IV.

History of the Nile

A.

Ancient Egypt and the Nile

The first great African civilization developed in the northern Nile Valley in Egypt in about 3300 bc. Settlements along the Nile date back even farther. Dependent on agriculture, ancient Egypt relied on the flooding of the Nile for irrigation and new soils. The ancient Egyptian capitals of Memphis and Thebes rose in the river valley, as did the tombs of ancient Egypt’s kings and queens, including the pyramids at Giza. Royal burial ceremonies took place on the river. Egyptian rule extended south over the kingdom of Kush in the Nubia region of northern Sudan. Ruled by Egypt for about 1,800 years, Kush subjugated Egypt in the 8th century bc. Temples, tombs, and other monuments of these civilizations blanket the river valley in Egypt and northern Sudan.

B.

Search for the Source of the Nile

Until the middle of the 1800s, the source of the Nile was a great mystery. Ancient Greeks wrote that the river originated in snowcapped highlands. Noted British explorers John Hanning Speke and Sir Richard Burton reached Lake Tanganyika in 1857, which Burton believed was the source of the Nile. The following year Speke went on to Lake Victoria, and correctly claimed it was the main source of the Nile. Another British explorer, Samuel White Baker, sighted Lake Albert in 1864, and German explorer Georg August Schweinfurth explored the Baḩr al Ghazāl between 1868 and 1871. An Anglo-American, Henry Morton Stanley, circumnavigated Lake Victoria in 1875 and explored Lake Edward and the Ruwenzori Range in 1889.

C.

European Control of the Nile Basin

European powers gained control over most of the countries of the Nile basin in the late 19th century. Britain established its power in Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya; Germany ruled what are now Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi; and Belgium governed what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). After World War I (1914-1918) German territory was divided between Britain and Belgium, with Britain controlling Tanzania, and Belgium gaining Rwanda and Burundi. Ethiopia remained an independent state. European power in Egypt and Sudan ended in the 1950s and elsewhere in the 1960s.

D.

Damming the Nile

To raise water levels for irrigation, several barriers were built across the Egyptian Nile in the late 19th century. The first dam on the Nile was built at Aswān in Egypt in 1902 and later heightened. The Sennar Dam was built across the Blue Nile south of Khartoum following World War I to provide irrigation water for Sudanese cotton plantations. Hydroelectric dams were constructed at Jabal al Awliyā’ on the White Nile in Sudan (1937), Owen Falls in Uganda (1954), and Roseires on the Blue Nile in Sudan (1962). By the 1950s it had become clear that the Aswān Dam was inadequate to control the Nile, and a new dam, the Aswān High Dam, was constructed several miles upstream.

Although the dams now control the Nile flooding, they have drastically reduced the deposits of sediment and the fertility of the valley and the delta. The environmental impact of the dams has been profound, as stretches of the river above the dams have become clogged with silt, and decreased flooding has led to increased erosion and greater salt content in the soil and water of the delta. Local communities and ancient sites in Egypt and Sudan were either submerged or relocated because of the dams.

E.

Control over the Nile Waters

Who controls the Nile has long been a source of conflict for the countries dependent on its waters. Egypt claims historic dominance, but eight other countries share the Nile: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. These countries are poor and lack sufficient food to feed their growing populations. Some of them suffer from periodic drought. They are anxious to utilize the Nile for irrigation and, in some cases, for producing hydroelectricity, as well. The Nile Basin Initiative was launched in 1999 to establish regional cooperation among the countries who share the Nile.