III.

History

Along with the Tigris, Euphrates, and Indus, the lower course of the Nile fostered one of the world's earliest civilizations, dating back to the sixth millennium bc. Its annual flooding created the fertile plains upon which the people of ancient Egypt depended, and it became their main artery of communication and commerce, as well as being central to their spiritual life.

Noted Western explorers of the Nile include the British explorers Sir Richard Francis Burton, who led the expedition which discovered the source of the Nile, John Hanning Speke, who reached Lake Victoria in 1858 and Ripon Falls in 1862, and Sir Samuel White, who sighted Lake Albert in 1864; a German, Georg August Schweinfurth, who explored (1868-1871) the western feeders of the White Nile; and a British-American, Sir Henry Morton Stanley. In 1875 Stanley sailed around Lake Victoria; in 1889 he traced the Semliki River and reached Lake Edward and the Ruwenzori Range.