MUMBLINGS November 3, 2005

Historically and otherwise, Egypt has enjoyed an interesting civilization for centuries. However, here is a country where tourists look back at the rich studies of the country rather than the present and the future.

A country of 385,210 square miles, 70,000,000 people, with Cairo being the capital and the largest city in the dry land. It is only the 20th in size in the world. Cairo is a semi-modern one with 9,462,000 people.

With the Sahara Desert making the country one of the driest in the world, the vast majority live along the Nile River in only four percent of the area. There are many things to be interested in, in this great world called earth, but rivers and cities, their size, population, etc., have always been of high interest.

For instance, the largest city in the world is Tokyo, with its population of 26,444,000; number two is Mexico City, with a population of 18,066,000; third is Sao Paulo, Brazil, with a population of 17,962,000 and number four is New York City, with a population of 16,732,000. According to the World Almanac, this includes the surrounding cities or what we sometimes call the metropolitan area.

It may be of interest to you to know that Delhi, India is the tenth largest with a population of 12,441,000. As a child, we were proud of the fact that New York was the largest city in the world, while some people claimed London was. Now, London is way down the list, about 25th.

Guess why I mentioned Delhi, which is sometimes referred to as New Delhi? Hopefully, I will be able to tell you more about it when I see it in about a month or so.

The Nile is the longest river with 4,180 miles. The Amazon is number two with 3,912 and the Mississippi/Missouri is number three with 3,710 miles.

Of course, there are many important rivers in the world that have been a large part of history. Because of transportation and other usage, they have played a very important part of history and continue to do so.

With the volume of water carried, the Amazon is bigger than the Mississippi, Nile and two or three others combined. It's a world within itself, almost. Hopefully, I will be able to tell you more about this huge river soon.

Of course we all love the mighty Mississippi, except it, like others, can cause havoc during flood stage. We had a good example recently with a huge hurricane that caused the levees to give way in New Orleans.

Few, if any, that have played as important role in humanity and history as has the Nile in eastern Egypt. Starting in the south, in the mountains of Ethiopia, it travels through two or three countries, and winds up through Egypt and then the Mediterranean Sea. For centuries during flood stages every year it washed millions of tons of silt and rich dirt, which made the lands along the Nile fertile and rich in various vegetables, fruits and other important products for those along it. Even today it is used for everything… people wash clothes in it, bathe in it, use it for human waste and everything else imaginable. For Egyptians, you cannot over estimate its importance.

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A few important rivers in the world run from the south, to the north. It seems odd that when you're down river, or to the south in the Nile, they say, "let's go up the river," which is really down. A few years back a huge dam was built at Aswan, which stopped the flooding of the Nile upriver, and thus stopped the soil flow. This huge dam, a hydroelectric facility, furnishes millions of megawatts to the hungry Egyptians.

Before the Nile hits the Mediterranean, it spreads out over thousands of acres, which includes the city of Alexandria, which was named after Alexander the Great, which has long been known as a center of education, etc.

Egypt is a subject you could discuss for a long time. For example, the rich, historic, section near the south called the Luxor area has many historical statues, and is well worth seeing. Equally, or more important, across the Nile is the Valley of Kings which includes the burial grounds of kings. In the 1920's the Tomb of Tutankhamun (King Tut) was discovered. The vast wealth in it had not been discovered by robbers, like most of the others.

Its treasures are almost beyond measure and much of it is shown in the Egyptian museum in Cairo. Much of the treasure has been shown throughout the world to millions of interested people.

Now we must leave Egypt and its past and look for additional scenery.

See you again soon, I hope.