The River Nile and its banks

The River Nile and its banks

from the map, click here for - [Boats of the Nile]

SETTLEMENT - The Nile is truly the River of Life and has been revered in Egypt since ancient times. Until the Aswan High Dam was built, only 4% of Egypt was cultivated, but this has now been extended to 6%. Nearly all habitation owes its existence to the narrow strip of land either side of the river itself or to the very fertile Nile Delta in the north. The Blue Nile god Hapi is holding the central stem of a palm leaf. This represents the annual flooding of the Nile which determines the harvest. On the right the fertility god holds his hands over the two expanses of water - the Nile and the Mediterranean. Diagram recreated from the Book of the Dead of Ani, 19th Dynasty One explanation for the shape of the Ankh, the ancient Egyptian symbol for eternal life, is that it is thought to represent the Nile and its importance to life and consequently their religion. The two side arms represent the two banks of the river - East for the Living and West for the After-life. The top loop is for the productivity and fertility of the Nile Delta; the stem is for the Nile itself. The River in hieroglyphs Translation: iteru = River The proximity of the Desert to the river is a constant reminder of the fragility of the narrow strip of life which survives all the way from Aswan to Cairo. Many of the dwellings and settlements have a very simple existence with few modern amenities.
A typical riverside village			A train station squeezed between the river and the desert
A village clinging to the edge of the desert			One of the many village minarets, taken from an island in the river
A basic settlement scratching a living on the edge of the Nile			The ancient, on donkeys, passes the modern machine on the bank
Rare luxury between the river and the desert at Aswan			Three young girls intrigued by the sight of our passing boat