Nile In Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egypt is very well-known as a barren desert in the geography of Africa, yet it is also acclaimed as the “breadbasket of the world.” This grandiose name is often associated with the river Nile, which is strongly believed as one of the most prominent factors for the vivacity of ancient Egypt. If the river Nile was nonexistent, the soil lining the river would dry to dust and blow away rendering Egypt a vast dry valley (Wilson, 8). In addition to humidity, if the Nile river had not corroded deeply through the layers of limestone and rock, the valley could never have attained its wonderful fertility under the rainless sky of Egypt (Wilson, 9). Moreover, many historians confidently conclude that the river Nile perhaps is responsible for not …show more content…
Conversely, the famine records of the First Intermediate Period are evidently understood from their phraseology, as the result of an extreme trough in the cyclic pattern of Nile variation (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 181). Incidentally, the lower reaches of the Nile became centres of high population density and of early civilizations due to their extensive areas of rich, easily cultivated alluvium (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 13). The inundation of the Nile served as an advantage to the Egyptians as the annual floodwaters were more predictable and therefore less difficult to control (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 14). Furthermore, salination did not pose a serious problem to the Egyptian farmer as it did in Mesopotamia. Merely by modifying natural basins to retain the floodwaters for longer periods, it was possible to convert the edges of the Nile floodplain into highly productive agricultural land (Trigger, Bruce G., et al., 14). However, in a book published ten years later than the above source, Trigger argues that salinization was not a major problem because the river sank below the level of the floodplain during the