0
Indus Valley Civilization
Excavated ruins of Mohenio-daro.
I
Historv of South Asia
L.
A
Stone Agg
(before 3300
BCE
Mature
Harappan
2600-1700
BCE
Late Haranoan
1700-1300
BCE
(Iron Age
(1200-300 BCE
Maurva Empire i» 321-184 BCE
:
\
(Middle
Kingdoms
230 BCE-1279
CE
(Gupta Empire
•280-550
(Islamic
Sultanates
1206-1596
Mughal Empire (1526-1707
(Maratha Empire (1674-1818
Sikh
Confederacy
1716-1849
British India
(1858-1947
Modern
States
:
i 1947 onwards
Timeline
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I i (
The Indus Valley Civilization (c. 3000-1500 BC, flourished -1900 BC), abbreviated
IVC, was an ancient civilization that flourished in western South Asia, primarily in the
Indus valley, extending westward up to Balochistan, both of which are in modern
Pakistan, but also extending eastward up to Ghaggar-Hakra river (in the western region of
present Republic of Indial. The mature phase of this civilization is known as the
Harappan Civilization, after the first of its cities to be excavated, Harappa. Excavation
of IVC sites has been ongoing since the 1920s.
The civilization is sometimes referred to as the Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilization^1
or the Indus-Saraswati civilization. The appellation Indus-Saraswati is based on the
possible identification of the Ghaggar-Hakra River with the Sarasvati River
mentioned in the Rig Veda,121 but this usage is disputed.151
Historical context
The mature (Harappan) phase of the I VC is contemporary to the Early to Middle Bronze
Age in the Ancient Near East, in particular the Old Elamite period. Early Dynastic to Ur
Hi Mesopotamia. Palatially Minoan Crete and Old Kingdom to First Intermediate Period
Egypt.
The IVC has been tentatively identified with the toponym Meluhha known from
Sumerian records. It has been compared in particular with the civilizations of Elam (also
in the context of the Elamo-Dravidian hypothesis), and with Minoan Crete (because of
cultural parallels such as goddess worship and depictions of bull-leaping)1^.
The IVC is a likely candidate for a Proto-Dravidian culture.151 Alternatively, ProtoMunda, Proto-Indo-lranian or a "lost phylum" are sometimes suggested for the language
of the IVC (see Substratum in Vedic Sanskrit).1^
Discovery and excavation
The ruins of Harappa were first described in 1842 by Charles Masson in his Narrative of
Various Journeys in Balochistan, Afghanistan and the Panjab, where locals talked of an
ancient city extending "thirteen cosses" (about 25 miles), but no archaeological interest
would attach to this for nearly a century.121
In 1856. British engineers John and William Brunton were laying the East Indian
Railway Company line connecting Karachi and Lahore. John wrote: "I was much
exercised in my mind how we were to get ballast for the line of the railway." They were
told of an ancient ruined city near the lines, called Brahminabad. Visiting the city, he
found it full of hard well-burnt bricks; and "convinced that there was a grand quarry for
the ballast I wanted", the city of Brahminabad was reduced to ballast.151. A few months
later, further north, John's brother William Brunton's "section of the line ran near another
ruined city, bricks from which had already been used by villagers in the nearby village of
Harappa at the same site. These bricks now provided ballast along 93 miles of the
railroad track running from Karachi to Lahore."151
It was more than half a century later, in 1912. that Harappan seals—with the then
unknown symbols—were discovered by J. Fleet, prompting an excavation campaign
under Sir John Hubert Marshall in 1921/22, and resulting in the discovery of the hitherto
unknown civilization at Harappa by Sir John Marshall, Rai Bahadur Daya Ram Sahni and
Madho Sarup Vats, and at Mohenio-daro by Rakhal Das Banerjee, E. J. H. MacKay, and
Sir John Marshall. By 1931. much of Mohenjo-Daro had been excavated, but excavations
continued, such as that led by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, director of the Archaeological
Survey of India in 1944. Among other archaeologists who worked on IVC sites before
the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 were Ahmad Hasan Dani. Brii Basi Lai. Nani
Gopal Majumdar, and Sir Aurel Stein.
Following the partition of British India, the area of the IVC was divided between
Pakistan and India, and excavations from this time include those led by Sir Mortimer
Wheeler in 1949. archaeological adviser to the Government of Pakistan. Outposts of the
Indus Valley civilization were excavated as far west as Sutkagan Dor in Baluchistan, as
far north as the Oxus river in Afghanistan.
