THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE NILE VALLEY

SHIPPING
Hardly any country, ancient or modern, has been as dependent on its waterways as Egypt.

Rafts, ferries, boats and ships served as the main means of transportation in ancient Egypt. Almost everyone lived on or near the river, the Delta, or canals. Goods and commodities moved by water through the valley. Ships plied the coastal waters of the Mediterranean and Red Seas.

For heavy loads and massive masonry the Egyptians used barges or rafts whenever possible. They even dug temporary canals for specific cargoes to float them right to where needed.

Travel speed on the Nile depended on the direction of the journey -upstream or downstream - the strength of the wind and current, and the boat and crew. In antiquity, the average speed sailing up-river was between 25 to 44 miles (40 to 70 km) per day. The ancient Egyptians usually did not travel on the Nile at night.

Navigation on the Nile was fairly safe, but the open sea presented greater dangers. Early sailors clung to the coastlines. Eventually, seafaring peoples like the Minoans, Phoenicians and Indians pioneered cross-ocean routes. By the New Kingdom ships regularly sailed to Crete, Greece, Punt (Horn of Africa), Arabia and India. Ships sailing before the wind could reach speeds of about 6 mi/10 km per hour at best, travelling somewhat more than 124 mi/200 km a day if they sailed through the night.

The simplest kind of boat in ancient Egypt was the skiff, made up of bundles of buoyant papyrus tied together. They used these for fishing, hunting and short trips along the river. Larger ships had oars and sails. Made of acacia planks roped together, the wood swelled in water making them watertight. These were used for the massive blocks of stone quarried near the First Cataract and transported easily all along the Nile and the Delta.

Boats figured prominently in Egyptian religion. During festivals (such as Opet) gilded barges moved images of the gods from temple to temple. Boats transported royal and noble mummies across the Nile to the tombs on the West Bank. Even Ra, the sun god, travelled by boat acroos the sky every day - the "Boat of a Million Years".

The Egyptian attitude towards shipping is so natural that in ancient Egyptian almost all words concerned with travel are related the idea of sailing. To travel south is "to go upstream" and to travel north is "to go downstream" -- even when referring to travel outside Egypt. Since commodities could be shipped so easily on the Nile, whether pots, grain or stone from quarries, a cultural fusion developed such as could never be achieved in countries like Greece with natural inland barriers. In fact, this riverine transportation network allowed the early pharaohs to first unify the The Nile Valley.

FERRIES
Shallow river branches and canals could be crossed by wading (taking care to avoid the hippos and crocodiles). The wider, deeper parts of the river, especially during the Nile flood, were crossed by ferry. Egyptian society considered maintainence of the ferry crossings one of the duties of the nobility, for the benefit of all.

The width of the Nile and its arms made bridges rare.

VEHICLES AND BEASTS
The wheeled vehicle was rare in ancient Egypt. After its introduction by the Hyksos invaders in the 2nd Intemediate Period, the horse chariot became the preferred means of transport for the royalty and elite. Expensive to maintain, horses were not ridden or used for transport.

For transport most people used donkeys. Domesticated early in Egyptian history, everyone seems to have used these surly beasts, even pharaohs. Camels appeared very late, after the Persian and Greek invasions.

For heavy loads (statues, obelisks and the like) where canals could not be dug, Egyptians used wooden sledges dragged by huge gangs of men. They also used sledges for smaller loads. On the packed, sun-baked ground they poured river water in front of the sledges to make a slick and smooth surface. Rollers were rare, especially by Middle Kingdom times, because of deforestation and the scarcity of wood in Egypt.

Elites often rode in litters (carrying chairs) borne by servants. Sometimes they strapped these to the backs donkeys.

WALKING
The main method of transportation for most people was, of course, to walk. The Egyptians used sandal, but often as not walked bare-footed. The elites and elderly carried walking sticks. The common men carried loads on their backs, shouders or on yokes. Women carried loads on their heads oi hips.

Only local traffic between villages (and to and from the river) made use of land routes. True roads were rare and paved roads even more so before Roman times. Most roads existed as a by-product of canal digging: the excavated earthen embankment served as an elevated road. People, beasts and vehicles used these levee ''roads', even during the innundation. Lack of rainfall kept the roads dry and mud-free all year.

An Egyptian could march between 12 mi./20 km. and 25 mi./40 km. per day.

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