318:
303:(at Aswan) as early as the beginning of June, and a steady increase went on until the middle of July, when the increase of water became very great. The Nile continued to rise until the beginning of September, when the level remained stationary for a period of about three weeks, sometimes a little less. In October, it often rose again and reached its highest level. From this period, it began to subside and usually sank steadily until the month of June, when it reached its lowest level again. Flooding reached Aswan about a week earlier than Cairo, and Luxor five to six days earlier than Cairo. Typical heights of flood were 45 feet (14 metres) at Aswan, 38 feet (12 metres) at Luxor (and Thebes) and 25 feet (7.6 metres) at Cairo.
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to deposit. Then the water was discharged to lower fields or back into the Nile. Immediately thereafter, sowing started, and harvesting followed some three or four months later. In the dry season thereafter, farming was not possible. Thus, all crops had to fit into this tight scheme of irrigation and
519:
from 1906 until many years after his retirement age, studied the fluctuations of the water levels in the Nile, and already in 1946 submitted an elaborate plan for how a "century storage" could be achieved to cope with exceptional dry seasons occurring statistically once in a hundred years. His ideas
487:
on a regular basis. It was the first dam on the Nile to retain large amounts of sedimentation (and to divert a large quantity of it into the irrigation canals) and in spite of opening the sluice gates during the flooding in order to flush the sediments, the reservoir is assumed to have lost about a
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The basin irrigation method did not exact too much of the soils, and their fertility was sustained by the annual silt deposit. Salinisation did not occur, since, in summer, the groundwater level was well below the surface, and any salinity which might have accrued was washed away by the next flood.
334:
Whilst the earliest
Egyptians simply laboured those areas which were inundated by the floods, some 7000 years ago, they started to develop the basin irrigation method. Agricultural land was divided into large fields surrounded by dams and dykes and equipped with intake and exit canals. The basins
381:
and wide systems of new canals were built, changing the irrigation system from the traditional basin irrigation to perennial irrigation whereby farmland could be irrigated throughout the year. Thereby, many crops could be harvested twice or even three times a year and agricultural output was
257:
into the Nile. During this short period, those rivers contribute up to ninety percent of the water of the Nile and most of the sedimentation carried by it, but after the rainy season, dwindle to minor rivers.
476:, both completed in 1902. However, they were still not able to retain sufficient water to cope with the driest summers, despite the Aswan Low Dam being raised twice, in 1907–1912 and in 1929–1933.
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was completed in 1937 in order to compensate for the Blue Nile's low waters in winter, but it was still not possible to overcome a period of very low waters in the Nile and thus avoid occasional
343:
In case of a small flood, the upper basins could not be filled with water which could mean food shortages or even famine. If a flood was too large, it would damage villages, dykes and canals.
460:, improved and extended this system, it was not able to store large amounts of water and to fully retain the annual flooding. In order to further improve irrigation, Sir
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354:, the methods and infrastructure slowly decayed, and the population diminished accordingly; by 1800, Egypt had a population of some 2.5 million inhabitants.
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was also closely associated with the Nile and the fertility of the land. During inundation festivals, mud figures of Osiris were planted with barley.
563:. In 1970, with the completion of the Aswan High Dam which was able to store the highest floods, the annual flooding cycle in Egypt came to an end in
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It is estimated that by this method, in ancient Egypt, some 2 million up to a maximum of 12 million inhabitants could be nourished. By the end of
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in Egypt instead of having to deal with many foreign countries. The required size of the reservoir was calculated using Hurst's figures and
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The flooding as such was foreseeable, although its exact dates and levels could be forecast only on a short-term basis, by transmitting the
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284:(Harvest). Akhet covered the Egyptian flood cycle. This cycle was so consistent that the Egyptians timed its onset using the
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cultivation, a crop with a longer growing season and requiring sufficient water at all times. To this end, the
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whose summits reach heights of up to 4,550 m (14,930 ft). Most of this rainwater is taken by the
464:, in his role as director general of reservoirs for Egypt, planned and supervised the construction of the
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were thought to control the flooding. The annual flooding of the Nile occasionally was said to be the
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of Egypt (r. 1805–1848), attempted to modernize various aspects of Egypt. He endeavoured to extend
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to the lower parts of the kingdom where the data had to be converted to the local circumstances.
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were flooded and then closed for about 45 days to saturate the soil with moisture and allow the
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was constructed on the Blue Nile as a reservoir in order to supply water to the huge
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The first indications of the rise of the river could be seen at the first of the
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The Nile was also an important part of ancient
Egyptian spiritual life. In the
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was the god of the Nile and the annual flooding of it. Both he and the
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157: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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International
Association of Hydrological Sciences, Wallingford 1999,
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soil in an area that was otherwise desert, Hapi symbolised fertility.
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Rivers of
Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East.
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Development and
Management of Irrigated Lands in Tigray, Ethiopia
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as an annual holiday for two weeks starting August 15, known as
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into the Nile, while a less important amount flows through the
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Ancient
Egyptians: The Kingdom of the Pharaohs brought to Life
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/nile_01.shtml
691:. Thos. Cook & Son (Egypt), Ltd, Ludgate Circus, London.
