It is best known as the longest river on the planet. Nile is consensually considered so as it has 6,695 km in length, even if some say that Amazon is longer (6,800 km). The problem is that nobody could tell where Amazon ends, due to its huge mouth.
Anyway, while Amazon is the mightiest river on the planet (with a debit of 200,000 cubic meters/second, 20 % of the freshwater volume penetrating the oceans), Nile has a 60 times lower debit, as it does not receive any affluent on its last 2.400 km (1.500 mi). Moreover, the Nile's debits fluctuate a lot, as it receives the most abundant waters during rainfall on the Ethiopian Plateau.
But the role played by the Nile in human life and history is much higher. Its source is Lake Victoria, bearing the name Kagera on the upper section and empties into the Mediterranean, on the place where 2,300 years ago Alexander the Great founded the famous city of Alexandria.
Through the desert crossed by the Nile on its lower portion,
vegetation growth is restricted at a fringe of about 1.5 km (1 mi) off the river's banks and life is concentrated on a few km off his banks.
One of the longest reservoirs in Earth was built on the Nile between 1958-1970: Lake Nasser, which is 550 km (344 mi) long and with a maximum width of 35 km (22 mi). The reservoirs lay between Egypt (mostly) and Sudan.
The Nile made possible in the middle of the Sahara desert, one of the toughest on Earth, the development of the oldest state: Egypt. But the Egyptian civilization thrived on its banks 10,000 years ago, while the Egyptian empire rose 5,000 years ago.
12,000 years ago the Nile was much stronger, crossing a savanna where now we see only dry desert and receiving numerous strong affluents on its course. But 10,000 years ago the drought was already felt. 6,000 years ago, two cultures were known in Egypt: the Merimde Culture in the north, around Nile's Delta and Badarian Culture in the middle Egypt, around the city of Asyut. From the union of these two cultures, the first great nation-state in the history rose, flourishing for three millennia and leaving us awesome monuments, like the monumental pyramids at the Abu Simbel, Karnak, Philae.
The agriculture on the Nile Valley was strictly connected to the annual flooding, that occurred between July and September, covering huge areas. The inundations meant the Egyptian agriculture did not require irrigations. Still, some crops required stocking water and irrigation.
Of course, the Nile was for the Egyptians the backbone of their unity and main transport route. The Nile allowed a centralization of the political, military and economical power that permitted the emergence of a huge trained power work necessary for the building of the huge monuments, priceless values of the human civilization.
Due to the steady food supply provided by the fertilizing Nile, Egypt was one of the stablest ancient states till its conquest by the Romans of Julius Caesar in 30 B.C.
Even today, Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East and North Africa, due to Nile that can provide the food (directly and indirectly) for such a large population.
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