Periodisation
Main article: Periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization
The mature phase of the Harappan civilization lasted from c. 2600 BC to 1900 BC. With
the inclusion of the predecessor and successor cultures — Early Harappan and Late
Harappan, respectively — the entire Indus Valley Civilization may be taken to have
lasted from the 33rd to the 14th centuries BC. Two terms are employed for the
periodization of the IVC: Phases and ErasP^^ The Early Harappan, Mature Harappan,
and Late Harappan phases are also called the "Regionalisaiion," "Integration," and
"Localisation" eras, respectively, with the Regionalization era reaching back to the
Neolithic Mehrgarh II period. "Discoveries at Mehrgarh changed the entire concept of the
Indus civilization," according to Ahmad Hasan Dani. professor emeritus at Ouaid-eAzam University. Islamabad. "There we have the whole sequence, right from the
beginning of settled village life.',1IJJ
Date range Phase
Era
5500-3300 Mehrgarh II-VI (Pottery Neolithic)
3300-2600
Early Harappan (Early Bronze Age)
Regionalisation Era
3300-2800 Harappan 1 (Ravi Phase)
2800-2600 Harappan 2 (Kot Diji Phase, Nausharo I, Mehrgarh VII)
2600-1900
Mature Harappan (Middle Bronze Age)
2600-2450 Harappan 3A (Nausharo II)
Integration Era
2450-2200 Harappan 3B
2200-1900 Harappan 3C
1900-1300
Late Harappan (Cemetery H, Late Bronze Age)
1900-1700 Harappan 4
Localisation Era
1700-1300 Harappan 5
Geography
Extent and major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization. The shaded area does not include
recent excavations such as Rupar. Balakot. Shortughai in Afghanistan. Manda in Jammu.
etc. See J_l] for a more detailed map.
The Indus Valley Civilization extended from Balochistan to Gujarat, with an upward
reach to Punjab from east of the river Jhelum to Rupar on the upper Sutlej; Recently,
Indus sites have been discovered in Pakistan's NW Frontier Province as well. Coastal
settlements extended from Sutkagan Por[12J in Western Baluchistan to Lothal1131 in
Gujarat. The Indus Valley Civilization encompassed most of Pakistan as well as the
western states of India. An Indus Valley site has been found on the Oxus river at
Shortughai in northern Afghanistan,1141 in the Gomal river valley in north-west
Pakistan,1151 at Manda on the Beas River near Jammu.1161 India, and at Alamgirpur on the
Hindon River, only 28 km from Delhi.1121 Indus Valley sites have been found most often
on rivers, but also on the ancient sea-coast,1151 for example Balakot,1121 and on islands, for
example, Dholavira.1201
There is evidence of dry river beds overlapping with the Hakra channel in Pakistan and
the seasonal Ghaggar River in India. Many Indus Valley (or Harappan) sites have been
discovered along the Ghaggar-Hakra beds.1211 Among them are; Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Sothi,
Kalibangan, and Ganwariwala.1221 According to J. G. Shaffer and D. A. Lichtenstein1211
the Harappan Civilization "is a fusion of the Bagor, Hakra, and Koti Dij traditions or
'ethnic groups' in the Ghaggar-Hakra valley on the borders of India and Pakistan."1211
According to some archaeologists over 500 Harappan sites have been discovered along
the dried up river beds of the Ghaggar-Hakra River and its tributaries,1241 in contrast to
only about 100 along the Indus and its tributaries,1251 consequently, in their opinion, the
appellation Indus Ghaggar-Hakra civilisation or Indus-Saraswati civilisation is justified.
However, these arguments are disputed by other archaeologists who state that the
Ghaggar-Hakra desert area has been left untouched by settlements and agriculture since
the end of the Indus period and hence shows more sites than found in the alluvium of the
Indus valley; second, that the number of Harappan sites along the Ghaggar-Hakra river
beds have been exaggerated and that the Ghaggar-Hakra, when it existed, was a tributary
of the Indus, so the new nomenclature is redundant.1261
Early Harappan
The Early Harappan Ravi Phase, named after the nearby Ravi River, lasted from circa
3300 BC until 2800 BC. It is related to the Hakra Phase, identified in the Ghaggar-Hakra
River Valley to the west, and predates the Kot Diii Phase (2800-2600 BC, Harappan 2),
named after a site in northern Sindh, Pakistan, near Mohenio Daro. The earliest examples
of the "Indus script" date from around 3000 BC.161
The mature phase of earlier village cultures is represented by Rehman Dheri and Amri in
Pakistan.^ Kot Diii (Harappan 2) represents the phase leading up to Mature Harappan,
with the citadel representing centralised authority and an increasingly urban quality of
life. Another town of this stage was found at Kali ban gan in India on the Hakra River.^
Trade networks linked this culture with related regional cultures and distant sources of
raw materials, including lapis lazuli and other materials for bead-making. Villagers had,
by this time, domesticated numerous crops, including peas, sesame seeds, dates and
cotton, as well as various animals, including the water buffalo.
