River Nile and the Ancient Egyptian civilization.

All fall and winter they watered their crops from a network of irrigation ditches.

In an otherwise parched land, the abundance brought by the Nile was so great that Egyptians worshipped it as a god who gave life and seldom turned against them.

Environmental Challenges

Egyptian farmers were much more fortunate than the villages of Mesopotamia.

Compared to the unpredictable Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Nile was as regular as clockwork. Even so, life in Egypt has its risks.

* When the Nile's floodwaters were just a few feet lower than normal. The amount of fresh silt and water for crops was greatly reduced. Thousands of people starved.

* When floodwaters were a few feet higher than usual, the unwanted water destroyed houses, granaries, and the precious seeds that farmers needed for planting.

* The vast and forbidding desert on either side of the Nile acted as a natural barrier between Egypt and other lands. They forced Egyptians to live on a very small portion of land and reduced interaction with other peoples.

However, the desert shut out invaders. For much of its early history, Egypt was spared the constant warfare that plagued the Fertile Crescent.

Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt

River travel was common, but it ended at the point in the Nile where river boulders turn the river into churning rapids called a cataract.

This mad it impossible for riverboats to pass this spot, known as the First Cataract, to continue upstream south into the interior of Africa.

Between the First Cataract and the Mediterranean lay two very different regions. Because its elevation was higher, the river area in the south is called Upper Egypt. It is a skinny strip of land from the First Cataract to the point where the river starts to fan out into many branches. To the north, near the sea, Lower Egypt includes the Nile Delta region.

The Nile provided a reliable source of transportation between Upper and Lower Egypt. The Nile flows north, so northward boats simply drifted with the current. Southbound boats hoisted a wide sail.

The ease of contact made possible by this watery highway helped unify Egypt's villages and promote trade.