The Bahr Yussef (Arabic: بحر يوسف; "the waterway of Joseph"[1]) is a canal which connects the Nile River with Faiyum Oasis in Egypt.[2] In prehistoric times, the canal was a natural offshoot of the Nile which created a lake to the west during high floods.The canal was built into the natural incline of the valley, creating a channel 15 km long and 5 m deep that sloped into the Fayyum depression.As the surrounding area changed at about 230 BC, the Bahr Yussef eventually became neglected, leaving most of Lake Moeris to dry up, creating the depression that exists today and the modern Faiyum Oasis.[4] The Bahr Yussef still exists today, feeding water northwards into the Faiyum Oasis, parallel with the Nile.
