Download Location and Physical Features

Location and Physical Features
• 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
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
• Challengers eventually arose that
overthrew the First Dynasty