Ancient Egypt (2)--Nile River

The word nile is from a Greek word meaning river valley. The Nile River is the heart and soul of Egypt. Egypt is desert country. Without the river, the Egyptian civilization could not have survived. Most people--some one to four million-- lived in the river valley. The river was essential for farming as well as for transportation. The river would flood its banks each year around July and recede in September. It would leave a strip of fertile land, averaging about six miles on each side of the river. This was changed with the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1970. As the population along the river grew, there came a need to control the flood waters to protect farmland and cotton fields. Power is now generated from the dam and the water is controlled for irrigation.
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile originates in Rwanda and goes through Tanzania, Lake Victoria, Uganda and Sudan. The Blue Nile starts with Lake Tana in Ethiopia. The Nile is generally considered as the world's longest river, some 4132 miles.