Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Vocabulary, Section 1 Nubia: an ancient region in the Nile River Valley Cataract: rock-filled rapids Herodotus: Ancient Greek explorer who wrote of Egypt Herodotus wrote that there would not be an Egypt without the Nile River Nile River: longest in the world; 4,000 miles Two sources: Blue Nile from highlands of Ethiopia – rapid, fast-moving; White Nile from Eastern Africa – calmer, flows through swamps; they meet in Sudan Blue Nile White Nile

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Confluence: Where two smaller streams meet to form larger stream or river The Nile River forms at confluence of Blue and White Nile Ancient Nubia was along Nile River Their section of river had six major cataracts People had to live and farm close to river

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Delta: a plain of land and swamp at mouth of a river; formed by river depositing soil Silt: fine soil found in river bottoms Fertile: land that is good for raising crops Nile ran 700 miles through Ancient Egypt from Aswan to the Mediterranean Sea In “Upper Egypt” it had a narrow strip of approximately 6 miles on each side, then desert

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Nile flows south to north “up” the map As Nile flows north, it slows down and spreads out Yearly floods deposited fertile silt along lower Nile River branches out as it reaches Mediterranean and forms a delta with rich farmland

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Ancient Egyptians believed Hapi was the God of the Nile Egyptians called their land Kemet, “Black Land” due to dark, fertile soil They called deserts “Red Land” and knew they were useless for farming but protected from invasion

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Nile served as “highway” for trade Trading and farming communities grew along Nile Nubians traded in caravans as their part of river was hard to sail

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Vocabulary, Section 2 Pharaoh: Title used by Egyptian kings Dynasty: a series of rulers from the same family or ethnic group Ethnic group: people of the same race Ancient Egypt had 31 dynasties from 3100 BCE to 332 BCE. The dynasties were divided into three periods: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom

Chapter 3: Ancient Egypt and Nubia Monarch: a queen or king Regent: someone who rules for a child until he or she is old enough to become monarch Hatshepsut was a woman who took title of pharaoh Menes was pharaoh in First Dynasty; unified Upper and Lower Egypt