Coordinates: 30°54′N 31°7′E / 30.9°N 31.117°E / 30.9; 31.117

NASA satellite photograph of the Nile Delta (shown in false color).

The Nile Delta at night.

The Nile Delta (Arabic: دلتا النيل‎) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt (Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich agricultural region. From north to south the delta is approximately 160 km in length. The Delta begins slightly down-river from Cairo.

Geography[link]

Nile River and Delta.

From north south the delta is approximately 160 km in length. From west to east it covers some 240 km of coastline. The delta is sometimes divided into sections, with the Nile dividing into two main distributaries, the Damietta and the Rosetta, flowing into the Mediterranean at port cities with the same name. In the past, the delta had several distributaries, but these have been lost due to flood control, silting and changing relief. One such defunct distributary is Wadi Tumilat. The Suez Canal runs to the east of the delta, entering the coastal Lake Manzala in the north-east of the delta. To the north-west are three other coastal lakes or lagoons: Lake Burullus, Lake Idku and Lake Maryut

The Nile is considered to be an "arcuate" delta (arc-shaped), as it resembles a triangle or lotus flower when seen from above. The outer edges of the delta are eroding, and some coastal lagoons have seen increasing salinity levels as their connection to the Mediterranean Sea increases. Since the delta no longer receives an annual supply of nutrients and sediments from upstream due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam, the soils of the floodplains have become poorer, and large amounts of fertilizers are now used. Topsoil in the delta can be as much as 70 feet (21 m) in depth.

History[link]

Egyptian Population Density and Distribution

The Nile delta at the time of Herodotus, according to James Rennell (1800).

People have lived in the Nile Delta region for thousands of years, and it has been intensively farmed for at least five thousand years. The Nile River used to flood on an annual basis, but this ended with the construction of the Aswan Dam. Records from ancient times (Pliny the Elder) show that the delta had seven distributaries: (from east to west) the Pelusiac, the Tanitic, the Mendesian, the Phatnitic (or Phatmetic^[1]), the Sebennytic, the Bolbitine, and the Canopic (also called the Herakleotic, e.g. at [Callisthenes] Alexander 1.31). There are now only two main branches, due to flood control, silting and changing relief: The Damietta (corresponding to the Phatnitic) to the east and the Rosetta (corresponding to the Bolbitine)^[2] on the western part of the delta. The Rosetta Stone was found in the Nile Delta in 1799 in the port city of Rosetta (anglicized name of Rashid). The delta was a major constituent of Lower Egypt. The Biblical Land of Goshen was located in a small area on the west bank of the Pelusiac distributary. There are many archaeological sites in and around the Nile Delta ^[3]

Population[link]

About half of Egypt’s 80 million people live in the Nile Delta region. Outside of major cities, population density in the delta averages 1,000 persons/km² or more. Alexandria is the largest city in the delta with an estimated population of more than 4 million. Other large cities in the delta include Shubra al Khaymah, Port Said, El-Mahalla El-Kubra, El Mansura, Tanta, and Zagazig.^[4]

Wildlife[link]

Whiskered tern.

During Autumn, parts of the Nile River are red with lotus flowers. The Lower Nile (North) and the Upper Nile (South) have plants that grow in abundance. The Upper Nile plant is the Egyptian lotus, and the Lower Nile plant is the Cyperus papyrus (papyrus sedge), although it is not nearly as plentiful as it once was, and is becoming quite rare.

Several hundred thousand water birds winter in the delta, including the world’s largest concentrations of little gulls and whiskered terns. Other birds making their homes in the delta include grey herons, Kentish Plovers, shovelers and cormorants. Also found are egrets and ibises.

Other animals found in the delta include frogs, turtles, tortoises, mongooses, and the Nile monitor. Nile crocodiles and hippopotamus, two animals which were widespread in the delta during antiquity, are no longer found there. Fish found in the delta include the Striped mullet and soles.

Climate[link]

The Nile Delta has a Mediterranean climate, characterized by little rainfall. Only 100 to 200 mm of rain falls on the delta area during an average year, and most of this falls in the winter months. The delta experiences its hottest temperatures in July and August, averaging 30 °C, with a maximum of around 48 °C. Winter temperatures are normally in the range of 10° to 19 °C. With cooler temperatures and some rain, the Nile Delta region becomes quite humid during the winter months.

The Nile Delta is eroding at a rate of 50 km² per year^{[citation needed]}, and it has been predicted that this Delta will have vanished by the year 2550 CE.

