1. T HE L AND OF THE N ILE

2. D O N OW Take out your vocabulary sheets Turn to page 135 of your textbook Which part of Mesopotamia received heavy rainfall? Which portion was drier and required irrigation?

3. T HE N ILE R IVER The Nile River is the world’s longest river From east-central Africa, it flows north for 4,160 miles until it empties into the Mediterranean Sea

4. T HE N ILE R IVER The Nile flows from higher land in the south to lower land in the north

5. T HE N ILE R IVER The ancient land once called Lower Egypt lies at the Nile’s mouth at the Mediterranean Sea and is made up mainly of the Nile Delta.

6. D ELTA A delta is a triangular piece of rich land formed from soil deposited at the mouth of some rivers.

7. T HE N ILE R IVER The higher land to the south was known as Upper Egypt. There, the narrow and fertile Nile Valley follows the Nile River for more than 600 miles.

8. T HE N ILE R IVER Even farther south, the Nile runs between desert cliffs in a series of six cataracts, or waterfalls.

9. N ILE R IVER C ATARACTS

10. T HE N ILE R IVER The Nile River cuts across the arid, or dry, desert known as the Sahara. Only in the fertile lands by the Nile could early Egyptians grow crops of wheat and barley.

11. T HE N ILE R IVER Heavy rains fall in the mountains at the Nile’s source to the far south. This rainfall caused the river to overflow its banks. The yearly flooding deposited silt along each bank, making the soil fertile.

12. T HE N ILE R IVER This physical setting supported permanent settlement. By 4000 B.C., farming villages lined the Nile River from the delta to the first cataract. To the ancient Egyptians, the Nile was called “the giver of life.”

13. C OMPARISON Ancient EgyptModern Egypt

14. A CTIVITY Draw the Nile River from page 135 of your textbook. Be sure to label your drawing with a key. Make sure you include the surrounding area, such as the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Sahara Desert. Include at least 5 facts that you learned about the Nile River in a separate key on your paper.

15. W RAP U P Name some of the facts that you learned about the Nile River