Nile empties into the Red Sea

[DominusNovus]

Could the Nile empty into both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean? I don't see any reason why it couldn't (the egyptians built a canal between the two way back when), but I can't think of any rivers that split up going downstream (except for the deltas). If it can, thats what I'm assuming. If it can't, then it just empties into the Red Sea.

So, what effect does this have?

[Straha]

is it navigatable for both the nile & red sea exits? alot depends on that. And see how my spamfest brought out creativity in people? ;)

[tom]

Most likely the larger distributary would "capture" the smaller.

[David Howery]

there is one river in S. America, the upper Orinoco, that flows into two separate drainages; one fork goes into the main Orinoco and the other goes into the Amazon, eventually. Apparently, this is due to the extremely flat ground over which it flows. Maybe if you flatten out the Nile valley, you can get it to split....

[David S Poepoe]

Ah, but won't things change with the construction of the Aswan Dam? Actually I think the where the river forks is important. If the riverway to the Red Sea is shorter than that one would diver the bulk of the water away from the riverway heading towards Cairo. One must also consider that the depositing of silt will be quite different than in OTL. Rather than in one stretch there will be two portions of the Nile River for the silt to be deposited.

With a lesser water flow on the arm of the Nile heading to Cairo its possible that the river will slowly silt up.

[DominusNovus]

is it navigatable for both the nile & red sea exits? alot depends on that. And see how my spamfest brought out creativity in people? ;)
Nah, been toying with this for a week or two. :p

[DominusNovus]

I was searching for my thread where the terrorists blow up the Aswan dam, and I found this post. This was a fun one.

Bump.

[chunkeymonkey13q]

If the dual drainage was natural, it would probably result in a greater increase of trade around that area. Plus, it would be possible to sail from the Mediterranean directly to the Red Sea via the Nile River.

[Rhesus2]

I know next to nothing about hydro ecology, but here's my thought...

A split in the nile would produce more arable land in NE Africa, and, depending on where the second fork was, increase the wealth of the region. The elevation on the eastern side of the Nile looks like it would be tough for a second major branch of the Nile to flow that way. The most likely place would be somewhere between north western Eretria and souteastern Egypt. The fertile ground would be spread right up to the Red Sea coast, and I would think that Eretria would be part of Ethopia. More fertile land in Eretria would stave off or lessen the severity of the famines in that part of the world. Perhaps the increase in commercial potential helps keep the Abyssinans around longer?

[chunkeymonkey13q]

Maybe the Egyptians become a major power in the Mediterranean with widely scattered colonies like Greece? More arable land means a bigger population, which means a larger workforce as well.

[President Ledyard]

I think a naturally occuring dual drainage is unlikely. However, a Red Sea mouth is likely to lead to a greater Egyptian involvement in foreign trade given the lack of proxies (e.g. Greeks & Phonecians) on that body of water.

[chunkeymonkey13q]

It would probably also slow the growth and development of the Greeks and Phoenicians as well.

[Wendell]

Why would it slow the growth of the Phoenicians?

[chunkeymonkey13q]

Well, in my opinion, the Egyptians would be trading less with them if the Nile Delta was positioned on the Red Sea, slowing their growth.