Sea level[link]

Furthermore, Egypt’s Mediterranean coastline is being swallowed up by the sea because of global warming and the rise of the sea level, in some places as much as 100 yards a year.^[5] As the polar ice caps melt, much of the northern delta, including the ancient port city of Alexandria, will disappear under the Mediterranean. A 30 centimeters rise in sea level is expected to occur by 2025, flooding approximately 200 square kilometers (77 sq mi).^[6]The Nile Delta is turning into a salty wasteland by rising sea waters, forcing some farmers off their lands and others to import sand in a desperate bid to turn back the tide. Experts warn that global warming will have a major impact in the delta on agriculture resources, tourism and human migration besides shaking the region's fragile ecosystems.Environmental damage to the Nile Delta is not yet one of Egypt's priorities, but experts say if the situation continues to deteriorate, it will trigger massive food shortages which could turn seven million people into "climate refugees" by the end of the century.^[7]

Governorates[link]

• Alexandria
• Beheira
• Kafr el Sheikh
• Gharbiya
• Minufiya
• Qalyubiya
• Dakahlia
• Damietta
• Sharqiyah
• Port Said

Large cities located in the Nile Delta:

• Abusir
• Alexandria
• Avaris
• Bilbeis
• Bubastis
• Canopus
• Damanhur
• Desouk
• Damietta
• Kafr el-Sheikh
• Leontopolis
• Mendes
• Mit Abu al-Kum
• Mansoura
• Naucratis
• Pelusium
• Port Said
• Rosetta
• Sais
• Tanis
• Tanta
• Zagazig

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Nile Under Control - An article from 1937 about controlling the flow of the Nile.
• keyway.ca
• worldwildlife.org
• adaptationlearning.net - A UN project for managing sea level rise risks in the Nile Delta

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2010)

Transglobal Underground
Transglobal Underground live in Athens, 2007
Background information
Also known as	TGU
Origin	London, England but featuring members of many nationalities
Genres	World fusion music Ethnic electronica
Years active	1990-
Labels	Nation Records
Website	http://www.t-g-u.com/
Members
Alex Kasiek (Tim Whelan), Hamid Mantu (Hamilton Lee)
Past members
Natacha Atlas Johnny Kalsi many others (see text)

Transglobal Underground (sometimes written as Trans-Global Underground or simply as TGU) is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of western, oriental and African music styles (sometimes labelled as "world fusion" or "ethno-techno"). Their first four albums featured Natacha Atlas as lead singer and their single "Temple Head" was used in a Coca-Cola advertising campaign for the 1996 Olympic Games.^[1] In 2008 they won the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music after the release of their seventh official album, Moonshout. Their eighth album, The Stone Turntable, was released in May 2011 and their most recent release is an EP of remixes from the album, titled We Come To Tear Your Wall Down.

Membership and pseudonyms[link]

Although Transglobal Underground has always had a fluid line-up, the two core members of the group are Tim Whelan (keyboards, guitar, flute, melodica, programming, vocals) and Hamilton Lee (percussion, drums, keyboards, programming). Throughout the group's history, Whelan and Lee have deliberately clouded their identities via multiple pseudonyms and obscure credits - Whelan generally operating under the alias of "Alex Kasiek" and Lee under the alias of "Hamid Mantu" (also "Man Tu" or "Chris Hamilton").^[2] Whelan has also used his "Alex Kasiek" pseudonym outside TGU work (sometimes combining it with his real name, as he did for his guest appearance on the 2002 Project Dark album Gramophone De Luxe) and has sometimes implied that Kasiek is a separate person.^[3] (For the purposes of this article, Whelan and Lee will be predominantly referred to by their main pseudonyms of Alex Kasiek and Hamid Mantu.)

Other musicians who have been long-time TGU members or associates include:

• Natacha Atlas (vocals)
• Count Dubulah (real name Nick Page - bass, sampler)
• Neil Sparkes (percussion)
• Johnny Kalsi (dhol)
• Coleridge (rapping)
• Gurjit Sihra (dhol)
• TUUP (an acronym for "The Unorthodox Unprecedented Preacher", real name Godfrey Duncan - vocals, percussion)
• Sheema Mukherjee (sitar)
• Larry Whelan (saxophone, clarinet, ney, shenai, string arrangements)

Artists who have made guest appearances on TGU albums include:^[4]

• Aki Nawaz (of Fun-Da-Mental)
• Heitham Al-Sayed (of Senser)
• British alternative jazz guitarist Billy Jenkins
• Amanda de Grey (former Transmitters keyboard player)
• Bulgarian harmony singing group Trio Bulgarka

Transglobal Underground tracks have been remixed by Dreadzone, Lionrock and Youth and they in turn have remixed tracks for Warsaw Village Band, Banco de Gaia, Fun-Da-Mental, Transjoik, Pop Will Eat Itself and Tragic Roundabout.

Biography[link]

Musical collaborators since their schooldays, Tim Whelan and Hamilton Lee were previously both founding members of British pop band Furniture and had played with the experimental psychedelic art-punk group The Transmitters. While with Furniture, both musicians had already demonstrated an interest in world music by bringing in more culturally-diverse instrumentation to what was originally a fairly conventional rock band line up (Lee had played tongue drums and other percussion in addition to his standard drumkit, while Whelan had supplemented his guitar playing with extensive use of the Chinese yangqin zither). Following the break-up of Furniture, Whelan and Lee worked together as part of the Flavel Bambi Septet (an Ealing-based world music band with a shifting lineup including other Transmitters members and future TGU member Natacha Atlas).

