Entitled: "The inundation of the Nile, Egypt, 1900". No photographer credited, stereograph card shows a camel, group of people in foreground; pyramid in background. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that "Egypt was the gift of the Nile". An unending source of sustenance, it provided a crucial role in the development of Egyptian civilization. Silt deposits from the Nile made the surrounding land fertile because the river overflowed its banks annually. The Ancient Egyptians cultivated and traded wheat, flax, papyrus and other crops around the Nile. Wheat was a crucial crop in the famine-plagued Middle East. This trading system secured Egypt's diplomatic relationships with other countries, and contributed to economic stability. The Nile is generally regarded as the longest river in the world, 4,258 miles long.