Gifts OF THE NILE Valley PDF

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GIFTS OF THE NILE VALLEY by Daud Malik Watts with Tony Browder Nature has endowed the continent of Africa with many gifts. There are millions upon millions of people. Yet there are other vast plains on which few people, but millions of animals, live. There are great mountain ranges yielding man's most precious treasures - gold, silver, diamonds, uranium, bauxite and every other conceivable mineral - in large quantities. There are also tremendous areas of perfect desolation, wastelands as large as continents. There are forest as thick and full of life as is earthly possible; there are areas barely able to support insect life. Indeed, the continent of Africa bears witness to nearly every form of life on earth. In spite of this variety of natural wonders, one gift of Africa towers above the rest. This is the gift of the Nile Valley. The Nile is the greatest of rivers, the mother of human civilization, and perhaps the mother of mankind itself. SOURCES OF THE NILE The Nile is the longest river in the entire world, with a course of 4,132 miles. It does many amazing things a river is not supposed to do. For example, it is well known that a river needs to be fed by rain or smaller rivers called tributaries in order to survive. The Nile, however flows for over a thousand miles through pure desert, receiving neither rain nor joining with another body of water - but it does not dry up! In

fact, for up to ten miles on either side of the river it actually fertilizes the desert with rich topsoils from its sources. This fertile valley has fed large civilizations for over 10,000 years! Unlike most rivers, the Nile flows from south to north. It has two sources, the White Nile and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is the longest and begins in the heart of Africa near the borders of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire in an area often called the Great Lakes region of Africa. We will discuss this area shortly. The rich, black topsoil carried through the desert originates in the river's other branch - the Blue Nile. The Blue Nile begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, 5, 000 feet above sea level, in the peaceful surroundings of Lake Tana. Heading west and north, the river drops rapidly and gains power. At times it is a mile deep and fifteen miles wide! During the wet season (June-January), the great swollen Blue Nile rushes toward the plains of the Sudan with, as one writer described it, "the force of a tidal wave". There it meets its sister branch. The White Nile has just completed a journey of 2,000 miles from an almost magical land in the heart of Africa sometimes called "the mountains of the moon".

THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON It is like no other place on earth. Within a radius of 300 miles, ne rly every type of environment known to man exists. There are ice peaks and glaciers, steamy jungles, salt lakes, fresh lakes, gigantic swamplands, great plains, the approaching desert, and mountains as old as time itself. All of this, incredibly, is on the equator - in the heart of Africa.

Water is abundant in some areas and scarce in others. The central lake, Lake Victoria (called Lake Nyanza), covers over 26,000 square miles- half the size of England! Moreover, it` is connected to other lakes, several of which are well over a hundred miles long. In this hot, wet, cool, dry, cold, mountainous and flat land, the moon rises with a brilliance almost equal to that of the sun - a bright red ball appearing from behind mountain ranges or from the clouds that cover Mount Kenya or Mount Kilimajaro. Indeed, Kilimanjaro is a KiSwahilli phrase that means "mountains of the moon". About 100 miles southeast of Lake Victoria, modern scientists have discovered the remains of human beings (homo erectus) that are 1.6 million years old. This means that there were Africans in modern-day Tanzania over one million years before any other known group of people existed! Indeed, the ancient Egyptians were well aware of where their ancestors originated. One of the oldest writings in the world, the Papyrus of Hunefir, states very clearly: "We came from the beginning of the Nile where the God Hapi dwells, at the foothills of the Moutains of the Moon." The river moves north. From its sources on Lake Victoria and Lake Albert in Uganda, the White Nile begins its 2,000 mile journey to join with the Blue Nile. The entire route is shared by both man and nature. As the altitude drops, the temperature rises. It is a long and difficult journey. When the two great branches of the Nile meet, in modern-day Sudan, the next in the series of miracles begins. The Blue Nile with its

great force and rich black topsoil is subdued by the White Nile, but the clash of these two giants floods both sides of the river and pushes the floodwaters for a distance of well over one thousand miles. From the air, the river looks like a giant snake, winding its way through the desert, with a wide green strip of land on the side. In reality it is much more than a strip of land. The annual flooding of the Nile created several thousand miles of croplands, very large wildlife marshes teeming with exotic animals and great civilizations that lasted over 5,000 years, protected by the desert and the descending highlands the sides of the Nile.

