Throughout history, biggest populations grew near water sources. And would it be a surprise that that is what gave birth to Egyptian civilization? The land of Egypt is traversed by a mighty river, can you guess it's name? You got it, the great Nile.

The Nile gets its water from the immense reservoirs in the equatorial regions. It gradually scooped out for itself a deep river bed extending throughout the northern Africa. The river depth goes down to 300 feet below desert level in some places.

The Nile fills up to the rims during the wet months of the year. But than, its waters gradually recede, foot by foot, mile by mile. As it recedes, it leaves fresh mud. These regions of mud grow wider and wider, until the only thing left of a river is a narrow channel of water, a few hundred yards in width. The deposits of mud left by the Nile - is Egypt. Nourished, water-saturated soil provides a region where farmers can grow food on. When the time comes, the Nile reclaims its territory, and only individual islands constructed by man to rise higher, remain.

If, during a certain year, the Nile does not re-saturate the land, Egyptians had a hard time feeding themselves. So essentially, the Nile turns the desert of that region into fertile land where people can live. Ancient Egyptians understood the importance of the Nile, feared it, and worshiped it as a god, because of this. This also explains why the plagues raised by God against Egyptians so they free the Israelites, involved the Nile. God of the Israelites demonstrated His supremacy over the god of the Nile.

Sources:

George Rawlinson. Ancient Egypt. Print.

Image source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nat507/8496621480/sizes/m/in/photostream/

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