Depiction of the infant Moses being placed in the Nile. Source: www.keyway.ca
Welcome to the Nile River
We will focus on the impact of the Nile on this history of Egypt during the time of the Pharaohs. Some of the rich history of the Nile is also described in the Bible. It was, for example, in the delta region that the Israelites settled when they first entered Egypt (as described in Genesis), and it was from that area that the Exodus occurred. It was into the Nile River that the infant Moses was placed in a basket by his sister Miriam, and where he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter. Not least, the delta area was the site of the 7-year famine that occurred at the time of Jacob's entry into Egypt roughly 1740 years before the birth of Christ. Of course, the reason we know so much about the Nile is because it played such an important role in the history (and modern life) of Egypt.
The space shuttle image below shows the Nile River and its famous delta in northern Egypt. The Greek letter Delta (Δ) was drawn to represent this very feature. The picture is oriented with north to the left, so the river is flowing right to left across the page. Notice how the river and the delta define a green area in an otherwise dry desert environment. Look closely at the curved coast line along the Mediterranean Sea. That shape tells us a lot about the way the river carries water and sediment to the ocean. The Nile itself splits into several distributaries (named because they "distribute" water to the ocean), the largest of which are the Rosetta and Damietta branches, that each carry a portion of the fresh water. Other distributaries were active over the long history of the Nile and the delta. Every place that the land pooches out into the sea it is because one of the distributaries is supplying that area with sediment carried from far away.
Space shuttle image showing the Nile River and its famous delta in northern Egypt. Source: NASA
