The Nile River Valley With an astounding length of 4,145 miles, the Nile River is the longest river in the world, and the only major river that flows south to north. The Nile River is often called the “lifeblood” or “The Gift” of Egypt.

Upper and Lower Egypt Ancient Egypt includes two regions, upper (southern) and lower (Northern) Egypt

Blue and White Nile At its source, The Nile is 2 separate rivers: the Blue Nile flows out of the mountains and meets with the White Nile.

Cataracts Along the Nile there are locations called cataracts. The cataracts prevented invasions from the South along the Nile River. The rushing and swirling water was too difficult to travel along.

Geography of Egypt Harsh deserts surrounded the Nile river. The Libyan and Eastern deserts acted as a natural barrier against invasions. The Nile River flooded each year to create a long narrow corridor about 12 miles wide of very fertile soil. When the land was covered in silt ,it looked black. They called this the black land or Kemet. The dry area looked red so they called it the red land.

Delta Before the Nile reaches the Mediterranean Sea, it splits into many branches. These waterways form a fan-shaped area of fertile land called a delta.

Flood season The “Inundation” was the time from June to September. This was the time of the flood. During this time, Egyptians were paid to work for the Pharaoh on building projects.

Flood season The “Emergence” of the land from the water covering was from October to February. During this time, Egyptians planted and captured as much water as possible in irrigation ditches. The last of the three seasons was the “drought” season. During the drought, the harvest took place.

Papyrus Papyrus was one of the most versatile plants growing along the Nile. The plant was used to make paper, sandals, boats, ropes, and even paintbrushes.

Hieroglyphics The Egyptians came up with a writing system called hieroglyphics. It was a combination of pictures and sound symbols. Scribes wrote on papyrus.

People of the Nile Egyptian people also ate fish from the river, but the Pharaoh never ate fish because it was considered “unclean” from the Nile waters. Most Egyptians were farmers. They lived in mud-brick one story houses on small rented plots of land.

Advances in farming Canals were dug from the Nile to the farms for irrigation. Egyptians also used a shadoof (bucket attached to a long pole) to get water from the river.

Uniting Egypt At first Upper and Lower Egypt were not united. Upper Egypt was symbolized by a white cone-shaped crown. Lower Egypt was symbolized by a red crown. Around 3100BC, Narmer (Menes) from Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and married one of their princesses, uniting both kingdoms.

Dynasties Menes is considered Egypt’s first Pharaoh. He also created the first dynasty (line of rulers from the same family) in Egypt. He also built a new capital city that was later called Memphis. From 3100 BC to 332 BC a series of 32 dynasties ruled Egypt. These time periods are known as the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, and New Kingdom.