Cataracts of the Nile

Nile

The cataracts of the Nile are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones that lie on the river bed, as well as many small rocky islets.

The six first cataracts of the River Nile were the main obstacles for boats sailing on the Nile in antiquity. Counted upstream (from north to south), the First Cataract is in modern Egypt; the rest are in Sudan.

• The First Cataract is near Aswan (24.078° N 32.878° E)
• The Second Cataract (or Great Cataract) was in Nubia and is now submerged in Lake Nasser (21.48° N 30.97° E)
• The Third Cataract is around Tombos / Hannek (19.76° N 30.37° E)
• The Fourth Cataract is in the Manasir Desert and will be flooded by the Merowe Dam from 2006 onwards (18.91° N 32.36° E)
• The Fifth Cataract is near the confluence with the Atbara River (17.677° N 33.970° E)
• The Sixth Cataract is where the Nile cuts through the Sabaluka pluton near Bagrawiyah (16.88° N 33.66° E)

The word cataract comes from the Greek word kataraktes meaning "waterfall".

In ancient times, Upper Egypt extended from the Nile Delta to the first cataract, while farther upstream, the land was controlled by the ancient Kush civilization, that would later take over Egypt.

Other websites

• The Cataract Nile and the Great Bend (webpage) [1]
• The 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan: A Photographic Study [2] (See photos listed in the index under "Nile, Third Cataract" and "Nile, Fourth Cataract")

Photo links

• Second Cataract: [3] [4]
• Third Cataract: [5] [6] [7]
• Fourth Cataract: [8]
• Fifth Cataract: [9]
• Sixth Cataract: [10] [11]