- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on the Text
- Epigraph
- 1 Introduction
- I: Geography
- 2 Imagining the Nile
- 3 The Pre-Islamic Nile Delta
- 4 The Western Delta in the Islamic Era
- 5 The Eastern Delta in the Islamic Era
- 6 The Bahr Yusuf
- II: Navigation
- 7 The Nile Flood Cycle
- 8 Propulsion
- 9 Local Hazards
- 10 Nile Journey Times
- 11 Onward Connections
- III: Ports and the Navigational Landscape
- 12 The Ports of Fustat and Cairo
- 13 Ports of the Western Delta
- 14 Ports of the Eastern Delta
- 15 Ports of the Red Sea
- 16 Conclusion
- Appendix 1: Historical Cartography
- Appendix 2: Geographic Reconstructions
- Appendix 3: Gazetteer of Delta place names mentioned by Ibn Hawqal and al-Idrisi
- References
- Index
Local Hazards:
Local Hazards:
Mouths, Cataracts, and Mountains
- Chapter:
- (p.143) 9 Local Hazards
- Source:
- The Medieval Nile
- Author(s):
John P. Cooper
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
This chapter investigates the particular hazards and dangers associated with specific locations along the course of the Egyptian Nile, and their impact on the wider navigational landscape. In particular, it identifies the Mediterranean mouths of the main Rosetta and Damietta distributaries as points of imminent danger, particularly during the main navigational seasons of the Mediterranean and the Nile, when a sediment-laden river in full flood met onshore winds and associated wave fields in the Mediterranean. It also considers the navigational obstacle represented by the First Cataract, and navigational pinch-points in Upper Egypt caused by mountains intruding into the river. The data is drawn largely from historical travel accounts with reference to known navigational conditions.
Keywords: Egypt, Nile, river, navigation, hazards, Nile mouth, First Cataract, mountains
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- Title Pages
- Dedication
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on the Text
- Epigraph
- 1 Introduction
- I: Geography
- 2 Imagining the Nile
- 3 The Pre-Islamic Nile Delta
- 4 The Western Delta in the Islamic Era
- 5 The Eastern Delta in the Islamic Era
- 6 The Bahr Yusuf
- II: Navigation
- 7 The Nile Flood Cycle
- 8 Propulsion
- 9 Local Hazards
- 10 Nile Journey Times
- 11 Onward Connections
- III: Ports and the Navigational Landscape
- 12 The Ports of Fustat and Cairo
- 13 Ports of the Western Delta
- 14 Ports of the Eastern Delta
- 15 Ports of the Red Sea
- 16 Conclusion
- Appendix 1: Historical Cartography
- Appendix 2: Geographic Reconstructions
- Appendix 3: Gazetteer of Delta place names mentioned by Ibn Hawqal and al-Idrisi
- References
- Index
