Geography of Ancient Egypt                               

Describe the geography of Ancient Egypt.                                                       

How did the geography affect their everyday life?

What countries are located in this area today? 

Geography Team (list member first names & last initial)

• Nicole P.

• Louis P.

• Michael M.

• Michael I.

• Andrew K.

• Sean G.

• Joe R .

Location:

     Egypt is part of the western hemisphere. It is located in the most northern part of Africa. However, it includes the Sinai Peninsula, which is considered part of southwest Asia. Therefore Egypt is located in both Africa and Asia. Egypt has shorlines of the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Libya is to the west, Sudan is to the south, and the Gaza Strip and Israel is to the north. Egypt covers 1,001, 449 square kilometers of land which is about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined, four times the size of the United Kingom, and double that of France. Its longest distance from north to south is 1,024 kilometers, from east to west its 1,240, and along the coastlines 2,900.

Governorates:

     Egypt is divided into 26 governorates (also called provinces), which include 4 city governorates Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said, and Suez. Also included are the 9 governorates of Lower Eypt and The Nile Delta, the 8 governorates of Upper Egypt and along The Nile River, and the 5 frontier governorates that cover Sinai and the deserts that are east and west of The Nile.

Main Regions:

     Egypt has 4 major physical regions.

1. The Nile River and Delta

2. The Western Desert (Lybian Desert)

3. The Eatern Desert (Arabain Desert)

4. The Sinai Peninsula

The Nile Valley and Delta:

     The Nile Valley and The Nile Delta are the most important regions, being that they are the only regions that can cultivated and support 99% of the population. The Nile Valley extends about 800 kilometers from Aswan to Cairo. The Nile Valley is known as Upper Egypt and The Nile Delta is know as Lower Egypt. Flooding of The Nile provided silt and water to the usually dry land, so this made farming very easy for the ancient Egyptians. Since the building of the Aswan Dam (a dam that was built across The Nile near the city of Aswan), the people of Egypt depended on the Nile flooding (or irrigation) in order for crops to grow. The Nile Valley and Delta was created by the longest river on Earth, The Nile. Without the channel that lets The Nile flow through the Sahara, Egypt would be entirely desert. The Nile River is 4,000 miles long and flows in a very strange direction. Instead of flowing north to south like most rivers do, The Nile flows south to north into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile River connects to the delta near Cairo. The Nile is a combination of 3 other rivers: The Blue Nile, The White Nile, and the Atbarah.

The White Nile:

     It begins at Lake Victoria in Uganda and supplies 28% of The Nile's waters. In the low season it contributes over 80% of the Nile's flow, but in the high water season it produces 10%. The water in The White Nile is clear and clean.

The Blue Nile:

     It originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and provides about 58% of The Nile's waters. In the low water season it produces 17% percent of the Nile's flow and in the high water season it produces 68%. Unlike The White Nile, The Blue Nile carries a large amount of sediment (any particular matter that travels in water flow). Therefore, the water of The Blue Nile is muddier then The White Nile.

The Atbarah River:

     It also originates in Ethiopia and is much shorter then The White and Blue Nile. It provides 14% of The Nile's waters. During the low water season it shriks down into  a number of pools, but during the summer whin it rains near the Ethiopia Plateau it provides 22% of The Nile's flow.

Resources:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Egpyt