The Lifeline of the nile

Map labeling Label on your blue map: Nile River Red Sea Mediterranean Sea

The Nile River Valley The Nile River Valley was an ideal place for civilizations to thrive in northeastern Africa. Since ancient times, Egypt has depended on agriculture. Egypt gets very little rain. Surrounded by hot, sandy deserts, the Nile River brought life to the people who lived by it. The Nile is the longest river in the world. It extends more than 4,000 miles in length. The Nile flows through a DELTA. In ancient Egypt, the delta was located in Lower Egypt, which lies to the north of Upper Egypt. Label Upper and Lower Egypt on your map. The Nile irrigated land that stretched about 5 miles on both sides of the river.

The Giver of Life The Nile overflowed because of heavy rains in East Africa. The ancient Egyptians took advantage of this by planting seeds after the flooding and harvesting in late summer. Wheat and barley were the most important crops but they also grew Papyrus to make paper. Egyptians used the Nile as a means to transport goods. However, because of the six CATARACTS, or waterfalls, it was impossible to sail directly from the Nile Delta to East Africa without taking a boat out of the water and carrying it.

Taker of Life Although the Nile did flood regularly, it did not always do so in the same way. Sometimes the river overflowed. This caused crops to be destroyed, and people lost their lives. Other times, the Nile did not flood enough and crops could not grow. The Egyptians used the food they stored from surplus harvests. Like the Mesopotamians, they built irrigation canals to transport water to their crops.

Controlling the Nile The Egyptians observed that over time the sunrise and sunset as well as the moon’s appearance changed slightly. They used these observations to make predictions about when the Nile would flood. A calendar was used to keep track of the number of days between the flooding cycles. The Nile would flood sometime between May and September.

Think What solutions did the Egyptians come up with to deal with the flooding of the Nile? How was the Nile the giver of life? How was the Nile the taker of life? Suppose the Egyptians had not tried to predict when the Nile would flood. Do you think their civilization would have lasted very long? Why or why not?

Life in Egypt

Egyptian Records Like the Sumerians, the Egyptians developed a form of writing called hieroglyphics. Unlike cuneiform, hieroglyphics represented objects or ideas but also stood for sounds. They could be carved into a clay or stone tablet or written on papyrus.

Rosetta Stone Archaeologists did not know how to read the hieroglyphics they found on Egyptian buildings and artifacts for a long time. The discovery, and later decoding of the Rosetta Stone solved the mystery. On the stone was a passage written in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and a form of cursive writing. They compared the Greek and hieroglyphics to decipher what was written. Egyptians used at least 700 different hieroglyphic symbols

Egyptian religion Egyptians were polytheistic, just like the Mesopotamians. They used stories about their gods to explain the natural world, including the Nile. Their main god, Amon-Ra, or Ra, represented the sun.

Pyramid Building Pyramids were large stone buildings that served as houses or tombs for the dead. The Egyptians believed pharaohs remained gods after death and pyramids were palaces. Kings were buried with their possessions because it was believed they could be carried over into the afterlife. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_JgmxVCehw

Mummification Mummification took 70 days. First, all the organs were removed. Then, they rubbed oils and perfumes over the body. Next, they wrapped the body in linen bandages. Finally, the mummy was placed in a coffin and put into a tomb. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MQ5dL9cQX0

Social Life

Trade and Technology During the Middle Kingdom, the Egyptians went on expeditions to southwest Asia to trade goods such as wheat, gold, and linen with other peoples. To improve transportation, they dug a canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea, which became a trade route. The Hyksos brought new technology ideas such as chariots pulled by horses.

Nubia and Egypt

Lands South of Egypt Nubia was a kingdom to the south of Egypt. Today it makes up the Sudan. Label Nubia on your map. Nubia’s borders began at the first cataract on the Nile River. Because the soil was rocky, they used sturdier farming tools. The Nubians had a written language called Meroitic. Although similar to hieroglyphics, no one has been able to decode it. They also built pyramids but they were much smaller and had a distinctive style.

Interaction By 2575 B.C. the Egyptians had invaded Nubia in search of resources. They relied on Nubia for gold, ivory, cattle, ostrich feathers and granite. When the Hyksos were ruling Egypt, the Nubian kingdom of Kush became independent. Kush became independent and very powerful over time.