This warm, narrow strip provided Man with a very valuable commodity -time. For in the relatively changeless Nile Valley, human beings had thousands and thousands of years of settlement. There was time to reflect on nature, to record and work in harmony with her patterns. There was time to identify the rising, settings and phases of the sun, moon, and star systems; to examine the marvels of the human body; to learn what to plant and when to harvest it. There was time to learn how to best save the precious floodwaters and black soils left by the Nile; to experiment with new crops and to improve on farming techniques; to develop new building techniques. There was time to think, to organize, to develop and condense ideas. There was time to observe and learn the lessons of the human community and the animal community, and to apply them to all kinds of activities and ways of thought. There was time to reap the benefits of a thousand generations of thought. The security and stability of the Nile/desert relationship, enabled human communities to develop themselves. It was like a gift from the gods- a peaceful and beautiful land where the sun rose on the east bank

and set on the west bank of the great and timeless river, where great flocks of birds, fish and animals - everything - lived in the middle of the desert. But more than an oasis, this was an entire land running hundreds of miles. This balance gave the early river dwellers a feeling that they attributed to the god/spirit of the river, Hapi. We use the same word for that feeling today. CIVILIZATIONS OF THE NILE VALLEY Many civilizations developed in the Nile Valley. Among them were Nubia (Ta-Neshi), Cush (Sennar, Itiopi), Meroe, and of course, Upper and Lower Egypt (Kemet, Ta-Merri). Because these civilizations contributed so much to world culture, hundreds of books have been written about them, especially Egyptian (Kemetian) civilization. We will discuss some of those contributions a little later, but first, there is one point that must be made.

Many writers argue as to whether or not Egypt was an African civilization, in spite of the fact that the Nile Valley is inside of Africa. To the people of the ancient world, there was absolutely no doubt that Egyptians were, and had been from time immemorial, an African people. The Greeks wrote about it. The Romans wrote about it. In the Bible, the Egyptians are called Mizraimites after one of the one sons of Ham, the "father" of the Black races (see The Black Presence in the Lands of the Bible P.I.E Series Vol.1, #5) . The Hebrew word Miz'raim means " Children of the Sun." The Egyptians themselves (and other peoples of the Nile Valley) left thousands of proofs that they were, in fact, Africans. They were excellent sculptors, painters, and craftsmen. For 3,000 years, they portrayed themselves in the colors of Africans - black, brown, and beige. They portrayed foreigners as white. In fact, even the name "Kemites" - written in the heiroglyphs - literally translates to mean the "People of the Black Lands"!

When we actually examine the history and culture of the Nile Valley, the links with the rest of Africa become even more obvious. EARLY NILE DWELLERS Human history actually began thousands of years before recorded history. How many years? No one is absolutely sure. Perhaps farming settlements preceded writing by 30,000 years, 100,000 years or even longer! One great modern scholar, Cheik Anta Diop, points out; "More than 150,000 years ago beings.... identical to the man of today were living in the great lakes at the sources of the Nile and nowhere else.... it was from this place that men moved out to people the rest of the world." He goes on to point out that, "....there were only two routes available by which these early men could move out to people the other continents, namely, the Sahara and the Nile Valley." Because it is nearly impossible to sustain life in the vast Sahara Desert, we can assume that to early man the Nile River route was much more practical and thus much more popular. We can also assume that settlements, villages and towns developed on the banks of the 4,000 mile long river many thousands of years before any of its greater civilizations. These earlier Africans were the ones to develop the many basic elements needed to build the world's first great civilizations.

They developed methods of farming that took advantage of the flooding of the Nile and learned to build small channels that held the waters in the field even after the flood season ended. They developed methods of counting and calculation that later led to mathematics, the calendar and other pure sciences. They developed methods of boating and fishing that were able to take full advantage of the bounty of the Nile. They learned to use metals especially copper, bronze and gold for

tools, weapons and ornaments. They learned to use the stones and clays of the earth to build houses and temples, and to make pottery. They learned to make symbols to represent the things people did and the things they thought about. Finally, they learned to appreciate beauty, style, and wisdom and began to develop painting, sculpture, and philosophy. They developed the desire to enjoy and improve every aspect of their river civilization.