Mature Harappan
By 2600 BC, the Early Harappan communities had been turned into large urban centers.
Such urban centers include Harappa and Mohenio Daro in Pakistan and Lothal in India.
In total, over 1,052 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region
of the Ghaggar and Indus Rivers and their tributaries.
By 2500 BC. irrigation had transformed the region.{ata,lon ^eeded\
Cities
A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture is evident in the Indus Valley
Civilization. The quality of municipal town planning suggests knowledge of urban
planning and efficient municipal governments which placed a high priority on hygiene.
The streets of major cities such as Mohenio-daro or Harappa were laid out in perfect grid
patterns. The houses were protected from noise, odors, and thieves.1-"'"'0” needed]
As seen in Harappa, Mohenjo-daro and the recently discovered Rakhigarhi. this urban
plan included the world's first urban sanitation systems. Within the city, individual homes
or groups of homes obtained water from wells. From a room that appears to have been set
aside for bathing, waste water was directed to covered drains, which lined the major
streets. Houses opened only to inner courtyards and smaller lanes. The house-building in
some villages in the region still resembles in some respects the house-building of the
Harappans.*221
The ancient Indus systems of sewerage and drainage that were developed and used in
cities throughout the Indus region were far more advanced than any found in
contemporary urban sites in the Middle East and even more efficient than those in some
areas of Pakistan and India today. The advanced architecture of the Harappans is shown
by their impressive dockyards, granaries, warehouses, brick platforms and protective
walls. The massive citadels of Indus cities, which protected the Harappans from floods
and attackers, were larger than most Mesopotamian ziggurats.[—
The purpose of the citadel remains debated. In sharp contrast to this civilization's
contemporaries, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, no large monumental structures were
built. There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples - or of kings, armies, or
priests. Some structures are thought to have been granaries. Found at one city is an
enormous well-built bath, which may have been a public bath. Although the citadels were
walled, it is far from clear that these structures were defensive. They may have been built
to divert flood waters.
Most city dwellers appear to have been traders or artisans, who lived with others pursuing
the same occupation in well-defined neighborhoods. Materials from distant regions were
used in the cities for constructing seals, beads and other objects. Among the artifacts
discovered were beautiful beads of glazed stone called faience. The seals have images of
animals, gods and other types of inscriptions. Some of the seals were used to stamp clay
on trade goods and most probably had other uses.
Although some houses were larger than others, Indus Civilization cities were remarkable
for their apparent egalitarianism. All the houses had access to water and drainage
facilities. This gives the impression of a society with low wealth concentration.
Science
Further information: Harappan mathematics
The people of the Indus Civilization achieved great accuracy in measuring length, mass
and time. They were among the first to develop a system of uniform weights and
measures. Their measurements were extremely precise. Their smallest division, which is
marked on an ivory scale found in Lothal, was approximately 1.704 mm. the smallest
division ever recorded on a scale of the Bronze Age. Harappan engineers followed the
decimal division of measurement for all practical purposes, including the measurement of
mass as revealed by their hexahedron weights.
These brick weights were in a perfect ratio of 4:2:1 with weights of 0.05,0.1, 0.2,0.5, 1,
2,5, 10,20, 50, 100,200, and 500 units, with each unit weighing approximately 28
grams, similar to the English Imperial ounce or Greek uncia, and smaller objects were
weighed in similar ratios with the units of 0.871. However, actual weights were not
uniform throughout the area. The weights and measures later used in Kautilva's
Arthashastra (4th century BC) are the same as those used in Lothal.^
Unique Harappan inventions include an instrument which was used to measure whole
sections of the horizon and the tidal dock. In addition, Harappans evolved new techniques
in metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead and tm. The engineering skill of the
Harappans was remarkable, especially in building docks after a careful study of tides,
waves and currents.
