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Introduction
“There is an eternal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives” –Josephine Hart. The famous quote by bestseller novelist is absolutely true and this could be understood well by travelers who are adventurous. For explorers, geography is the landscape that extends up to the horizon and well even beyond it. According to Bonnett (2008), “More specifically, it is towards geography that people have turned when seeking answers to the questions, ‘How and why has the environment altered?” (p.4). Mapping is a popular activity with which people tend to associate geography more specifically as exploring new places on earth can be painstakingly tough without maps. On earth, every nation boasts of its own geography which is different from other nations in some or other respects and enjoys a place on the maps. Geography sometimes turns a boon and sometimes restricts the development of that nation. People living in nations which are landlocked with no sea coast, navigable rivers or experiencing lack of rainfall often face many hardships for a comfortable living as to do trade via land route is a costly affair and poor rainfall means poor harvest. Egypt is one such nation on the world map, but blessed with the river Nile. The nation although a smaller one in its size in comparison to other nations also boasts of a glorious culture, a strong identity that survived thousands of years and have now got an urbanized environment.
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Spreading in an area of 1,001,450 sq km, Egypt is located within the vast Sahara desert in Africa and has a hot climate. The period between June to August witnesses the highest temperatures. In fact in the month of July, the average temperature reaches as high as 42 degree Celsius in some places. Temperature however remains low between December to February with an average temperature in January at 9.3 degree Celsius. The country experience severe sandstorms in period between March and May. Apart from the unbearable hot weather scenario, Egypt also receives an extremely poor rainfall which is echoed by Hobbs & Subanthore (2007), “ People living anywhere in the eastern two-thirds of the United States get far more rain from a single thunderstorm that southern (upper) Egypt will get in 10 years” ( p.16). The country is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in its north and Red Sea in the east. Sudan and Libya are respectively on the southern and western side. Israel is on the north-eastern side of Egypt. Although vast in its size, the nation has an extremely uneven distribution of population with the most concentration along the river Nile and delta region. This is because the land along the Nile and the delta region is extremely fertile. The river gets flooded annually and brings the much needed silt only to deposit the same at this location so that life can thrive in Egypt even in the most unfavorable conditions.
The river gets inundated mainly during the period between August to September. According to Russell (2009), “The Nile River is understandably the most famed aspect of Egypt’s geography. Not only is it the world’s longest river, but it has also helped to support a population of people from ancient times to today” (p.15). The river has its source in the East African Highlands situated in Ethiopia and Uganda. Nile divides the whole country in fact into two regions-Eastern and Western Desert also known as the Arabian Desert and the Libyan Desert respectively. While there are dry beds of some seasonal rivers known as ‘wadis’ locally, the Libyan Desert is not blessed with any such river beds at all. The river flows through Cairo, the capital city of Egypt before emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. All the great Pyramids were built along the river Nile and the paper on which they write their documents was made from Papyrus plants that grow along the same river. Even the clay that Egyptians used for their pottery art was the alluvial Nile clay that the river used to deposit annually. Known as the hallmark of Egyptian culture, these pyramids were built by Egyptians as burial places of their great leaders known as Pharaohs. Egyptians always have a firm belief that there is life after death and so all the essential items needed in after life were also buried in these gigantic structures after mummification of the dead bodies in a type of linen. It takes many years to build a single pyramid and the annual flood in the river Nile played a great role in carrying huge blocks of stone from one place to another for the construction of these massive burial tombs.
According to Brewer & Teeter (1999), “Indeed, the river and the ecosystem of the Nile Valley defined Egyptian culture. Daily life was so intertwined with the environment that much of ancient Egyptian culture and history is barely intelligible without reference to the ancient ecology” (p.16). Nile also helps them to develop societies with a strong cultural identity that exist even today among the majority of Egyptians. This cultural identity is so strong that it sustained the impact of many of its invaders like the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French and eventually British. Even now when the nation is known officially as Arab Republic of Egypt; people of Egypt prefer to call themselves as Egyptians not Arabs! Messiri (1978) echoes the same as “An obvious and typical characteristic of the “real” Egyptian is his use of his mother tongue..If an Egyptian does not master his mother tongue, he may be referred to sarcastically as a khawaga” (p. 2). Here, it should be noted that in Egypt “khawaga” means an outsider although literally it means “western foreigner”. The nation has developed in the course of time a much needed national identity and in this whole process the contribution is not only by intellectuals. The European influence and the great Egyptian culture also helped a lot in this endeavor. Egyptian culture is not restricted to architecture, pottery and weaving. Egyptian culture flourished a lot because of its enigmatic language too. The colloquial poetry known as ‘Ghazal’, vaudeville plays and songs form a large chunk of Egyptian popular culture towards the end of the 19th century in spite of the fact that during this period, common Egyptians neither knew reading or writing in the Cairene dialect. The dialect is used for broadcasting and still enjoys immense prestige throughout Egypt. Fahmy( 2011) has rightly stated that “ Late nineteenth to early twentieth –century Egypt witnessed the unprecedented growth of an assortment of mass-mediated popular culture productions, and this growth coincided with the rise of modern Egyptian identification with the nation” (p.4). The dialect is also held in high regard outside Egypt.
