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Schule > Englisch > Landeskunde > Africa > Egypt - the Nile and the Oasis

Today I deliberate not speak about Pyramides, hieroglyphes, pharaos, papyrus, the improtance of the advanced culture and civilization and the history
( that are things, you already know

Today I want to speak about interessting facts of Egypt, you maybe never heart about:
Geographically about the Nile and oasis
I choose this topics to deal with totally new themes and because it is so difficult to sum up Egypt in one lesson because it is an extensive theme
So I want to start with the geographical topic…
THE NILE
( longest river of the world with 6671km length

Firstly the course:
The Nile is composed of the White Nile an the Blue Nile
The White Nile has his source in the Lake Victoria (which lies between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania)
he has many feeder rivers and in the equatorial region there is much evaporation because of the heat
the Blue Nile rises in Ethiopia from the Lake Tana
the White an the Blue Nile flow into eachother in Kartun (Sudan)
in the south of Egypt he flows through the dam of Assuan and finally he flows in the Mediterranean Sea
some numbers: the delta of the Nile is 250km wide and includes 22000km²; the Valley of the Nile is 3’350000km² wide
maybe important to say: the rivers are named by their colour of the water

( The importance for Egypt:
he is the condition for the legendary culture since 7000 years
he caused the origin of the highly developed civilization
the yearly flood brings fertile mud, which is so important for the agriculture and farming and the feeding of the population
also he is the vital line for traffic and commerce
centre of the spiritual life
needed as an energy source because of the water-power
important for the tourism, because he combines all places of the Old Egypt
( so you can say, that no other peoples are so depent on one river
OASIS
( an oasis is an area in an desert, which is supplied with enough water for permanent vegetation
( it could have the extent from a little pool with some palms to a great region with large cities and an amazing agriculture (f.e. the oasis Siwa, but more about that later)
( the water comes from subterranean springs or wells or a river

( the typical plant of the oasis is the palm, because she has many advantages:
brings food, fuel for fire and wood, in addition she gives shadow

> there are 7 large oasis in Egypt:
Faijum, Siwa, Baharya, Farafra, Dakhla, Kharga and Beni Hasan

Faijum:
- in the southwest of Cairo in the Lybian Desert, below sealevel and nearly circular
- the administration is in Al Faijum, which has 167000 inhabitants
- it is a riveroasis, because the irrgigration comes from the channel of Josef (so there is an indirect connection with the Nile)
- is one of the most fertile areas in Egypt
( they cultivate: cotton, hemp, rice, sugar cane, fruits, olives and roses (Oil from roses)
- in addition there are farms with sheeps and poultry
- one of the centres of the Egytian culture ( many papyrus comes from Faijum

Siwa:
- is a group of oasis in the northwest of Egypt in the Lybian Desert), great distance from Cairo with 551km, situated in a hollow (24m below sealevel)
- there is much fertilitiy from 200 springs ( so it is a springoasis
- there live about 6000 inhabitants – about 80% in the capital Siwa
- cultivation of olives, wheat, flax, date, citrus fruits and wine
- people say, that Alexander the Great visited the temple of the Amasis, after he founded Alexandria
> Oasis have a great importance, because their inhabitants are competent leaders in the Desert
(they know, what no other knows)
all in all you have seen the outstanding meaning of the water and in which way the people are depend on it

On the blackbord:
Location: 22°-32°North, 25°-36°East
Capital: Cairo (6,8Mio)
Other great cities: Gise, Alexandria, Port Said, Suez
Adjoining (angrenzend): Libya (W), The Sudan (S), The Red Sea (E), The Mediterranean Sea (N), Israel (N-E)
Area: about 1 Mio km² (( only 4% fertil and habitable)
Population: 74,7 Mio (per km²: 75)
Life expectancy (Lebenserwartung): 70 years
Illiteracy (Analphabetismus): 58%
Currency (Währung): Egypt-Pound
Language: Egypt-Arabic
Structure: Libyan Desert, Nile valley, Arabian Desert, Nile delta, peninsula (Halbinsel) Sinai
Hollow of Kattara: 133. below sealevel ( deepest point in Africa

Vocabulary:
deliberate – absichtlich/bewusst
advanced – vorrangeschritten
extensive/extent – umfangreich/Ausdehnung
composed – zusammengesetzt aus
feeder rivers – Nebenflüsse
include – umfassen
flood – Überschwemmung/Flut
to feed – ernähren
to be supplied – versorgt sein
subterranean – unterirdisch
well – Brunnen
irrigration – Bewässerung
to cultivate/cultivation – anbauen/Anbau
cotton – Baumwolle
hemp – Hanf
Poultry – Geflügel
flax – Flachs
wheat – Weizen
date - Datteln

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