Download Location and Physical Features

Social Studies
Agenda:
1. Welcome to Egypt!
2. Read Chapter 4, Section 1
3. Take notes
Homework:
1. Chapter 4, Section 1 Assessment p. 92 # 1-4
Location and Physical Features
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The Nile River is the longest in the world
Southern region known as “Upper Egypt”
Northern region known as “Lower Egypt”
Cataracts: narrow points of river that form
rapids
• Nile runs into the Mediterranean Sea and
forms a delta, triangle-shaped area of land
made from soil deposited by the river
The Nile Delta
The Floods of the Nile
• Nile’s floods easier to predict than those of
the Tigris and Euphrates
• Flooded Upper Egypt in mid-summer
• Flooded Lower Egypt in early fall
• Floods covered the land with rich “silt”
• Farming impossible without the regular
cycle of flooding
Civilization Develops in Egypt
• First hunter-gatherers arrive about 12,000
Y.A. (10,000 B.C.)
• By 4,500 B.C. farming begins
• Used canals to direct water to fields
• Farmers grew wheat, barley, fruits, and
vegetables
• They raised cattle and sheep
• River provided fish, geese, and ducks
Another Geographical
Advantage
• Nile has desert extending for miles on
either side
• Provided a natural barrier against invaders
• By 3,200 B.C. villages had banded
together to develop into two kingdoms
• Lower Egypt, capital Pe, red crown
• Upper Egypt, capital Nekhen, white crown
Nile River
Desert barriers
Lower Egypt
capital of Pe
Upper Egypt
capital of
Nekhen
Kings Unify Egypt
• In about 3,100 B.C. Menes becomes king
of Upper Egypt
• He invaded and took control of Lower Egypt
• He is considered to be the first pharaoh
(means “great house”)
• He also founded Egypt’s first dynasty, or
series of rulers from the same family
Menes
A New Capital
• Located at the southern tip of the Nile
delta
• The city was named Memphis
• Political and cultural center of Egypt for
centuries
End of the First Dynasty
• First Dynasty lasted about 200 years
• Rulers after Menes also wore the double
crown
• They extended territory southward along
the Nile and into southwest Asia
• Challengers eventually arose that
overthrew the First Dynasty