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People Near the Nile
The Nile River affected many ancient Egyptians in
many different ways. It helped them for many
reasons. One reason is because of their daily lives.
Back then, they didn’t having washing machines
like we do now so washing their clothes near the
Nile was an excellent idea. There were also a down
side to this too because crocodiles were in the Nile
and is very likely to destroy their clothes. Egyptians
were very scared about that but very careful. Also,
fishing helped people a ton. There was an abundant
amount of fish in the Nile. Trading areas were
everywhere near the Nile River because there’s
a lot of wind in the Nile so trading was easy.
Here’s a chart of what happens depending on the month and season.
Season
Winter to Spring
Summer to Fall
Spring to Summer
Months
November to April
July to October
May to June
What Happens
Plant
Flooding
Harvesting
Above is a picture of
how Hapy looks like.
This is a map of a trading route in Egypt
colored in orange.
Seasons
The different seasons helped Egyptians estimate what
and when to plant or harvest their crops. In the winter
to spring; from November to April, farmers plant their
seed. They had different kinds of vegetables and grains
too. They planted early because from summer to fall;
from July to October, it flooded. It was the flooding
season. Finally, after the crops are flooded and are
grown, they’ll harvest it from spring to summer; from
May to June is harvesting season. Since they have a
lot of crops, it takes a longer amount of time to harvest.
Transportation
Transportation was used a lot in the Nile. They would
travel on papyrus boats. Pharaohs and regular
Egyptians used it. Pharaohs would send officials
to every part of his kingdom. Since the Nile is on a very
mountainous surface, it goes easily from Lower Egypt to
Upper Egypt due to the elevation. Now you may be
wondering, how about Upper Egypt to Lower Egypt? Well,
there was a lot of wind in the Nile so the wind would blow
the boat and allow it to travel very effectively. Everyday
Egyptians used transportation by sending letters. Riding
down the Nile was faster than riding on a camel in Egypt
so that’s the alternative that they took. Transportation was
also used to carry goods in trades to different trading
areas. Transportation was very easy because of the Nile.
Fishing
The Nile River has an abundant amount of fishes. Some
of them are catfishes, eels, and more. Fish is eaten a lot
in ancient Egypt but there are a lot of fishes compared to
meat. Fishing is done by men and they would usually
wear just a cloth around their waist because their skin
isn’t very likely to get burned even thought their skin is
very dark. To start fishing, they need to have the correct
materials. They would have a boat and most boats were
made out of papyrus paper. Next, if you are fishing by
yourself, you’d have a pole with a hook attached to the end.
You’ll get on your boat and catch fishes one at a time with
the pole. But if you are fishing with a group of people, you
probably would like to get two boats, a net, four paddles,
and around ten to twelve people. You’d split up the number
of people and put them on each boat. The people in the
front or in the back of the boat will have to use the paddles
and the people in the middle of the boat will all control the
net. This method allows more fishes to be caught. You’ll
have to split up the amount of fishes caught as a group
and share them among each other but there is a lot for
one person.
Aftermath
After the flooding of the Nile, there is some work to be
done. Since there’s a lot of water that flooded, it turns
the soil into mud. Although you can’t use mud to grow
crops, Egyptians decided to apply a lot of water into the
mud so they can reuse the mud. It was a very
conservative and useful way to use the mud again. They
took water from the Nile to add to the mud by using a
shaduf which is a pole with a bucket attached to the end.
Next, when the plants are flooded, they are grown and
abundant. This means that they will need to harvest the
crop before the Nile River floods again. They don’t want
the river to over-flood the plants and destroy them so alot of harvesting is going to have to be done. This work
will take quite some time because there’s too much crops.
Afterlife
The Nile River is very important to Egyptians that they
even believed in a place called Field of Rushes that
appears only when you go into the afterlife. The Field of
Rushes is similar to the Nile River because Field stands
for the greenness of crops and grass around the Nile
River and Rushes relates to the sound of the Nile
swooshing around. Also, in the afterlife, people would
draw and write a lot about stuff relating to fishing on the
walls in the tombs. Some of the things that they would
draw are team members in boats fishing, fishes, and way
more. Fishing and the Nile River is very important to
Egyptians.
Hapy
Hapy the pharaoh is a person that all Egyptians believes
make the Nile River flood. This was such an important
event because it can go onto their crops and help them
grow. Water and sun is the key to a big crop and Hapy is
providing one of the essentials. The abundant amount of
crop can not only allow them to enjoy if but also trade with
others and receive something other than just a crop.
Hapy’s appearance is very unique. As a male, he wears a
skirt without a shirt to show his big, fat belly. His belly
represents the abundant amount of food that he provided
due to the Nile flooding and he had just eaten a lot of food
from the harvest. He also has a bow and arrow that he
holds and it has plants at the ends of the bow to show the
plants growing.
This is how an eel looks like that can
be caught in the Nile River.
There are many types of catfishes but
here’s how one looks like.
Below is a model of a group of fishermen.
This is a papyrus boat that Egyptians used for transportation.
Here is a picture of a man getting water using a
shaduf to mix it with mud.
This is a picture of a tomb wall filled with pictures relating
to fishing.
Table of Contents
1) People Near the Nile
2) Seasons
3) Hapy
4) Fishing
5) Transportation
6) Aftermath
7) Afterlife
This book couldn’t of had been done without the help of
the following sources:
~ Life Along the: River Nile, Jane Shuter, 2005, pg. 4, 5,
6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 20
~ Kids Discover: Pyramids, published monthly, pg.6
~ Social studies notes
Pg. 1
Pg. 2
Pg. 3
Pg. 4 - 5
Pg. 6
Pg.7
Pg. 8
About the Author
Maggie Chen lives in New York City with her parents,
sister, and brother. She goes to P.s. 126/MAT and is
12 years old. Her all- time favorite hobby is swimming
and diving. When she grows up, she wishes to help
others by becoming either a pharmacist of a nutritionist.
Introduction
The Nile River is the major river that runs through Egypt.
It is located in North Eastern Africa and runs at around
4,150 miles. Natural Barriers near the Nile River protects
it away from any invaders. This river influenced many
different Egyptians in many different ways. It helped
farmers, everyday Egyptians, Egyptians near the Nile,
and others with daily lives, trading, crops, transportation,
fishing, and more. Are you ready to explore the Nile River?
Here’s a picture of the Nile River.