THE A N U Among the earliest known peoples who settled and developed the Nile Valley were a group known as the Anu. They built a number of fortified towns along the Nile which later became important cities. Among them were Ant (Esneh), An (now Hermonthis), Dendere (the birthplace of the goddess Isis), On (Tinis), and northern On (now called Heliopolis). They developed other centers as well, and their common ancestors - Ani or An - was considered an early "god" and is linked to the major religious figure, Osiris.

Ausar called Osiris by the Greeks

Moreover, there is evidence demonstrating that the Anu also settled Nubia, parts of the Sinai and Libya. A portrait of Ausar, called Osiris by the Greeks shown above, and the image of an Anu chief, Lord Tera Neter (previous page), gives us an ides of how early Egyptians and writing symbols looked. Other areas and peoples were also critical to the evolution of Nile Valley civilizations, especially Nubia and Ethiopia. NUBIA Ancient Nubia - called Ta-Neshi and Zeti in ancient records - was actually a very large and important portion of the Nile Valley, south of Egypt (Kemet and Ta-Merry). This section of the Valley was longer than Egypt and was traditionally considered the homeland of many ruling groups within Egypt. A number of modern writers try to project an image of Nubia as the source of the black slaves of Egypt. However, it could just as easily be projected as the source of great pharoahs. For example:

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The boy Pharoah Tut-ankh-amen was the son of Nubian Queen Tiye. Pharoah Rameses II, the great builder, had his personal temple created at Abu Simbel in the very heart of Nubia. Pharoah Tarakha, Queen Hat-shep-sut, Queen Nefer-tari, Pharoah Ah-mose I, and others, especially in the 17th - 18th Dynasties, were all either Nubians or direct descendants of Nubians. Pharoah Zoser- builder of the first pyra-mid as well as the other great pyramid builders, are also described as typical Africans.

For most of the long historical period of Nile River civilizations, Nubian civilization existed as a compliment to their northern cousins in Egypt. When Egypt was militarily overpowered by foreigners, their royal families retreated into Nubia. The great monuments of Egypt (and Nubia also) were created from stone quarries in Nubia and skillfully shipped down the Nile on boats which Nubians specialized in building and sailing. Indeed, Nubia was very rich in gold, quality stone, hardwoods, large cattle, fighting men, and linked Kemet to the trade with the interior of Africa. Unfortunately, there are many things we may never know about Nubia. In the early 1960's, the Aswan Dam was completed by the government of Egypt. A new lake, Lake Nasser, was created which flooded the lands that were once Nubia. Remember, the Nile Valley civilizations were thin stretches of land on both sides of the river and,

when the new lake was created, only a few of the largest, most popular monuments were saved.

ETHIOPIA Like the other people of the Nile Valley, the people of the Ethiopian highlands and the Blue Nile region were known by many names. To the Greeks, their land was known as "Aethiopicus"; to the Hebrews, Kush or Cush (which means 'black' in their tongue); the Arabs called the land Abyssinia; and the Africans called it Axum, Itiopi, and perhaps Sennar in the area where the Blue and White Nile Rivers join.

A 19th century drawing of one of the Nubian pyramids in Meroe

Because the Greeks and the Romans used the term "Ethiopian" to describe the millions of people of African descent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Middle East, India and southern Asia, pinpointing the exact identity of the ancient Ethioipians can become very confusing. After all, to the Greeks, the term 'Aethiop' simply meant " burnt face" and was used to designate a very large number of different kinds of Africans and dark-skinned people of African descent. It was used in a similar manner to the way the Europeans employed the term "Negro" which means "black" in Spanish. We do know, however, that the rugged mountains of Ethiopia isolated and protected the early settlements around Lake Tana. A civilization followed which was among the first to fully develop the science of astronomy. Hardly any group of people were able to build settlements on the banks of the rocky, downhill course of the Blue Nile, but where the land leveled out many settlements sprang up. This area was the other "Ethiopia" of the ancients - Sennar. Although not very much is known about the region, it appears that many of the elements of higher civilization originated there. Professor Diop, for example, suggested: "Ethiopia was the first to have laws, arts, and writing, but these civilizing elements, still crude and imperfect, were greatly developed in Egypt, which was favored by the climate, the nature of the soil, and the geographical position." Let us, then, examine some highlights in the brilliant development of Egypt (Kemet), the greatest daughter of the Nile.

UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT By 3,000 B.C., the Nile Valley had a very long history. In addition to Nubia, Ethiopia, Sennar and the towns of the Anu, a large number of towns and small cities had developed on the Nile. Some of these were independent ruling their own small areas, while others had united to form small federations. They all had certain things in common, such as being ruled by a class of priest-kings, and practicing a similar type of religion. This religion was a complicated set of beliefs that had been developing, almost without interruption, since the dawn of Mankind. Their way of thinking drew upon lessons learned from the plant and animal kingdoms as well as Man, and sought to express the links and similarities by way of symbols.

As we have seen, most of the elements of the river societies had been developed further to the south. To the ancient Egyptians, therefore, the south was up! Upper Egypt was south and Lower Egypt was north, and included the large flood plain (the Delta) created where the Nile River finally flows into the Mediterranean Sea. If we bear in mind that the Nile was Egypt and Egypt was the Nile, it becomes clear that Upper Egypt, which was older and included more river territories, was the soul of Egypt to most of the inhabitants. Lower Egypt, however, also produced very early civilizations in the area of Lake Fayum and the Delta. In addition, the peoples of this area had contacts with the cultures that developed outside of the Nile Valley. Much later in Egypt's history, at about 700 B.C., the Greeks began building settlements on the banks of Lake Fayum. While a number of modern 'Egyptologists' argue that dynastic Egypt/Kemet came into being around the year 3,000 B.C.E, it can be demonstrated that Egyptian/Kemetian cultural roots extend well over 40,000 years. One of the calendars created in this region, the Sothis

calendar (which we will discuss later) proves that the Kemites dated thier first dynasty as early as 4,200 B.C. making Kemet the earliest unified government in human history.

In about 4200 B.C., Upper and Lower Egypt were united under the leadership of a Pharoah (Lord of the House) called Narmer by the Egyptians and Menes by the Greeks. This leader, described as a 'typical Negro' by Diop, built the city of Memphis and began a new phase in Nile Valley history often referred to as "dynastic history". This term simply means that leadership was passed on along family lines, until it was no longer possible. Over a period of 5,000 years, Egypt was ruled by about 30 dynasties. This African Egypt produced an amazing and important civilization, which gave us many of the scientific, philosophical and cultural ideas, and practices of the "modern" world. But it could also be an exciting, creative, and fun culture. Let's take a look at it.

HOW ANCIENT IS EGYPT/ KEMET ? Human measurements of time are determined by how we view the movement of the earth vis-a-vis the visible universe, in particular the sun. We call one rotation of the earth in relationship to the sun - a day. We call one earth-orbit around the sun -a year. Because the earth's axis tilts back and forth, changing the relative position of each region to the sun's warm rays; we call this warming and cooling cycle - seasons. The ancient Kemites were first to discover and chart these relationships and, as we shall see, many more. A provocative book by Dr. Charles Finch, Echoes of the Old Darkland, contains a short chapter entitled "Chronology, the Calendar, and the Kamite Great Year". "The creation of any servicable calendar", Finch notes, "requires such a detailed knowledge of astronomical movements that it presupposes a long prior period of precise observation and meticulous recording of the results. Plato insisted that the Egyptians had been charting the stars and planets for at least 10,000 years and he does not seem to be exaggerating. Egypt, being a dry country, lay under clear nighttime skies for months on end, ideal for naked-eye observations of the heavenly bodies. Consequently, they had devised three calendars, stellar, lunar, and solar." While their solar calendar of 365.1/4 days is in widespread use today; and their lunar calendar of 354 days is currently used in the Islamic and traditional Jewish worlds; the two stellar calendars that they developed absolutely boggle the mind. These two measurements of time are called the Sothis calendar and the Great Year.

THE SOTHIS CALENDAR 'Sothis' is the Greek word for Sirius, the North Star. Although it is the brightest star we can see in North America, in the southern position o...