days before Speke and Grant marched in
from the south. A year after leaving Gondokoro they arrived at a Lake – which
Baker named Lake Albert. The Bakers returned to London – arriving in 1865.
They had discovered a new lake, but the source of the Nile was still
unresolved.
Burton and Speke at the Ugandan
court from Speke’s Journal of the
Discovery of the Source of the Nile
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org
RIVER NILE
River Culture Dr Livingstone
In 1865, the Royal Geographical Society resolved
to send Dr David Livingstone to settle, once and
for all, the question of the source of the Nile.
Livingstone had explored the Zambezi and
discovered the Victoria Falls in 1855. His book
describing his exploits, Missionary Tales, made
him a household name when published in 1857.
After leaving Zanzibar in March 1866, Livingstone
took a year to reach the southern shores of Lake
Tangankyika. The sixty bearers and porters he’d
left with were now depleted to just five. He spent
four years exploring the region, following and
assisted by, like many of his predecessors,
slavers and old slave routes. His long, arduous
journey had taken its toll. He was weak, feverish
and had lost most of his teeth.
His absence was so prolonged that rumours of
his death had begun to spread in London and
rescue missions were organised to find out what
had actually happened to him. They were all
beaten to the tape by a plucky young journalist,
Henry Morton Stanley, from the New York
Herald, who had been instructed by his editor to
find the lost explorer and had been provided with
all the necessary resources to do so. On 10
November 1871 he found Livingstone at Ujiji on
Lake Tanganyika (“Dr Livingstone I presume?”).
In 1872, Stanley reached Zanzibar and the news
of his meeting with Livingstone caused a
sensation around the world. But Livingstone did
not survive the journey home. In 1873, he
contracted dysentry and died. His body was dried
and returned to London and buried in
Westminster Abbey.
Stanley resolved to return to Africa and take up Livingstone’s baton. Backed by
his newspaper, the New York Herald, and by the Daily Telegraph, he set off for
Zanzibar in 1874. Africa had never seen the likes of the expedition force he put
together: 365 men, 8 tons of stores and a steel boat which came apart in
sections. It was conducted like a military campaign. The column did not pause
for casualties, and any hint of African opposition was put down by force. The
boat was lowered into the water as soon as they reached Lake Victoria. After a
voyage of 1,600 km (1,000 miles) lasting 57 days, Stanley had the proof he
needed that the lake only had one outlet, Rippon Falls. Speke was proved right
after all.
But it would take yet more expeditions to find and trace the main watercourse
that fed Lake Victoria. The Kangara and its tributary the Ruvubu, with its
headwaters in Burundi, is now considered to be the true source of the White
Nile.
Stanley (left) meeting Livingstone from
The Life and Explorations of Dr
Livingstone the Great Missionary
Traveller
River Nile was compiled by Adrian Evans in 2007
Rivers of the World is a Thames Festival project delivered in partnership with the British Council’s
Connecting Classrooms with support from HSBC Global Education Programme
www.riversoftheworld.org