Egypt boasts of a humanized environment where there is little or no conflict between man and its surrounding nature. A humanized environment is one that offers a sense of intimacy, vitality and allows diversity. In the ancient times, the Egyptians never rebelled against the annual floods brought down by the river Nile and instead embraced the same to turn it into a boon for themselves for the flourishing their civilization. According to Frankfort (1948), “In Egypt the alignment of society with nature was assumed to be perfect because a divine mediator ruled the land. The death of the Pharaoh showed that the harmony was temporarily disturbed” (p. 277).
Today, when most of the urban cities across the world have chosen to ignore nature to give more space for industries and motor vehicles by constructing highways, parking areas, etc, Egypt manage to retain the age –old relationship with its nature in an alluring manner. Due to restricted availability of habitable land, 96 percent of the population lives in 4 percent of the total land area of Egypt. Rapid urbanization has made the city planners feel the need of more green space for parks, sideways, along the river Nile. In Egypt, urban planning started very late as there never felt any need for the same before the rapid urbanization and phase of industrialization. However, now urban planners are putting a lot of emphasis on creating more green spaces in Egypt by growing trees that can sustain the harsh climatic conditions to preserve the national environment to some extent. Now, there are splashes of greenery here and there in Egypt. Earlier during annual floods, most of the water gets drained into the sea, but now the Aswan High Dam built on the upstream of Nile regulate the flow and enables Egyptians to have more cultivable land to grow crops. Although, the dam prove advantageous in the sense, it gives Egyptians the enormous power to control the floods for the first time in their history and provide electricity, vast sediment deposits that the river Nile used to bring with it gets diminished significantly. Although, floods are not there now, one thing remains unchanged and that is the relationship of the Egyptians with their environment, the river Nile and their pride in their rich cultural heritage and unique identity.
Conclusion
Based on the aforesaid facts, it is easy to conclude that geography of Egypt has given it a distinctive identity and more importantly the contribution of the river Nile is immense in the Egyptian culture as well as everyday life. Egyptians thrive and flourish their civilization in the most inhospitable climatic conditions marvelously by using the arable land along the river Nile and its delta. Even the sever climatic conditions cannot deter the sheer determination of Egyptians in their quest for life. The Egyptians make the optimal use of their surrounding environment by turning adversities into advantages for themselves by carefully calculating the time of floods and its severity as well as making use of the fertile land to get adequate food sufficient for all the year round. People living always in harmony with nature have their own identity which is different from Arabs. Although, urbanization is making its way rapidly in Egypt and population density is increasing along that small stretch that remains the home of ancient Egyptian civilization, it is also true that the ability of Egyptians to embrace their nature will always help them to sustain the humanized environment in every respect in near future.
Works Cited
- Ibrahim, N. Fouad & Ibrahim, Barbara (2003). Egypt: An Economic Geography. London: I.B Tauris & Co.Ltd.
- Hobbs, J. Joseph & Subanthore, Aswin (2007). Egypt (2nd ed.). New York: Infobase Publishing.
- Russell, L. Mona (2013). Egypt. United States of America: Library of Congress Cataloging –in-Publication Data.
- Moscovitch, A (2008). Egypt: The Culture. Canada: Crabtree Publishing Company.
- Brewer, J. D & Teeter, E (1999). Egypt and the Egyptians. United Kingdom: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS.
- Messiri, El.S (1978). Ibn Al-Balad: A Concept of Egyptian Identity. Netherlands: E.J.Brill.
- Fahmy, Z (2011). Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation Through Popular Culture. California: Stanford University Press.
- Frankfort, H (1948). Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature. United States of America: The University Of Chicago.
- Aiken, J.E (2010). SCRIPTURAL GEOGRAPHY: Portraying the Holy Land. London: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd
- Monshipuri, M (2009). MUSLIMS IN GLOBAL POLITICS: Identities, Interests, and Human Rights. United States of America: University of Pennsylvania Press.