In 2001. archaeologists studying the remains of two men from Mehrgarh. Pakistan made
the discovery that the people of the Indus Valley Civilisation, from the early Harappan
periods, had knowledge of proto-dentistry. Later, in April 2006, it was announced in the
scientific journal Nature that the oldest (and first early Neolithic) evidence for the drilling
of human teeth in vivo (i.e. in a living person) was found in Mehrgarh. Eleven drilled
molar crowns from nine adults were discovered in a Neolithic graveyard in Mehrgarh that
dates from 7,500-9,000 years ago. According to the authors, their discoveries point to a
tradition of proto-dentistry in the early farming cultures of that region."1221
A touchstone bearing gold streaks was found in Banawali. which was probably used for
testing the purity of gold (such a technique is still used in some parts of India).1221
Arts and culture
The "dancing girl of Mohenjo Daro."
Various sculptures, seals, pottery, gold jewelry and anatomically detailed figurines in
terracotta, bronze and steatite have been found at the excavation sites.
A number of gold, terracotta and stone figurines of girls in dancing poses reveal the
presence of some dance form. Sir John Marshall is known to have reacted with surprise
when he saw the famous Indus bronze statuette of a slender-limbed "dancing girl" in
Mohenjo-daro:
... When I first saw them I found it difficult to believe that they were prehistoric; they
seemed to completely upset all established ideas about early art, and culture.. Modeling
such as this was unknown in the ancient world up to the Hellenistic age of Greece, and I
thought, therefore, that some mistake must surely have been made; that these figures had
found their way into levels some 3000 years older than those to which they properly
belonged. ... Now, in these statuettes, it is just this anatomical truth which is so startling;
that makes us wonder whether, in this all-important matter, Greek artistry could possibly
have been anticipated by the sculptors of a far-off age on the banks of the Indus.
Many crafts "such as shell working, ceramics, and agate and glazed steatite bead making"
were used in the making of necklaces, bangles, and other ornaments from all phases of
Harappan sites and some of these crafts are still practiced in the subcontinent today.1221
Some make-up and toiletry items (a special kind of combs (kakai), the use of collvrium
and a special three-in-one toiletry gadget) that were found in Harappan contexts have
similar counterparts in modern India.
Terracotta female figurines were found (ca.
2800-2600 BC) which had red color applied to the "manga" (line of partition of the hair),
a tradition which is still seen in India.
Seals have been found at Mohenjo-daro depicting a figure standing on its head, and
another sitting cross-legged in a yoga-like pose (see image, Pashupati, below).
A harp-iike instrument depicted on an Indus seal and two shell objects found at Lothal
indicate the use of stringed musical instruments. The Harappans also made various toys
and games, among them cubical dices (with one to six holes on the faces) which were
found in sites like Mohenjo-Daro.^
Trade and transportation
An artistic conception of ancient Lothal (Archaeological Survey of India). 121
Computer-aided reconstruction of Harappan coastal settlement at Sokhta Koh near Pasni
on the western-most outreaches of the civilization
Further information: Lothal and Meluhha
The Indus civilization's economy appears to have depended significantly on trade, which
was facilitated by major advances in transport technology. These advances included
bullock carts that are identical to those seen throughout South Asia today, as well as
boats. Most of these boats were probably small, flat-bottomed craft, perhaps driven by
sail, similar to those one can see on the Indus River today; however, there is secondary
evidence of sea-going craft. Archaeologists have discovered a massive, dredged canal
and docking facility at the coastal city of Lothal.
During 4300 - 3200 BC of the chalcolithic period (copper age), the Indus Valley
Civilization area shows ceramic similarities with southern Turkmenistan and northern
Iran which suggest considerable mobility and trade. During the Early Harappan period
(about 3200-2600 BC), similarities in pottery, seals, figurines, ornaments etc. document
intensive caravan trade with Central Asia and the Iranian plateau.^
Judging from the dispersal of Indus civilisation artifacts, the trade networks,
economically, integrated a huge area, including portions of Afghanistan, the coastal
regions of Persia, northern and central India, and Mesopotamia.
There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and
Mesopotamian civilisations as early as the middle Harappan Phase, with much commerce
being handled by "middlemen merchants from Dilmun" (modem Bahrain and Failaka
located in the Persian Gulf).^ Such long-distance sea-trade became feasible with the
innovative development of plank-built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast
supporting a sail of woven rushes or cloth.
Several coastal settlements like Sotkagen-dor (astride Dasht River, north of Jiwani),
Sokhta Koh (astride Shadi River, north of Pasni) and Balakot (near Sonmiani) in Pakistan
along with Lothal in India testify to their role as Harappan trading outposts. Shallow
harbors located at the estuary of rivers opening into the sea allowed brisk maritime trade
with Mesopotamian cities.
