All Topics  
Faiyum Oasis

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Faiyum Oasis
 
 
  Topics Faiyum Oasis Topic Home

The Faiyum Oasis is a distinctive region with character between the main Nile Valley and other desert oases
Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough....
. It is a depression in the desert immediately to the west of the Nile south of Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
. Its area is estimated to vary between 490 mi˛ (1,270 km˛) and 656 mi˛ (1700 km˛).






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Faiyum Oasis'
Start a new discussion about 'Faiyum Oasis'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Moeris
The Faiyum Oasis is a distinctive region with character between the main Nile Valley and other desert oases
Oasis

In geography, an oasis or cienega is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even humans if the area is big enough....
. It is a depression in the desert immediately to the west of the Nile south of Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
. Its area is estimated to vary between 490 mi˛ (1,270 km˛) and 656 mi˛ (1700 km˛). Much of its floor is fields watered by a channel of the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
, the Bahr Yussef
Bahr Yussef

The Bahr Yussef, which roughly translates from Arabic language as "the waterway of Joseph ", is a canal which connects the Nile River with Fayyum in Egypt....
, as it drains into a desert depression to the west of the Nile Valley. The Bahr Yussef
Bahr Yussef

The Bahr Yussef, which roughly translates from Arabic language as "the waterway of Joseph ", is a canal which connects the Nile River with Fayyum in Egypt....
 veers west through a narrow neck of land north of Ihnasya, between the archaeological sites of El-Lahun
El-Lahun

Located in the Al Fayyum, Egypt, Kahun is the workers village of the pyramid of Senusret II. It is located in the modern village of el-Lahun , and is often referred to by that name....
 and Gurob near Hawara
Hawara

Hawara is an archaeological site of Ancient Egypt, south of the site of Crocodilopolis at the entrance to the depression of the Al Fayyum oasis....
; it then branches out, providing rich agricultural land in the Faiyum basin, draining into the large saltwater Lake Moeris
Lake Moeris

Lake Moeris is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, 80 km southwest of Cairo, Egypt. It remains today as a smaller lake called Birket Qarun....
 (Birket Qarun). Lake Moeris
Lake Moeris

Lake Moeris is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, 80 km southwest of Cairo, Egypt. It remains today as a smaller lake called Birket Qarun....
 was freshwater in prehistory but is today a saltwater lake. It is a source for tilapia
Tilapia

'Tilapia' is the Common name#Biological common names for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe . Tilapias inhabit a variety of fresh water and, less commonly, brackish water habitats from shallow streams and ponds through to rivers, lakes, and estuaries....
 and other fish for the local area. Differing from the typical oases, whose fertility depends on water obtained from springs, the cultivated land in the Faiyum is formed of Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 mud brought down by the Bahr Yussef
Bahr Yussef

The Bahr Yussef, which roughly translates from Arabic language as "the waterway of Joseph ", is a canal which connects the Nile River with Fayyum in Egypt....
, 15 miles (24 km) in length. Between the beginning of Bahr Yussef
Bahr Yussef

The Bahr Yussef, which roughly translates from Arabic language as "the waterway of Joseph ", is a canal which connects the Nile River with Fayyum in Egypt....
 at El-Lahun
El-Lahun

Located in the Al Fayyum, Egypt, Kahun is the workers village of the pyramid of Senusret II. It is located in the modern village of el-Lahun , and is often referred to by that name....
 to its end at the city of Faiyum, several canals branch off to irrigate the Faiyum Governorate. The drainage water flows into Lake Moeris
Lake Moeris

Lake Moeris is an ancient lake in the northwest of the Faiyum Oasis, 80 km southwest of Cairo, Egypt. It remains today as a smaller lake called Birket Qarun....
.

Over 400 mile˛ (1,000 km˛) of the Faiyum Oasis is cultivated, the chief crops being cereal
Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
s and cotton
Cotton

Cotton is a soft, staple fiber that grows in a form known as a boll around the seeds of the cotton plant a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India and Africa....
. The completion of the Aswan Low Dam
Aswan Dam

Aswan is a city on the first Cataracts of the Nile of the Nile in Egypt.Two dams straddle the river at this point: the newer Aswan High Dam , and the older Aswan Dam or Aswan Low Dam....
 ensured a fuller supply of water, which enabled 20,000 acres (80 km˛) of land, previously unirrigated and untaxed, to be brought under cultivation in the three years 1903-1905. Three crops are obtained in twenty months. The province is noted for its fig
FIG

FIG may refer to:* F?d?ration Internationale de Gymnastique* International Federation of Surveyors...
s and grape
Grape

File:Table grapes on white.jpgA grape is the non-Climacteric #In_botany fruit that grows on the Perennial plant and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis....
s of exceptional quality. Olive
Olive

The Olive is a species of small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean region, from Lebanon, Syria and the maritime parts of Turkey and northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea....
s are also cultivated. Rose
Rose

A rose is a perennial plant flower shrub or vine of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae, that contains over 100 species and comes in a variety of colors....
 trees are very numerous, and most of the attar of roses
Rose oil

Rose oil, meaning either rose otto or rose absolute, is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose. Rose ottos are extracted through steam distillation, while rose absolutes are obtained through solvent extraction or supercritical carbon dioxide, with the absolute being used more commonly in pe...
 of Egypt is manufactured in the province. Faiyum also possesses an excellent breed of sheep
Sheep

#REDIRECT Domestic sheep...
.

History

When the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea or Ocean off the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia....
 was a hot dry hollow near the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis
Messinian salinity crisis

The Messinian Salinity Crisis, also referred to as the Messinian Event, is a period when the Mediterranean Sea evaporated partly or completely dry during the Messinian period of the Miocene epoch, 5.96 million years ago....
 in the late Miocene
Miocene

The Miocene is a Geologic time scale of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain....
, Faiyum was a dry hollow, and the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 flowed past it at the bottom of a canyon
Canyon

A canyon, or gorge, is a deep valley between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Most canyons were formed by a process of long-time erosion from a plateau level....
 (which was 8000 feet deep or more (where Cairo
Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
 is today). After the Mediterranean reflooded at the end of the Miocene
Miocene

The Miocene is a Geologic time scale of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain....
, the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 canyon became an arm of the sea reaching inland further than Aswan
Aswan

Aswan , Egyptian language: Swenet , Coptic language: Swan; Greek language: Syene; ) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate....
. Over geological time that sea arm gradually filled with silt and became the Nile valley.

Eventually the Nile valley bed silted up high enough to let the Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 in flood overflow into the Faiyum hollow and make a lake in it. The lake is first recorded from about 3000 BC, around the time of Menes
Menes

Menes is the name of the Egyptian king credited with founding the First dynasty of Egypt, sometime around 3100 BC. Menes was seen as a founding figure for much of the history of Ancient Egypt, and was possibly a mythical founding king similar to Romulus and Remus for Ancient Rome....
 (Narmer). However, for the most part it would only be filled with high flood waters. The lake was bordered by neolithic
Neolithic

The Neolithic period was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 Before the Christian Era in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age....
 settlements, and the town of Crocodilopolis
Crocodilopolis

Crocodilopolis or Krokodilopolis or Ptolemais Euergetis or Arsinoe was an ancient city in the Heptanomis, Egypt, the capital of Arsinoites nome, on the western bank of the Nile, between the river and the Lake Moeris, southwest of Memphis, Egypt, in lat....
 grew up on the south where the higher ground created a ridge.