Lower Egypt
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
Join Britannica's Publishing Partner Program and our community of experts to gain a global audience for your work!Lower Egypt, Arabic Miṣr Baḥr, geographic and cultural division of Egypt consisting primarily of the triangular Nile River delta region and bounded generally by the 30th parallel north in the south and by the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Characterized by broad expanses of fertile soil, Lower Egypt contrasts sharply with Upper Egypt, where the centres of habitation along the Nile valley are never far from the desert. Lower Egypt in late predynastic times constituted a political entity separate from Upper Egypt. But Menes (fl. 3100 bce) traditionally joined the two regions, that unification being recognized in the royal title, “King of Upper and Lower Egypt.”

Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
-
Africa: Nile basinThere are two theories concerning the development of the Nile, which, it appears, originally consisted of two sections. The first theory is that the lower Nile had its source at about latitude 20° N, whence it flowed directly into the sea, while the…
-
Egypt: The Nile valley and deltaThe Nile delta, or Lower Egypt, covers an area of 9,650 square miles (25,000 sq km). It is about 100 miles (160 km) long from Cairo to the Mediterranean, with a coastline stretching some 150 miles (240 km) from Alexandria to Port Said. As many as seven branches of…
-
Nile River: Physiography of Nile River…Cairo the Nile enters the delta region, a level triangular lowland. In the 1st century
ce the Greek geographer Strabo recorded the Nile as fanning out into seven delta distributaries. The flow has since been controlled and redirected, so that the river now flows across the delta to the sea…