Agriculture
Post 1980 studies indicate that food production was largely indigenous to the Indus
Valley. It is known that the people of Mehrgarh used domesticated wheats and barlev[38]
and the major cultivated cereal crop was naked six-row barley, a crop derived from tworow barley (see Shaffer and Liechtenstein 1995,1999). Archaeologist Jim G. Shaffer
(1999: 245) writes that the Mehrgarh site "demonstrates that food production was an
indigenous South Asian phenomenon" and that the data support interpretation of "the
prehistoric urbanization and complex social organization in South Asia as based on
indigenous, but not isolated, cultural developments."
Nile
Nile
The Nile River in Egypt
Origin
Africa
Mouth
Mediterranean Sea
Basin
countries
Sudan. Burundi, Rwanda. DR
Congo. Tanzania. Kenva.
Uganda. Ethiopia, Egvpt
Length
6,650 km (4,132 mi)
Source
elevation
1,134 m (3,721 ft)
Avg.
2,830 m3/s (99,956 ft3/s)
discharge
Basin area 3,400,000 km2 (1,312,740 mi2)
The Nile (Arabic: I Jo^sJ, transliteration: an-nll, Ancient Egyptian iteru, Coptic piaro or
phiaro) is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in
the world.^ Though recent findings reveal that in fact, the amazon river may be longer.1^
The Nile has two major tributaries, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the
source of most of the Nile's water and fertile soil, but the former being the longer of the
two. The White Nile rises in the Great Lakes region of central Africa, with the most
distant source in southern Rwanda 2°16'55.92"S, 29°19'52.32"E, and flows north from
there through Tanzania. Lake Victoria. Uganda and southern Sudan, while the Blue Nile
starts at Lake Tana in Ethiopia 12°2'8.8"N, 37°15'53.11"E. flowing into Sudan from the
southeast. The two rivers meet near the Sudanese capital Khartoum.
The northern section of the river flows almost entirely through desert, from Sudan into
Egypt, a country whose civilization has depended on the river since ancient times. Most
of the population of Egypt and all of its cities, with the exception of those near the coast,
lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan; and nearly all the cultural and
historical sites of Ancient Egypt are found along the banks of the river. The Nile ends in a
large delta that empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
Etymology of the word Nile
The word "Nile"(Arabic: ’nil) comes from the Greek word Neilos (NsiXoq), meaning river
valley. In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called iteru, meaning "great river",
represented by the hieroglyphs shown on the right (literally itnv).^ In Coptic, the words
piaro (Sahidic) ox phiaro (Bohairic) meaning "the river" (lit. p(h).iar-o "the.canal-great")
come from the same ancient name.
Tributaries and distributaries
East Africa, showing the course of the Nile River, with the "Blue" and "White" Niles
marked in those colours
The drainage basin of the Nile covers 3,254,555 km2, about 10% of the area of Africa.1^
There are two great tributaries of the Nile, joining at Khartoum: the White Nile, starting
in equatorial East Africa, and the Blue Nile, beginning in Ethiopia. Both branches are on
the western flanks of the East African Rift, the southern part of the Great Rift Valley.
After the Blue and White Niles merge, the only remaining major tributary is the Atbara
River, which originates in Ethiopia north of Lake Tana, and is around 800 km (500 miles)
long. It flows only while there is rain in Ethiopia and dries very fast. It joins the Nile
approximately 300 km (200 miles) north of Khartoum.
The Nile is unusual in that its last tributary (the Atbara) joins it roughly halfway to the
sea. From that point north, the Nile diminishes because of evaporation.
The course of the Nile in Sudan is distinctive. It flows over 6 groups of cataracts, from
the first at Aswan to the sixth at Sabaloka (just north of Khartoum) and then turns to flow
southward for a good portion of its course, before again returning to flow north to the sea.
This is called the "Great Bend of the Nile."
North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the
Mediterranean: the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the
Nile Delta.
White Nile
The Blue Nile Falls fed by Lake Tana near the city ofBahar Par. Ethiopia forms the
upstream of the Blue Nile. It is also known as Tis Issat Falls after the name of the nearby
village.
The source of the Nile is sometimes considered to be Lake Victoria, but the lake itself has
feeder rivers of considerable size. The most distant stream emerges from Nvungwe Forest
in Rwanda, via the Rukarara, Mwogo, Nyabarongo and Kagera rivers, before flowing
into Lake Victoria in Tanzania near the town of Bukoba.
