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The six cataracts of the Nile
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Fourth Cataract
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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. The word cataract is derived from the Greek kataraktes 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]

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.

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.

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)

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Origin Africa
Mouth Mediterranean Sea
Basin countries Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt
Length 6,650 km (4,132 mi)
Source elevation 1,134 m (3,721 ft)

Avg.
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Aswan (Egyptian: Swenet (=trade); Coptic: Swān; Greek: Συήνη Syene; Arabic: أسوان Aswān
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Al-Khartoum, Sudan
الخرطوم

Seal
Nickname: The Triangular City
Khartoum's location in Sudan
Coordinates:
Government
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islet is a small island. It is not to be confused with eyelet.

Definition of Types

Rock

A "rock", sometimes a synonym for a type of "islet", is a landform composed of rock, lying offshore, having no or minimal vegetation, and uninhabited (see
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Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a river's gradient drops enough to form a bubbly, or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white. The term is also used loosely to refer to less-turbulent but still agitated flows.
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shall not be utilized without compelling justification for their need.

Providing a distinct identification credential

RAPIDS provides distinct identification that is used as proof of identity and DoD affiliation.
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Gumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyah
Arab Republic of Egypt


Flag Coat of arms
Anthem
Bilady, Bilady, Bilady
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Motto
"Al-Nasr Lana"   (Arabic)
"Victory is Ours"
Anthem
نحن جند للہ جند الوطن   (Arabic)

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Aswan (Egyptian: Swenet (=trade); Coptic: Swān; Greek: Συήνη Syene; Arabic: أسوان Aswān
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Nubia (not to be confused with Nuba, a collective term used for the peoples who inhabit the Nuba Mountains, in Kordofan province, Sudan, Africa) is the region in the south of Egypt, along the Nile and in northern Sudan.
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Coordinates Coordinates:
Lake type Reservoir
Primary sources Nile

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Tombos
Government
 - Mayor Ivan Carlos de Andrade
Area
 - City 283.483 km  (0 sq mi)
Population (2004)
 - City 12,619
Time zone EST (UTC-3)
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Dar al-Manasir (Arabic: دار المناصير) is the region of the Fourth Cataract, the most impassable of all rapids of the Nile.
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This article or section contains information about a planned or expected dam.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction of the dam approaches, and more information becomes available.
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Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water. It usually refers to the point where a tributary joins a more major river, called the mainstem, when that major river is also the highest order stream in the drainage basin.
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The Atbarah River (Arabic: نهر عطبرة; transliterated: Nahr 'Atbarah) in northeast Africa rises in northwest Ethiopia, approximately 50 km north of Lake Tana and 30 km west of Gondar.
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intrusion is a body of igneous rock that has crystallized from a molten magma below the surface of the Earth. Bodies of magma that solidify underground before they reach the surface of the earth are called plutons, named for Pluto, the Roman god of the underworld.
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Meroë is northeast of Khartoum (center right)]] Coordinates: Meroë (Meroitic: Medewi or Bedewi
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Greek}}} 
Writing system: Greek alphabet 
Official status
Official language of:  Greece
 Cyprus
 European Union
recognised as minority language in parts of:
 European Union
 Italy
 Turkey
Regulated by:
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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 or nickpoint.
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Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere.
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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. The Nubian Swell has been geologically active since early Mesozoic times, and portions are still active.
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Erosion is displacement of solids (soil, mud, rock and other particles) usually by the agents of currents such as, wind, water, or ice by downward or down-slope movement in response to gravity or by living organisms (in the case of bioerosion).
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Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can). (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
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The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan 1899 book written by historian Winston Churchill while he was still an officer in the British army.

The book provides a history of the British involvment in the Sudan and the conflict between the British forces
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1896 1897 1898 - 1899 - 1900 1901 1902

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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Motto
"Al-Nasr Lana"   (Arabic)
"Victory is Ours"
Anthem
نحن جند للہ جند الوطن   (Arabic)

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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1893 1894 1895 - 1896 - 1897 1898 1899

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1860s  1870s  1880s  - 1890s -  1900s  1910s  1920s
1895 1896 1897 - 1898 - 1899 1900 1901

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1850s  1860s  1870s  - 1880s -  1890s  1900s  1910s
1882 1883 1884 - 1885 - 1886 1887 1888

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