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The Nile River-Egypt

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The Nile River is arguably one of the most important water sources in the world and has an extremely rich history dating back thousands of years. Without the Nile, the ancient Egyptian civilization would have never existed. Egypt is basically a whole lot of sand and not much else, except they have the Nile River flowing through it, on it’s way to the Mediterranean sea. The ancient Egyptians lived along the Nile River and it provided them with abundant water, food (fish) and the opportunity to develop agriculture along it’s banks. The Nile River was also used for transportation and trade with other regions because land travel was more difficult than floating on the river. The Ancient Egyptians were at the mercy of the seasonal flooding and …show more content…

Because they grew only one crop per year, the nutrients were not depleted quickly and of course, each flood washed new fertile sediment onto the floodplains where they planted their crops. (Struggle Over the Nile).

Damming of the Nile

Life on the river was pretty much the same for thousands of years, until 1889 when the first Aswan Dam was built in an attempt to control the yearly floods. It proved to be insufficient and was raised two more times until it was decided to build another dam upstream in 1946. Once these dams were functional they provided many benefits to the rapidly growing population, including easier access to drinking water, irrigation for agriculture, electricity for modern life and fishing (Burke and Eaton) . Certainly the benefits to Egyptians were numerable and undeniable. The does not mean there were no negative impacts.The yearly floods no longer came and all that good, nutrient-rich silt that used to wash down the Nile and onto the flood plans was now blocked by the dams. “Before the Aswan High Dam, the Nile River carried about 124 million tons of sediment to the sea each year, depositing nearly 10 million tons on the floodplain and delta. Today, 98% of that sediment remains behind the dam. The result has been a drop in soil productivity and depth, among other serious changes to Egypt’s floodplain agriculture. The Aswan Dam has also led

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