1. Egypt, Kush, and Canaan Environmental Factors in Human Settlement

2. Egypt--The Gift of the Nile  Egypt was the “bread-basket” of the ancient world  If your people were hungry, you would go to Egypt!  If you were a craftsman and needed work, you would go to Egypt!  If you had expensive goods to sell, you would go to Egypt (they were the ones with the gold, remember)

3. VOCABULARY  Geography:the physical features of an area  Topography:the surface features of a place or region, such as mountains or deserts  Vegetation:the plant life of a place or region  Delta:an area of sediment deposited at the mouth of a river

4.  Fertilization:adding food and nutrients to the soil  Papyrus:tough water plant used to make paper  Silt: fine particles of rock (clogs up canals and waterways)  Nomads:a person who moves from place to place, with no permanent home

5. Egypt and Kush --Water  The Nile  Fresh drinking water  Food source-fish/water birds  Transportation  Water for crops  Fertilization of crop land by flooding  The Mediterranean  Egypt (not Kush)  Transportation  Food source-fish/water birds

6. Egypt and Kush- topography  Deserts (Libyan, Arabian, Nubian)  Hot and dry  No vegetation  Hostile to life  Protected borders from enemies (natural barrier)  Nile River valley  Flat land for farming  Fertilization of soil/water for growing crops  Transportation  Mediterranean  Transportation  Connection to the greater ancient world

7. Egypt and Kush- Vegetation  The Nile River Valley  Water for vegetation  Crops for food and plants for medicine, baskets, tools, paper, rope  Yearly Flooding=rich silt for farming  Deserts  No vegetation/ hostile to life

8. Canaan - Water  Mediterranean Sea  To the west  Transportation/traders from other lands  Wet, fertile plains  Jordan River  Fresh water  Fish  Farmland along banks  Did not flood/ not as fertile as Nile River Valley  Sea of Galilee  Freshwater lake  Fish  Fertile land

9. Canaan -- Topography  Plains, hills, deserts, bodies of water  Mountains & deserts hardest to settle  Coastal Plains and Jordan River  Good farmland/ water  Hilly, dry land  Difficult to grow crops  Herders (not farmers)  grasslands

10. Canaan- vegetation  Hot, dry climate  Discouraged abundant plant life  Some light forest, grassland  Jordan River  Most plentiful vegetation

11. Questions on back  1.How did Ancient Egyptian settlements benefit from being surrounded by desert?  Egyptian settlements benefited because the desert acted as barriers to invasion

12.  2.Name one element of Egyptian topography  One element is a river valley OR  One element is a desert

13.  3.Canaan’s western border was…  Canaan’s western border was the Mediterranean Sea

14.  4.How is the Jordan River is different from the Nile River?  The Jordan River is different from the Nile River because it did not flood regularly, so it was not as fertile. It was also much shorter, and did not have treacherous cataracts.  (cataracts are gigantic, dangerous waterfalls-- the Nile has four)

15.  Were the people of Canaan herders or farmers? Why?  The people of Canaan were herders because the land was too hilly and dry for extensive agriculture.  (Note-Canaanites at this time worshiped many of the Mesopotamian gods and practiced human sacrifice.)

16.  Both the Jordan River and the Nile River provided food, water, and transportation to the peoples who lived nearby. The Nile, however, provided more than crops for food; it also provided plants for medicine, baskets, tools, paper, and rope. The Nile flooded regularly, leaving behind silt that fertilized its banks, making it well-suited for farming. Since the Jordan river didn’t flood, the valley wasn’t as fertile, and so its people worked as herders. Both rivers made life possible to the peoples who lived there.

17. How do you feel you did?  On the front of your handout, give yourself a letter grade -- was this an A effort? A B effort? A C effort?  Or something else? :-|