1. Egypt: Gift of the Nile

4. Geography North East Africa (crossroads of three continents)
Nile River
3000 BC TO 2012
Very earliest settlement begin in 5000 BC

5. Geography- “The Gift of the Nile”
The Nile made it possible to farm in the desert region.
Center of Egyptian economics and culture
Annual, predictable flooding irrigates and replenishes the soil.
Gives Egypt consistent annual harvest.
Sometimes called the “Black Lands” for its rich soil. Red Lands are the desert that runs on either side of the Nile.
When invasions occurred
they would come over land.

6. ****During the winter months, snow fell in Ethiopia, where the Nile begins in the mountains. In the spring, when the snow melted, the flood-waters rose to cover the surrounding “floodplains” at the bottom of the Nile Valley, in Egypt. When the Nile finally retreated a month later, it left a thick layer of silt—fertile farmland. This made Egypt the breadbasket of the ancient world.

7. An Outline of Egyptian Civilization (ca. 5,000-30 BC)

8. History
Old Kingdom
3100 BC King Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt
Monarchs were very powerful and considered divine.
Nine distinctive periods and numerous dynasties

9. When things went bad, it was believed to have been due to the subjects not obeying the god's representative on earth.
Pharaoh “Great House”—Theocracy/Dynasties
Pharaohs would appoint a “vizier” or steward of the land, and would be responsible for the government bureaucracy.
Egypt had 42 provinces, each with a governor.

10. Government: Pharaohs- God Kings
Ruled by Pharaohs who were considered God- Kings
Theocracy is established as form of government
(a system of government in which priests
rule in the name of God or a god)

11. Economy Agriculture - farming
Industry - businesses that produce a particular kind of goods or services, ex: cloth
Trade – exchanging goods

12. Religion
Religion- Beliefs about death: “Cult of the Dead” – Polytheistic
Burial practices: Mummification
Belief in two bodies: physical and spiritual (Ka) and they needed each other, even after death.

13. Pyramids (Old Kingdom)
Tombs to honor the pharaoh
Cities of the Dead: The pyramids are just part of the complex overall burial site.
Buried with many (sometimes, thousands of items); the discovery of King Tut’s tomb is important because it was intact!
The pyramids are an engineering marvel

14. Size: tallest structure on earth for 43 centuries/ covers 13 football fields
Complexity: 2 million precisely cut 2-ton blocks

15. Society Stratified Society :
Royal family followed by upper class, followed by middle Class (Merchants and artisans) and then the lower classes ( Peasant farmers and unskilled laborers)
Slavery later became a major source of labor

16. Inventions and Achievements

17. Inventions and Achievements
Writing system of hieroglyphics, used papyrus
Use of Chariots
Written numbers
geometry
first to use stone columns
calendar for flooding cycle
advanced medicines
First to create solar calendar