Question

Which country is known as the 'Gift of the Nile'?
(A) Sudan
(B) Egypt
(C) India
(D) Congo

Answer 1

Hint: The country is bordered to the northeast by the Gaza Strip (Palestine) and Israel, to the east by the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, to the south by Sudan, and to the west by Libya. It has one of the longest histories of any world, dating back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE along the Nile Delta.

Complete answer:
In north-eastern Africa, the Nile is a large north-flowing river. It is the longest river in Africa and has long been thought to be the longest river in the world, though evidence suggests that the Amazon River is slightly longer.

The phrase "Egypt is entirely the gift of the Nile" refers to the Nile River's role in enabling Egypt's civilization. It provided people with transportation, irrigation for farming, some food, such as fish, and even fertile soil for growing crops.

Without the Nile, Egypt will not survive at all, at least not as a settled civilization. Outside of the narrow valley watered by the Nile, the desert regions and their dispersed oases could only sustain a much smaller population of livestock-herding nomads, not settled agriculturalists.

The Nile is the only reason Egypt's civilization was able to maintain the population density it did in ancient times and still has today and is why Egypt had such a surplus of grain and produce in ancient times (during good years) that it was called the breadbasket of the ancient Mediterranean, as well as one of antiquity's most dominant empires.

Hence, Egypt is known as the 'Gift of the Nile'. So, the correct option is (B).

Note: The Aswan High Dam, which was built a few decades ago, put an end to the annual Nile flood while still holding a large amount of water that would be released downstream during times of relative drought. Flood prevention has both positive and negative consequences, given the fertilising aspects of the ancient rhythm of the flood, which deposits a new layer of fertile silt on Egypt's fields every year.