Transglobal Underground was first formed when Whelan and Lee teamed up with a third musician, Nick Page. All three took on pseudonyms for the project, which they have determinedly maintained (albeit with variations) up until the present day. Whelan became "Alex Kasiek", Lee "Hamid Mantu" and Page "Count Dubulah". The first recording by the group was the single "Temple Head" which was shopped around various labels before eventually being released by Nation Records in 1991. Although not a major hit, it was named "Single of the Week" in Melody Maker a publication that frequently reviewed and promoted the group, and heavily featured at clubs such as Whirl-Y-Gig.^[1] The group was quickly signed to Deconstruction Records, for whom they recorded an album. The label, however, declined to release the album,^[5] which eventually saw the light of day on the Nation label in 1994 as Dream of 100 Nations. This album marked the group debut of Natacha Atlas, formerly best known for her work with Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart, with percussionist Neil Sparkes joining at around the same time.

TGU developed a reputation for flamboyant live performances featuring dramatic costumes, belly dancing, endless percussion and members of the group disguised as Nepalese Temple guardians. The group released their second album International Times, later in 1994. This was followed in 1995 by the remix album Interplanetary Meltdown (with contributions from Dreadzone, Lionrock and Youth amongst others) aimed squarely at commercial club play. After a number of tours around Europe and 1997 (and the Psychic Karaoke album), Dubulah and Sparkes left to form Temple Of Sound.

A new TGU line-up emerged in 1998 with the album Rejoice Rejoice partly recorded in Hungary and featuring a number of Hungarian gypsy musicians, plus percussionist Johnny Kalsi from the Dhol Foundation. The group toured Europe supporting Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. Atlas then left the group to concentrate on her burgeoning solo career, with which Kasiek and Mantu were already heavily involved as producers. Transglobal Underground subsequently also parted company with Nation Records (who released a compilation album, 1991-1998: Backpacking On The Graves Of Our Ancestors, in 1999).

In 2001 Transglobal Underground released the album Yes Boss Food Corner on Mondo Rhythmica (part of the Ark 21 label),featuring Zulu vocalist Thobekile Doreen Webster (with whom Mantu and Kasiek still work as producers). The seven-piece line-up of this period (including British-born Asian musicians sitarist Sheema Mukherjee and percussionist Gurjit Sihra) played all over the world and toured the USA twice. After the demise of Ark21, Transglobal Underground spent some time working in Egypt, notably with Egyptian vocalist Hakim.

On their return from Egypt, Kasiek and Mantu set up their own Mule Satellite label for their 2005 album Impossible Broadcasting.^[4] For the next tour, the live band (now stripped down to a five-piece and with, once more, a more club-based line-up) started playing the UK regularly for the first time in more than six years, turning up regularly at festivals and venues throughout the country. A flurry of studio activity in 2007 resulted in a collaboration with Real World act The Imagined Village (which won a Radio 2 Folk Award), another remix album (Impossible Re-Broadcasts), the release of the seventh Transglobal Underground album (the Radio-3-award-winning Moonshout) and the soundtrack to the film Whatever Lola Wants. The latter two projects were collaborations with Natacha Atlas, who had returned to closer work with the core band. In 2009, Nascente Records released a double CD compilation of the groups entire history to date, under the title 'Run Devils and Demons.'

Towards the end of 2009 Transglobal Underground took a break from their live schedule to work on a new project which was released in May 2010 as an album entitled 'A Gathering of Strangers' under the name U.N.I.T.E. (an acronym of Urban Native Integrated Traditions of Europe). Drawing traditional sources from all across Europe, the album contains performances by artists from the UK, Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Hungary, France and Denmark. Amongst the featured vocalists are Yanka Rupkina, Stuart A Staples of Tindersticks, Jim Moray, and Martin Furey of the High Kings.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Bold numbers indicate peak positions on the UK Albums Chart^[6]

• Dream of 100 Nations, 1993, 45
• International Times, 1994, 40
• Psychic Karaoke, 1996, 62
• Rejoice Rejoice, 1998
• Yes Boss Food Corner, 2001
• Impossible Broadcasting, 2004
• Moonshout, 2007
• A Gathering of Strangers , 2010
• The Stone Turntable, 2011

Compilation and remix albums[link]

• Interplanetary Meltdown, 1995 (remix album)
• Backpacking On The Graves Of Our Ancestors, 1999 (greatest hits album with some new tracks and mixes)
• Impossible Re-Broadcasting, 2007 (remix album)
• Run Devils and Demons, 2009 (2 CD compilation of TGU's career)

DVD[link]

• Trans-Global Underground: A film by Guillaume Dero 2008 (documentary and live recording)^[7]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• TGU discography at global-trance.co.uk
• TGU at allmusic.com
• TGU at discogs.com
• Worldmusiccentral.org

External links[link]

• Last.FM: Transglobal Underground group
• Official Website
• TGU Chat Forum
• Website of U.N.I.T.E. project