The six cataracts of the Nile

Fourth Cataract

Sixth Cataract

The six primary cataracts of the Nile are shallow stretches between Aswan and Khartoum where the water's surface is broken by numerous small boulders and stones lying on the river bed, as well as many small rocky islets. In some places, these stretches are punctuated by whitewater and are perhaps well characterized as rapids, while in others the water flow is smoother. The six primary cataracts of the Nile were the main obstacles for boats sailing on the Nile in antiquity. Counted upstream, the First Cataract is in modern Egypt; the rest are in Sudan. Download high resolution version (499x1039, 179 KB)The Nubia region today. ... Download high resolution version (499x1039, 179 KB)The Nubia region today. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1067, 436 KB)Sunset over the river Nile from Sherari Island, Dar al-Manasir, Northern Sudan (c) GFDL David Haberlah (Homepage of David Haberlah, david@haberlah. ... Download high resolution version (1600x1067, 436 KB)Sunset over the river Nile from Sherari Island, Dar al-Manasir, Northern Sudan (c) GFDL David Haberlah (Homepage of David Haberlah, david@haberlah. ... Image File history File links Cataract6. ... Image File history File links Cataract6. ... For other uses, see Nile (disambiguation). ... Aswan (Arabic: أسوان Aswān) (, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. ... Map of Sudan with Khartoum Khartoum ( الخرطوم al-Ḫarṭūm Elephant Trunk) is the capital of Sudan and of Khartoum State. ... Mōkōlea Rock in Kailua Bay, O‘ahu, Hawai‘i, 2. ... Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a rivers gradient drops enough to form a bubbly, or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white. ... A rapid is a section of a river where it loses elevation over a relatively short distance (that is, the stream gradient is locally steepened), causing an increase in water flow and (usually) turbulence. ...

• The First Cataract is near Aswan (24.078° N 32.878° E)
• The Second Cataract (or Great Cataract) was in Nubia and is now submerged in Lake Nasser (21.48° N 30.97° E)
• The Third Cataract is around Tombos / Hannek (19.76° N 30.37° E)
• The Fourth Cataract is in the Manasir Desert and will be flooded by the Merowe Dam from 2006 onwards (18.91° N 32.36° E)
• The Fifth Cataract is near the confluence with the Atbara River (17.677° N 33.970° E)
• The Sixth Cataract is where the Nile cuts through the Sabaluka pluton near Bagrawiyah (16.88° N 33.66° E)

The word cataract is derived from the Latin word cataracta meaning "waterfall". However, none of the Nile's six primary cataracts would be accurately described as such, and given the broader definition, many minor cataracts should perhaps also be included in the count. Geologists indicate that the region of the northern Sudan is tectonically active and this activity has caused the river to take on "youthful" characteristics.^[1] The Nubian Swell has diverted the river's course to the west, while keeping its depth shallow and causing the formation of the cataracts. Even as the river bed is worn down by erosion, the land mass is lifted keeping parts of the river bed exposed. These distinctive features of the river between Aswan and Khartoum have led to the stretch being often referred to as the Cataract Nile, while the downstream portion is occasionally referred to as the "Egyptian" Nile.^[2] Aswan (Arabic: أسوان Aswān) (, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. ... Today Nubia is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan, but in ancient times it was an independent kingdom. ... View of Lake Nasser from Abu Simbel Map showing the location of Lake Nasser Lake Nasser (Arabic: Buhayrat Nasir) is a vast artificial lake in southern Egypt and northern Sudan. ... Tombos is a city and municipality in southeast Minas Gerais state, Brazil. ... Dar al-Manasir as seen from the top of Gebel Musa Dar al-Manasir (دار المناصير) is the region of the Fourth Cataract, the most impassable of all rapids of the Nile. ... The Merowe High Dam, also known as Merowe Multi-Purpose Hydro Project or Hamdab Dam, is a large construction project in northern Sudan, about 350km north of the capital Khartoum. ... Look up confluence in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Atbara is a river in northeast Africa, which rises in northwest Ethiopia and flows about 805 km (500 miles) to the Nile in the east of Sudan. ... Devils Tower, an igneous intrusion exposed when the surrounding softer rock eroded away. ... Aerial view of the pyramids at Meroe. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Hopetoun Falls near Otway National Park, Victoria, Australia A waterfall is usually a geological formation resulting from water, often in the form of a stream, flowing over an erosion-resistant rock formation that forms a sudden break in elevation. ... Bridge across the Álfagjá rift valley in southwest Iceland, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. ... The Nubian Swell is a geologic structural uplift in northern Africa that trends east-west and separates the lower Nile of Egypt from the Sudan basin. ... Severe soil erosion in a wheat field near Washington State University, USA. Erosion is the displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) by the agents of wind, water or ice, by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of...

