Download Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile GEOGRAPHY OF THE NILE VALLEY

Ancient Kingdoms
of the Nile
GEOGRAPHY OF
THE NILE VALLEY
• If no Nile, then no Egypt
– swallowed up by the deserts
+deserts protect from invasion : )
-limit settlement : (
BLACK LAND = rich, irrigated, ~10 miles wide
RED LAND = sun-baked desert across N. Africa
+use Nile Valley for farming
Yearly Floods
• people eagerly awaited
• life-giving water
• deposits of silt
• needed to control floods
– dikes, reservoirs, irrigations ditches, etc
– store excess for dry season
Uniting the Land
• 2 regions
• Upper (south)
– From 1st cataract to about 100 miles of Mediterranean Sea
• Lower (north)
– Delta region
• King Menes united the 2 regions, 3100BC
– Used Nile as highway to link north & south
– Officials & armies could be moved via river
• Nile = Egypt world’s 1st unified state
– Served as trade route to Africa, Middle East, Mediterranean
world
OLD KINGDOM
(2700BC-2200BC)
• Government
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pharaohs organized strong centralized state
claimed divine support for rule
believed to be a god
absolute power over all land in kingdom
preserve justice & order
depend on vizier to supervise business of gov’ts various dept:
tax, farming, irrigation
– scribes carry out viziers instructions
– Ptah-hotep
• wrote “Instruction of Ptah-hotep”
• training for young officials
Pyramids
•built during this time
•still stand @ Giza
•tombs for eternity due to belief in the afterlife
•suggest size and strength of ancient Egyptian civilizatio
•VERY COSTLY
•require great planning and organization
Collapse
•power struggles
•crop failures
•cost of pyramids
MIDDLE KINGDOM
2050BC-1800BC
• turbulent period
-Nile did not rise regularly
-corruption and rebellions common
+large drainage project, more farming land
+occupied Nubia
+trade with people of Middle East & Crete
-/+Hyksos—foreign invaders, 1700BC
*Egyptians awed by horse-drawn chariots
& Egyptians mastered new military technology
*Hyksos impressed by Egyptian civilz and adopted
some of customs, beliefs, languages
NEW KINGDOM
1550BC-1100BC
• drove out Hyksos
• powerful ambitious pharaohs
• brought into greater contact with western Asia & other
parts of Africa
Powerful Rulers
•Hatshepsut, woman ruler who exercised all the
rights of a pharaoh
•Ramses II, most powerful pharaoh of NK
•after years of fighting Hittites & Egyptians signed a
peace treaty, first document known to have survived
history “shall be at peace and brotherhood forever”
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EGYPT & NUBIA
area that developed to the south of Egypt
a.k.a. the Kush
Egypt fought or traded with Nubia for centuries
under Ramses II used gold from Nubia to pay for
charioteers in army, Nubians served in Egyptian armies,
left mark on Egyptian culture
as Egypt declined, Nubia regained independence, Nubian
kings marched north, adding Egypt to their lands
Nubians saw themselves not as foreign conquerors but
as restorers of Egyptian glory, ruled Egypt like early
pharaohs respecting Egyptian traditions
Assyrians descended on Egypt & pushed Nubians back