The Nile leaves Lake Victoria at Ripon Falls, near Jinia. Uganda, as the Victoria Nile. It
flows for approximately 500 km (300 miles) farther, through Lake Kvoga. until it reaches
Lake Albert. After leaving Lake Albert, the river is known as the Albert Nile. It then
flows into Sudan, where it becomes known as the Bahr al Jabal ("River of the
Mountain"). At the confluence of the Bahr al Jabal with the Bahr al Ghazal. itself 720 km
(445 miles) long, the river becomes known as the Bahr al Abyad, or the White Nile, from
the whitish clay suspended in its waters. From there, the river flows to Khartoum. When
the Nile flooded it left this rich material named silt. The Ancient Egyptians used this soil
to farm.
Blue Nile
The Blue Nile (Ge'ez □ □ □ □ □ □ Tiqur UAbbay (Black Abav) to Ethiopians; Bahr al
Azraq to Sudanese) springs from Lake Tana in the Ethiopian Highlands. The Blue Nile
flows about 1,400 km (850 miles) to Khartoum, where the Blue Nile and White Nile join
to form the "Nile proper". 90% of the water and 96% of the transported sediment carried
by the Nile^ originates in Ethiopia, with 59% of the water from the Blue nile alone (the
rest being from the Tekeze. Atbarah, Sobat. and small tributaries). The erosion and
transportation of silt only occurs during the Ethiopian rainy season in the summer,
however, when rainfall is especially high on the Ethiopian Plateau; the rest of the year,
the great rivers draining Ethiopia into the Nile (Sobat, Blue Nile, Tekeze, and Atbarah)
flow weakly.
Lost headwaters
Formerly Lake Tanganyika drained northwards along the African Rift Valiev into the
Albert Nile, making the Nile about 900 miles longer, until blocked in Miocene times by
the bulk of the Virunga Volcanoes. See List of rivers bv length.
The usage of the Nile River has been vastly associated with East and horn of African
politics for many decades. Various countries, including Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia and
Kenya have complained about the Egyptian domination of the Nile water resources. The
Nile Basin Initiative was one of the most important programs to promote equal usage and
peaceful coopetation between the "Nile Basin States."161 Yet many fear, the Egyptian
domination of the waters still causes massive economic obstacles in the area.
The Nile still supports much of the population living along its banks, with the Egyptians
living in otherwise inhospitable regions of the Sahara. The river flooded every summer,
depositing fertile silt on the plains. The flow of the river is disturbed at several points by
cataracts, which are sections of faster-flowing water with many small islands, shallow
water, and rocks, forming an obstacle to navigation by boats. The sudd in the Sudan also
forms a formidable obstacle for navigation and flow of water, to the extent that Egypt had
once attempted to dig a canal (the Jongeli Canal) to improve the flow of this stagnant
mass of water (also known as Lake No).
The Nile was, and still is, used to transport goods to different places along its long path;
especially since winter winds in this area blow up river, the ships could travel up with no
work by using the sail, and down using the flow of the river. While most Egyptians still
live in the Nile valley, the construction of the Aswan High Dam (finished in 1970) to
provide hydroelectricity ended the summer floods and their renewal of the fertile soil.
Cities on the Nile include Khartoum, Aswan, Luxor (Thebes), and the Giza-Cairo
conurbation. The first cataract, the closest to the mouth of the river, is at Aswan to the
north of the Aswan Dams. The Nile north of Aswan is a regular tourist route, with cruise
ships and traditional wooden sailing boats known as feluccas. In addition, many "floating
hotel" cruise boats ply the route between Luxor and Aswan, stopping in at Edfu and Korn
Ombo along the way. It used to be possible to sail on these boats all the way from Cairo
to Aswan, but security concerns have shut down the northernmost portion for many
years.
More recently, drought during the 1980s led to widespread starvation in Ethiopia and
Sudan but Egypt was protected from drought by water impounded in Lake Nasser.
Beginning in the 1980s techniques of analysis using hydrology transport models have
been used in the Nile to analyze water quality.
History
The confluence of the Kagera and Ruvubu rivers near Rusumo Falls, part of the Nile's
upper reaches.
The Nile (iteru in Ancient Egyptian) was the lifeline of the ancient Egyptian civilization,
with most of the population and all of the cities of Egypt resting along those parts of the
Nile valley lying north of Aswan. The Nile has been the lifeline for Egyptian culture
since the Stone Age. Climate change, or perhaps overgrazing, desiccated the pastoral
lands of Egypt to form the Sahara desert, possibly as long ago as 8000 BC. and the
inhabitants then presumably migrated to the river, where they developed a settled
agricultural economy and a more centralized society.
