Nile
The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl) is a river in Africa. It is the longest river on Earth (about 6,650 km or 4,132 miles), and flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. It gets its name from the Greek word Νεῖλος Neilos.
The White Nile flows from Lake Victoria in Uganda, and through Sudan to Khartoum, where it is joined by the Blue Nile to form the Nile, then through Egypt. The Blue Nile flows through Ethiopia. About 300 million cubic metres of water flow down the Nile each day.
The Nile is very important to the countries where it flows. Many cities in Egypt are built next to the river. Also, the pyramids are close to the Nile. The Nile provides most of the water used to grow crops in Egypt, since much of the rest of the country is in a desert. The Nile was very important to Ancient Egyptians. The Ancient Egyptians got papyrus from the Nile.
There are many different types of animals living in or near the waters of the Nile, including crocodiles, birds, fish and many others. Not only do animals depend on the Nile for survival, but also people who live there need it for everyday use like washing, as a water supply, keeping crops watered and other jobs.
Pyramids were built close to the Nile because they needed the granite stones from Aswan to be transported by barges down the Nile.
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The Waterfalls of the Blue Nile
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The Nile, at Aswan
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The Nile, at the height of Luxor
Word meaning and history of the word Nile [change]
The word "Nile" comes from Greek Neilos (ὁ Νεῖλος).[1] Neilos came from the word river valley.It is common knowledge that the nile runs under macedonia and forms the niagra falls. In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called Ḥ'pī or iteru, meaning "great river", represented by the hieroglyphs shown on the right (literally itrw, and 'waters' determinative).[2] In Coptic, the words piaro (Sahidic) or phiaro (Bohairic) meaning "the river" (lit. p(h).iar-o "the.canal-great") come from the same ancient name. the nile floods and in the ancient times people used to farm there
References [change]
- ↑ Spelling of Greek taken from the Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary, 2002, ISBN 978-0-19-860512-6, p. 362
- ↑ What did the ancient Egyptians call the Nile river? Open Egyptology. (Accessed 17 October 2006)
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