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The
Egyptian year was divided into the three seasons of
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The flooding of the Nile is the result of the yearly
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was added to help irrigating the Gezira Scheme. The
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390:, thereby greatly extending perennial irrigation.
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508:, which had plagued Egypt since ancient times.
16:Natural phenomenon in Egypt since ancient times
373:and achieve additional revenue by introducing
551:from 1956 to 1970, opted for the idea of the
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488:third of its storage capacity. In 1966, the
659:The National Water Research Center (Egypt)
654:Water resources management in modern Egypt
767:3rd edition. Spon, London/ New York 1913.
444:Learn how and when to remove this message
217:Learn how and when to remove this message
753:William Willcocks, James Ireland Craig:
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233:between May and August causing enormous
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23:The festival of the Nile as depicted in
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725:Baines, John. "The Story of the Nile."
532:and of reducing the evaporation in the
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325:during the inundation of the Nile, 1847
51:has been an important natural cycle in
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688:The Nile Notes for Travellers in Egypt
540:were opposed by the states concerned.
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511:In order to overcome these problems,
386:commissioned the construction of the
789:John V. Sutcliffe, Yvonne P. Parks:
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649:Water supply and sanitation in Egypt
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426:adding citations to reliable sources
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155:adding citations to reliable sources
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107:was poetically described in myth as
582:, shown as an iconographic pair of
456:Although the British, during their
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774:C. Hurst & Co., London 1997,
382:increased dramatically. In 1873,
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83:into the river, hence the name,
749:. Harper Collins Entertainment.
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613:. Since this flooding provided
515:, a British hydrologist in the
413:needs additional citations for
142:needs additional citations for
71:. It is also celebrated in the
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1:
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586:symbolically tying together
520:of further reservoirs using
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292:, the key event used to set
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644:Aswan Dam#Irrigation scheme
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115:when killed by his brother
75:by ceremonially throwing a
30:Voyage d'Egypte et de Nubie
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791:The Hydrology of the Nile.
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599:Ancient Egyptian religion
707:Dissertation 2005, Delft
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111:'s tears of sorrow for
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479:During the 1920s, the
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166:"Flooding of the Nile"
63:. It is celebrated by
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639:Egyptian Public Works
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517:Egyptian Public Works
458:first period in Egypt
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311:Further information:
301:cataracts of the Nile
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763:Egyptian Irrigation.
756:Egyptian Irrigation.
741:Gill, Anton (2003).
561:mathematical methods
422:improve this article
358:Perennial irrigation
151:improve this article
47:The flooding of the
702:Eyasu Yazew Hagos:
239:Ethiopian Highlands
103:). The flooding of
85:The Martyr's Finger
831:Egyptian mythology
808:2016-05-05 at the
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549:President of Egypt
545:Gamal Abdel Nasser
513:Harold Edwin Hurst
363:Muhammad Ali Pasha
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799:978-1-901502-75-6
683:Budge, Wallis E A
571:Religious beliefs
470:storage reservoir
468:, the first true
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101:Esba` al-shahīd
93:ⲡⲓⲧⲏⲃ ⲛⲙⲁⲣⲧⲏⲣⲟⲥ
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294:their calendar
280:(Growth), and
276:(Inundation),
235:precipitations
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168: –
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140:This section
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73:Coptic Church
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61:ancient times
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735:Bibliography
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543:Eventually,
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490:Roseires Dam
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420:Please help
415:verification
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321:View in the
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149:Please help
144:verification
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69:Wafaa El-Nil
68:
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28:
592:lower Egypt
565:Lake Nasser
526:Lake Albert
434:August 2020
371:arable land
307:Agriculture
245:and by the
207:August 2017
40:Map of the
820:Categories
765:Volume II.
665:References
498:White Nile
481:Sennar Dam
472:, and the
255:White Nile
177:newspapers
42:Nile river
670:Citations
634:Nilometer
530:Lake Tana
500:south of
243:Blue Nile
65:Egyptians
806:Archived
758:Volume I
685:(1895).
628:See also
620:The god
502:Khartoum
340:timing.
253:and the
105:the Nile
615:fertile
607:pharaoh
506:drought
496:on the
367:Khedive
237:on the
231:monsoon
191:scholar
797:
778:
622:Osiris
375:cotton
290:Sirius
193:
186:
179:
172:
164:
113:Osiris
97:Arabic
89:Coptic
77:martyr
59:since
25:Norden
588:upper
584:genii
557:Aswan
323:Delta
282:Shemu
278:Peret
274:Akhet
267:Aswan
263:gauge
251:Sobat
198:JSTOR
184:books
81:relic
57:Egypt
53:Nubia
841:Nile
795:ISBN
776:ISBN
603:Hapi
590:and
580:Hapi
534:Sudd
528:and
337:silt
170:news
109:Isis
55:and
49:Nile
803:PDF
760:;
555:at
424:by
288:of
153:by
117:Set
79:'s
27:'s
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