The river Nile froze twice in recorded history, in 829™^ and 1010.^
The Eonile
The present Nile is at least the fifth river that has flowed north from the Ethiopian
Highlands. Satellite imagery was used to identify dry watercourses in the desert to the
west of the Nile. An Eonile canyon, now filled by surface drift, represents an ancestral
Nile called the Eonile that flowed during the later Miocene (23-5.3 million years before
the present). The Eonile transported clastic sediments to the Mediterranean, where
several gas fields have been discovered within these sediments.
During the late-Miocene Messinian Salinity Crisis, when the Mediterranean Sea was a
closed basin and evaporated empty or nearly so, the Nile cut its course down to the new
base level until it was several hundred feet below world ocean level at Aswan and 8000
feet below Cairo. This huge canyon is now full of later sediment.
Lake Tanganyika drained northwards into the Nile until the Virunga Volcanoes blocked
its course in Rwanda. That would have made the Nile much longer, with its longest
headwaters in northern Zambia.
Role in the founding of Egyptian civilization
Reconstruction of the Oikoumene (inhabited world) ancient map based on Herodotus'
description of the world, circa 450 BCE.
Sustenance played a crucial role in the founding of Egyptian civilization. The Nile is an
unending source of sustenance. The Nile made the land surrounding it extremely fertile
when it flooded or was inundated annually. The Egyptians were able to cultivate wheat
and crops around the Nile, providing food for the general population. Also, the Nile’s
water attracted game such as water buffalo: and after the Persians introduced them in the
7th century BC, camels. These animals could be killed for meat, or could be captured,
tamed and used for ploughing — or in the camels' case, travelling. Water was vital to
both people and livestock. The Nile was also a convenient and efficient way of
transportation for people and goods.
Egypt’s stability was one of the best structured in history. In fact, it might easily have
surpassed many modern societies. This stability was an immediate result of the Nile’s
fertility. The Nile also provided flax for trade. Wheat was also traded, a crucial crop in
the Middle East where famine was very common. This trading system secured the
diplomatic relationship Egypt had with other countries, and often contributed to Egypt's
economic stability. Also, the Nile provided the resources such as food or money, to
quickly and efficiently raise an army for offensive or defensive roles.
The Nile played a major role in politics and social life. The pharaoh would supposedly
flood the Nile, and in return for the life-giving water and crops, the peasants would
cultivate the fertile soil and send a portion of the resources they had reaped to the
Pharaoh. He or she would in turn use it for the wellbeing of Egyptian society.
The Nile was a source of spiritual dimension. The Nile was so significant to the lifestyle
of the Egyptians, that they created a god dedicated to the welfare of the Nile’s annual
inundation. The god’s name was Hapi. and both he and the pharaoh were thought to
control the flooding of the Nile River. Also, the Nile was considered as a causeway from
life to death and afterlife. The east was thought of as a place of birth and growth, and the
west was considered the place of death, as the god Ra, the sun, underwent birth, death,
and resurrection each time he crossed the sky. Thus, all tombs were located west of the
Nile, because the Egyptians believed that in order to enter the afterlife, they must be
buried on the side that symbolized death.
The Greek historian, Herodotus, wrote that ‘Egypt was the gift of the Nile’, and in a
sense that is correct. Without the waters of the Nile River for irrigation, Egyptian
civilization would probably have been short-lived. The Nile provided the elements that
make a vigorous civilization, and contributed much to its lasting three thousand years.
That far-reaching trade has been carried on along the Nile since ancient times can be seen
from the Ishango bone, possibly the earliest known indication of Ancient Egyptian
multiplication, which was discovered along the headwaters of the Nile River (near Lake
Edward, in northeastern Congo) and was carbon-dated to 20.000 BC.
The search for the source of the Nile
The Great Bend of the Nile in Sudan, looking north across the Sahara Desert towards
Northern Sudan.
Despite the attempts of the Greeks and Romans (who were unable to penetrate the Sudd),
the upper reaches of the Nile remained largely unknown. Various expeditions had failed
to determine the river's source, thus yielding classical Hellenistic and Roman
representations of the river as a male god with his face and head obscured in drapery.
Aeatharcides records that in the time of Ptolemy II Philadelohus. a military expedition
had penetrated far enough along the course of the Blue Nile to determine that the summer
floods were caused by heavy seasonal rainstorms in the Ethiopian highlands, but no
European in Antiquity is known to have reached Lake Tana, let alone retraced the steps
of this expedition farther than Meroe.