Despite these characteristics, some of the cataracts which are normally impassable by boat, become navigable during the flood season.

The six primary cataracts of the Nile are described extensively by European colonials, notably by Winston Churchill in The River War (1899), where he recounts the exploits of the British trying to return to Sudan between 1896 and 1898, after they were forced to leave in 1885. Amelia Edwards in her book A Thousand Miles Up the Nile (1892)^[3], describes the now submerged second cataract as over sixteen miles in length. Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan was a 1899 book written by Winston Churchill while he was still an officer in the British army, a first-hand account of the conquest of the Sudan by the English-Egyptian force under Lord Kitchener. ... 1899 (MDCCCXCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1896 (MDCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards (7 June 1831 _ 15 April 1892) was an English novelist, journalist, lady traveller and Egyptologist. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

In ancient times, Upper Egypt extended from the Nile Delta to the first cataract, while further upstream, the land was controlled by the ancient Kush civilization, that would later take over Egypt. Map of Upper and Lower Egypt Ancient Egypt was divided into two kingdoms, known as Upper and Lower Egypt. ... NASA satellite photograph of the Nile Delta (shown in false colour) The Nile Delta (Arabic:دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. ... For other uses, see Kush (disambiguation). ...

Notes

1. ^ Thurmond, A.K., et al (2004). The Nubian Swell, The Journal of African Earth Sciences 39 pp. 401-407. [1] (accessed 10/21/2006)
2. ^ The geological distinction between these two portions of the river is considerable. North of Aswan, the river bed is not rocky, but is instead composed of sediment, and far from being a shallow river, it is believed that the bedrock was previously eroded to be several thousand feet deep. This created a vast canyon that is now filled by the sediment, some of which originated from the Mediterranean. For more information, see the Eonile as well as the Messinian salinity crisis.
3. ^ Edwards, Amelia (1892). A Thousand Miles up the Nile [2] (Full text and illustrations accessed 10/21/2006 from A Celebration of Women Writers)

The First Cataract area, near Aswan, as shown by Google Earth.

For the oceanographic term, see Mediterranean sea (oceanography). ... For other uses, see Nile (disambiguation). ... The Messinian Salinity Crisis, also referred to as the Messinian Event, is the name given to a period when the Mediterranean Sea evaporated partly or completely dry during the Messinian period of the Miocene epoch, approximately 6 million years ago. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1008x689, 120 KB)[edit] Summary This screenshot was created with Google Earth software and has the Google brand tag preserved in the lower right hand corner. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1008x689, 120 KB)[edit] Summary This screenshot was created with Google Earth software and has the Google brand tag preserved in the lower right hand corner. ... Aswan (Arabic: أسوان Aswān) (, population 200,000) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate. ... Google Earth is a free-of-charge, downloadable virtual globe program. ...

External links

• The Cataract Nile and the Great Bend (webpage) [5]
• The 1905-1907 Breasted Expeditions to Egypt and the Sudan: A Photographic Study [6] (See photos listed in the index under "Nile, Third Cataract" and "Nile, Fourth Cataract")

Photo links

• First Cataract: [7]
• Second Cataract: [8] [9]
• Third Cataract: [10] [11] [12]
• Fourth Cataract: [13]
• Fifth Cataract: [14]
• Sixth Cataract: [15] [16]