3.+Ancient+Egypt+and+Nubia

2/21/12 Culture of the Ancient Egyptians

Most of what we know of the everyday life of the Egyptians is based on paintings that cover the walls of tombs and temples. These paintings show royalty and ordinary people involved in all aspects of life. Written records also tell us much about their lives. The Ancient Egyptians were busy and hard-working people. They also had a sense of fun and a love of beauty.

1. Egyptian Society and Social Classes 2. Ancient Egyptian Astronomy 3. Hieroglyphic Typewriter 4. Hieroglyphic Fun Guide 5. Women in Ancient Egypt

2/20/12 1. Pyramid Challenge - Pyramid Builder Game 2. Nova Online Adventure - The Pyramids 3. Journey to the Afterlife 4. Egyptian Afterlife 5. Virtual Tours on Egypt Voyager
 * Egyptian Religion **

2/13/12 
 * Egypt's Powerful Kings and Queens **

1. Game - Adventure in Egypt: Escape from the Mummy's Tomb! 2. Pharaoh - Lord of the Two Lands 3. Mummy Maker 4. Pharaoh's Timeline 5. Ancient Egypt Kings and Queens with a list of dynasties

2/7/12
 * The Geography of the Nile **


 * The Course of the Nile **

The Nile is the world’s longest river. It flows north from its sources in central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea for more than 4,000 miles. This is more than the distance across the United States.

The Nile has two main sources. The Blue Nile rises in the highlands of the present-day country of Ethiopia and races down to the desert in thundering torrents. The White Nile is calmer. It begins deep in central Africa and flows northward through swamps. The two rivers meet at what is today the city of Khartoum in the present-day country of Sudan. There, the Nile begins its journey through desert lands to the Mediterranean Sea.


 * The Nile through Ancient Nubia: ** From Khartoum northward, the Nile makes two huge bends, forming an S shape. The northern tip of the S is at the city of Aswan in Egypt. Along this 1,000 mile stretch of the Nile was a land called Nubia.

The Nubian section of the Nile contained six rock-filled rapids called cataracts. Between the First and Second Cataracts was Lower Nubia. In this region, the desert and granite mountains lined the riverbanks, leaving very little farmable land. Because it rarely rained in Lower Nubia, people had to live close to the Nile for their water supply.

Farther south, between the Second and Sixth Cataracts, lies the area that was known as Upper Nubia. In this region, rain does fall, so people could farm in the summer and fall. But the farmland was in a very narrow strip, no more than 2 miles wide on each side of the river.


 * The Nile Through Ancient Egypt: ** The ancient Egyptian section of the Nile ran for about 700 miles from the First Cataract at Aswan to the Mediterranean Sea. On its way, it passed through a narrow region called Upper Egypt. This fertile strip had an average width of around 6 miles on each side of the river. In the north, the Nile spread out to form a fertile, marshy area called Lower Egypt. Dry deserts stretched on each side of the river’s green banks.

At the end of the Nile in the north, the river split into several streams that flowed to the Mediterranean Sea. These streams formed an area shaped like a triangle and called the delta. The delta contained very fertile farmland.


 * The Gifts of the Nile: ** Every spring, far away in the highlands of Africa, waters came rushing down from the highlands. As they flowed, they brought rich, fertile soil called silt. Each spring the Nile spilled over its banks. It flooded the dry land and deposited a layer of thick silt that was ideal for farming.


 * Black Land and Red Land: ** The ancient Egyptians called their land Kemet, “the black land,” because of the dark soil left by the Nile’s floods. The timing of the floods and the height of the flood waters might be different from year to year. But unlike the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians usually did not have to worry about flash floods. Dry years were rare, but they could cause famine.

Beyond the fertile river banks lay the “red land,” the vast desert. It spread out on either side of the river. Most of the Sahara lay to the west and the part of the Sahara called the Eastern Desert lay to the east. These lands were not friendly to human life. They were useless for farming. Only those who knew the deserts well dared travel over this blistering hot land.

Yet the hostile deserts were a blessing to the Egyptians and Nubians. The hot sands shielded Egypt and Nubia from foreign attacks. This was a protection Mesopotamia did not have. The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was wide-open to the raids of outsiders. The people of Mesopotamia were constantly facing invasions. Over a period of 2,000 years, the people of ancient Egypt and Nubia faced few invasions. Yet they were not isolated. The Nile Valley provided a path for trade with Central Africa. The Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea provided access to Southwest Asia.


 * Civilizations along the Nile **

Communities appeared in the Nile delta of Lower Egypt by around 4000 B.C. The people of the delta built villages around the fertile river beds. Their homes were built of straw or of bricks and made from a mix of farming villages along the banks of the Nile.

The first Nubian communities emerged around 3800 B.C. Because farming was difficult, Nubians also fished in the Nile and hunted ducks and other birds along its banks.


 * The Growth of Trade **

The Nile was a highway for trade. Ships could float downriver because the Nile flowed north. But they could also sail upriver because the winds blew toward the south. Another trade link ran east across the desert and the Red Sea to Mesopotamia. Caravans loaded with gold, silver, copper, and fine pottery traveled the overland trade routes. Valuable goods such as cedar from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea and gold from Nubia were sold in the bazaars of Egypt’s towns.

Because of the cataracts, people could not travel through Nubia by river. Instead, the Nubians developed trade routes over land. One of these routes was through the Nile Valley. The Nubians became famous and traders of the ancient world as they carried goods from central Africa and Nubia into Egypt and southwestern Asia and back.

One Nubian caravan into Egypt had 300 donkeys. They carried ebony wood, ivory from elephant tusks, ostrich feathers and eggs, and panther skins. Another popular item was a “throw-stick,” an African version of a boomerang.