the Nubian struggle in Egypt
“Since Mubarak’s fall, Nubian activists have pressured the authorities to loosen the restrictions on their community after decades of close surveillance and constant suspicion of secession plots. They registered a civil society group that had been denied approval for four years and are pursuing business ventures with partners across the border in Sudan. They now can apply for deeds to the government-built houses they’ve lived in since the 1960s.
They’re training instructors who’ll be able to teach the endangered Nubian language openly. Bookstores are free to stock formerly banned historical texts that show Nubians as the original Egyptians, erstwhile emperors in a land where they’re now relegated to the marginalized servant class.”
Feature: Ancient Egypt and a pioneer of palaeopathology
At the start of the last century, a team of archaeologists began a race against the clock to rescue thousands of human bodies from ancient graves in modern Egypt’s Lower Nubia region. They would have been lost forever when the Lower Aswan Dam was raised in 1907, causing the Nile to back up and flood the entire valley. Sir Grafton Elliot Smith’s study of the excavated bones pioneered the discipline of palaeopathology and the methods of modern epidemiology. Trust-funded researchers at the University of Manchester and the Natural History Museum are now tracking down the bones he collected and carrying on his work. Read More.
CASE STUDY #5
THE NILE DELTA/VALLEY
WHERE?: EGYPT (LEDC)
- LAND FORM OF DEPOSITION
- IT’S A WATER MANAGEMENT SCHEME
HOW IS IT FORMED?
- THE DELTA IS AN AREA OF FLAT, TRIANGULAR SHAPED LAND THAT HAS FORMED AT THE MOUTH
- LAND IT FERTILE DUE TO DEPOSITION OF SEDIMENT
- IMPORTANT AREA OF FARMLAND
- TWO MAJOR CITIES ARE ON THE DELTA: CAIRO AND ALEXANDRIA
- RIVER NILE SLOWLY TRANSPORTS HUGE AMOUNTS OF SILT —> MOUTH
- RIVER DEPOSITS ITS LOAD AT MOUTH
- MEDITERRANEAN HAS WEAK CURRENTS REDUCING PROCESS OF REMOVING MATERIAL
- MATERIAL BUILDS UP BLOCKING CHANNEL
- DISTRIBUARIES FORM —> DEPOSIT SILT
AFFECTS BY PEOPLE?
- INTENSIVELY FARMED LAND. BUILT IRRIGATION CHANNELS
- USE FERITLISERS TO ENHANCE YIELD
- URBANISATION —> CAIRO AND ALEXANDRIA
- ASWAN DAM HAS ALTERED DELTA
ASWAN DAM
- 3,600 M LONG AND 111 M HIGH
- 11 YEARS TO BUILD (1960-1971)
- LAKE NASSER IS RESERVOIR
WHY BUILT?
- CONTROLS RIVER NILE FLOODING
- WATER SUPPLY
- HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER (HEP)
- RELIABLE NAVIGATION
STATS:
- 3,600 M LONG BY 111 M HIGH
- LAKE NASSER IS 310 MILES LONG
