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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