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Nile River and Nile Delta in Egypt

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Nile Delta

Nile Delta

NASA JSC Digital Image Collection
Definition: Flowing for 5584 km (3470 miles), the Nile River is the longest river in the world. The delta of the Nile River empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The beginning of the Nile is south, which makes people from the Northern Hemisphere think the Nile flows in the wrong direction. Lake Victoria, into which the Kagera river flows, feeds the Nile. In the classical period there were three dominant channels in the delta, Pre, Ptah and Amun, according to Tour Egypt.

In ancient Egypt, the flooding of the Nile was predictable enough for the Egyptians to plan their yearly crops around it. They learned partial control of the flood waters of the Nile by means of irrigation. they also wrote hymns to Hapy, the Nile flood god. The Nile flooded annually some time from June to September, as a result of monsoons in Ethiopia. Famine resulted when there was inadequate or surplus flooding.

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