THE NILE RIVER

The Nile is a river in Africa. It is the longest river on Earth (about 6,650 km or 4,132 miles), its source lies in the heart of Africa, near Lake Victoria and flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. It gets its name from the Greek word Nelios.sourceMediterranean SeaAlexandria The Nile river made it possible for one of the oldest and most fascinating civilizations in History to exist: Ancient Egypt.

Sources of the Nile Enjoy a trip through Ancient Egypt

Lake Victoria The White Nile, or simply the Nile, has three different sources, situated to the north of lake Tanganyika, which join together quickly before merging into Lake Victoria. After flowing from Lake Victoria, now with the name of Victoria Nile, it flows into Lake Albert through rapids and waterfalls.

To start the journey, click on the wedjet eye

The temple of Abu Simbel was built in the 13th century B.C. by the pharaoh Ramesses II. In the façade there appear four statues of the pharaoh, sitting and wearing the crowns of High and Low Egypt. Ramesses is accompanied by some women, children and siblings who appear at a smaller size. The temple is positioned in such a way that two times a year the sun entered and lit the statues of the gods that were inside. Ramesses II White crown of High Egypt and Red crown of Low Egypt

The Aswan High Dam is 3,830m in length, 980m wide at the base, 40m wide at the crest and 111m tall. It contains 43 million m³ of material. At maximum, 11,000 m³ of water can pass through the dam every second. The reservoir, named Lake Nasser, is 550 km long and 35 km at its widest with a surface area of 5,250 km² and holds 111 km³.

Nilometer is the name given to one of several devices that are different in design but that all serve the same function: measuring water levels in the River Nile and thus allowing the keeping of comparative historic records. NILOMETER ON KOM OMBO

Of all the temple remains in Egypt, the Temple of Horus at Edfu is the most completely preserved. It was built between 237 BC to 57 BC, during the reign of Cleopatra. TEMPLE OF HORUS AT EDFU

In Egyptian mythology, Khnum was one of the earliest Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile River. TEMPLE OF KHNUM AT ESNA

The Temple of Karnak It is located close to the Nile near Tebas (Luxor). In Karnak its enormous hypostyle hall stands out. It measures 102 m wide and 53 m in depth. It has 134 columns that measure 23 m high, which equals a building with 9 floors. The upper part of the columns is so wide that you could fit 50 people inside.

The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the scales).Hathor temple at Dendera Libra

AMARNA In Akhenaten’s reign the traditional Egyptian gods were banished – only the sun-god was worshipped. To break the links with other gods, Akhenaten founded a new capital city: Amarna.

Although the Egyptian empire was very big, the population was mainly found on a narrow strip of land located on the banks of the Nile River. The Egyptians called this piece of land the ¨black land¨ because the waters from the Nile left very darkly coloured mud in which they planted. Further than the ¨black land¨ was the ¨red land¨, in other words, the desert where there were almost no animals or plants.

The Faiyum Oasis is a depression or basin in the desert immediately to the west of the Nile south of Cairo. The extent of the basin area is estimated at between 490 mi² (1,270 km²) and 656 mi² (1700 km²). The basin floor comprises fields watered by a channel of the Nile, the Bahr Yussef, as it drains into a desert depression to the west of the Nile Valley.

The Great Sphinx is at Giza near Cairo in Egypt. It sits in a depression to the south of the pyramid of the Pharaoh Khafre (Chephren) at the west bank of the Nile River. The Sphinx is a stone sculpture of a creature with a human head and a lion's body. The greatest monumental sculpture in the ancient world, its body is 200 feet (60m) long and 65 feet (20m) tall. Its face is 13 feet (4m) wide.

The Nile Delta is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich agricultural region. From north to south the delta is approximately 160 km in length. Most of Egypt’s population lives in the delta region where you can find many cities.

Alexandria is the second largest city of Egypt. It is on the coast, on the Nilo’s delta, where this river has its mouth. Alexandria is named after its founder. Alexander the Great founded Alexandria in 331 BC. Alexander the Great

Rafael Jiménez Álvarez Rafael Martínez Carmona