the nile river can be divided into three zones, the first zone consists of tributaries to the two streams of the white nile and the blue nile which forms a confluence near khartoum in sudan. the second zone is the expanse between khartoum and cairo. the third zone is the nile delta, which is the widestv habitable area of the nile with its most important stretch in terms of inhabitants and economy.
The nile carries water all through the year, but the amount of water it carries, varies depending on the season.Every year in july the nile starts to flood, this is due to the mountains located in abbysinia whose tops are covered with snow. In summer-time much of this snow melts and flows down the tributaries which results in the overflow of river nile banks, thereby providing water for the surrounding fields and also a new layer of rich, fertile mud which aids agriculture. Although occasionally the nile river does not overflow so much that nile dwellers might suffer from famine. Farming is by far the most important economic activity along the nile with more than half of the population involved in farming.Because the people along the nile are mainly agricultural people, it has been their source of strength with few resources. The flood produced by river nile the great does not even at the best of time generate sufficient water to ripen the grain of the farm and its outlying farms.There is practically no rain at all in Egypt, without waters of nile, all of Egypt would be a desert. Irrigation is a necssity in most suburbs of the nile where little rain falls.
The two kingdoms along the nile, the upper and the lower kingdoms had to devise a means of watering their fields and crops. The common and widely accepted system of irrigation, which is the oldest and still in practice today is the shaduf system which was adopted by the upper kingdom because of their geographical location being positioned south of the nile delta, The shaduf syetem is such that a man at the river’s edge fills his bucket with water, and then swings it on a pole to another man half-way up the river bank. the second man empties this bucket into one of his own, returns the first bucket to the man at the waters edge, and swings his own up to a third man on top of the bank. This third man pours the water into the long narrow ditch which then carry it through the fields to the crops. When the grain is ripening, the need foir water is so enormous that the shaduf is kept running for more than three and a half months. The nile farmers still live much as their ancestos did centuries ago relying heavily on the crops produced on the fertile nile land. The mighty nile river has nourished the people and land of Egypt since ancient times till date. The rural peasant fellahin farmers rather than grow cash crops such as cotton, farmers now grow corn, oranges, potatoes and wheat which places them among the leading producers of corn in the world.The flood water trapped by peasant farmers on their fields when the river usually goes down in september normally leaves a strip of rich black soil about 10 kilometer wide on each bank of the river. Following the completion of aswan high dam, the seasonal system of basin irrigation is now being replaced, although in some rural areas along the nile, the shaduf system is still practised. With two dam at aswam aiding agriculture and protecting aganist large floods which at ideal times coulkd rise up to 7-8 meters, the nile farmers can plant crops all year round and irrigate their farmland continously.
Cotton is the nations most valuable crop and the nile fellahin farmers contribute immensely to placing Egypt as one of the leading cotton producers. Thenili farmers grow high quality long -staple and long fibered cotton, which is strong and durable. trefoil is grown as animal feed, cow goat, sheep and camel are reared for meat, milk leather and wool to sustain the increasing population. most of the sixty ninbe million people that crowds into the narrow nile valley share certain duties according to the families. The husband organizes the planting, weeding and harvesting, while the wife cooks, carries water and helps in the field. Children tend animals and help carry water and other domestic activities. The men farmworkers use long handled hoes to clear the ground of wheels, most recently the farmers use motor-driven machine to plough the ground. Most farming is done on state farms owned by government and on collective farms where many families work together. The olive is one of the few crops that thrive in the thin, stony soil. on large plantations, labourers help raise corn, cotton etc. The river nile dwellers, traditionally wear pants and a long caftan called GALABIYAH, the women wear long flowing gowns and keep their faces veiled when in public. The men sometimes wear long white or -coloured gowns and skullcaps to reflect away most of the sun that causes heat. Some city people that live in pleasant residential areas wear western style clothing and buy large quantities of meat and imported fruits and vegetables unlike the rural nile dwellers who live in squalid neighbourhood,fautly adjusted mud-brick hut and even in the roof of a straw thatched houses. sometimes it is shared with the farm animals especially with the well-to-do pastoralist and nomads that move from place to place in search of green pastures for their cattles ans donkeys. transportation along the nile and nile busy streets takes a variety of forms as people enter the city’s metropolis and undergroung railway system that was constructed in the late 1980, buses,trucks cars, motocycles and a two-wheeled vehicle without springs that was invented in the early days of civilization alomg the nile, share the roads with bicycles,donkeys and camels. As a result of the civil war going on in dafur region of sudan between the government and the rebel group,the influx of refugees from sudan into the southern part of river nile coupled with high birth rate has increased the traffic conjestion. Food and housing shortages are thrusting about violentlyon the demanding populace.