Europeans learned little new information about the origins of the Nile until the 15th and
16th centuries, when travelers to Ethiopia visited not only Lake Tana, but the source of
the Blue Nile in the mountains south of the lake. Although James Bruce claimed to have
been the first European to have visited the headwaters, modern writers with better
knowledge give the credit to the Jesuit Pedro Paez. Paez’ account of the source of the
Nile (History of Ethiopia c. 1622) was not published in full until the early 20th century.
The work is a long and vivid account of Ethiopia. The account is however featured in
several contemporary works, including Balthazar Telles (Historia geral da Ethiopia a
Alta, 1660), Athanasius Kircher (Mundus Subterraneus, 1664) and by Johann Michael
Vansleb {The Present State ofEgypt, 1678). Europeans had been resident in the country
since the late 15th century, and it is entirely possible one of them had visited the
headwaters even earlier but was unable to send a report of his discoveries out of Ethiopia.
Jeronimo Lobo also describes the source of the Blue Nile, visiting shortly after Pedro
Paez. His account is likewise utilized by Balthazar Telles.
The White Nile was even less understood, and the ancients mistakenly believed that the
Niger River represented the upper reaches of the White Nile; for example, Pliny the Elder
wrote that the Nile had its origins "in a mountain of lower Mauretania", flowed above
ground for "many days" distance, then went underground, reappeared as a large lake in
the territories of the Masaesvles. then sank again below the desert to flow underground
"for a distance of 20 days'journey till it reaches the nearest Ethiopians." ^ A merchant
named Diogenes reported the Nile’s water attracted game such as water buffalo; and after
the Persians introduced them in the 7th century BC, camels.
Lake Victoria was first sighted by Europeans in 1858 when the British explorer John
Hanning Speke reached its southern shore whilst on his journey with Richard Francis
Burton to explore central Africa and locate the great Lakes. Believing he had found the
source of the Nile on seeing this "vast expanse of open water" for the first time, Speke
named the lake after the then Queen of the United Kingdom. Burton, who had been
recovering from illness at the time and resting further south on the shores of Lake
Tanganyika, was outraged that Speke claimed to have proved his discovery to have been
the true source of the Nile when Burton regarded this as still unsettled. A very public
quarrel ensued, which not only sparked a great deal of intense debate within the scientific
community of the day, but much interest by other explorers keen to either confirm or
refute Speke's discovery. The well known British explorer and missionary David
Livingstone failed in his attempt to verify Speke's discovery, instead pushing too far west
and entering the Congo River system instead. It was ultimately the American explorer
Henry Morton Stanley who confirmed the truth of Speke's discovery, circumnavigating
Lake Victoria and reporting the great outflow at Ripon Falls on the Lake's northern shore.
It was on this journey that Stanley was said to have greeted the British explorer with the
famous words "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" upon discovering the Scotsman ill and
despondent in his camp on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.
Modern achievements
The White Nile Expedition, led by South African national Hendri Coetzee, became the
first to navigate the Nile's entire length. The expedition took off from the source of the
Nile in Uganda on January 17. 2004 and arrived safely at the Mediterranean in Rosetta, 4
months and 2 weeks later. National Geographic released a feature film about the
expedition towards in late 2005 entitled The Longest River.
On April 28. 2004. geologist Pasquale Scaturro and his partner, kayaker and documentary
filmmaker Gordon Brown became the first people to navigate the Blue Nile, from Lake
Tana in Ethiopia to the beaches of Alexandria on the Mediterranean. Though their
expedition included a number of others, Brown and Scaturro were the only ones to
remain on the expedition for the entire journey. They chronicled their adventure with an
IMAX camera and two handheld video cams, sharing their story in the IMAX film
"Mystery of the Nile", and in a book of the same title. The team was forced-to use
outboard motors for most of their journey, and it was not until January 29. 2005 when
Canadian Les Jickling and New Zealander Mark Tanner reached the Mediterranean Sea,
that the river had been paddled for the first time under human power.
A team led by South Africans Peter Meredith and Hendri Coetzee on 30 April 2005.
became the first to navigate the most remote headstream, the remote source of the Nile,
the Akagera river, which starts as the Rukarara in Nyungwe forest in Rwanda.
On March 31.2006, three explorers from Britain and New Zealand lead by Neil
McGrigor claimed to have been the first to travel the river from its mouth to a new "true
source" deep in Rwanda's Nyungwe rainforest. 2016'55.92"S. 29°19'52.32"E.LLU