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Chapter 4
Ancient Egypt and Kush
Section 1: Geography & Ancient Egypt
The gift of the nile
• Geography played a key
role in the development
of the Egyptian
civilization.
• The Nile River brought
life to Egypt.
• A Greek historian called
Egypt the gift of the Nile.
Location & physical features
• The Nile is the longest
river in the world.
• It is 4,000 miles long.
– Begins in central Africa &
runs north to the
Mediterranean
• Egyptian civilization
stretched 750 miles
along the Nile.
Location & physical features
• Ancient Egypt includes two
regions:
– Upper Egypt
• Southern region
• Located upriver in relation to the
Nile’s flow
• Nile created a fertile valley in the
desert of Upper Egypt
• The fertile valley is 13 miles wide
– Lower Egypt
• Northern region
• Located down river
Location & physical features
• The Nile goes through rocky,
hilly land south of Egypt.
• This terrain caused cataracts
to form.
• The first cataract marks the
southern border of Upper
Egypt.
• The cataracts made sailing
the Nile very difficult.
Location & physical features
• In Lower Egypt, the Nile divided into several
branches that fanned out forming a delta.
The floods of the nile
• Egypt was/is mostly
desert.
• Each year, the Nile would
flood Upper Egypt in
midsummer and Lower
Egypt in the fall.
• The floods coated the
land around the rivers
with a rich silt.
The floods of the nile
• The silt from the Nile made the soil ideal for farming.
• The silt also made the land a dark color causing the Egyptians to
call their land the black land.
• They called the dry, lifeless desert beyond the river valley the red
land.
The floods of the nile
• Every year, the
Egyptians eagerly
awaited the flooding
of the Nile.
• Without the floods,
people never could
have settled in Egypt.
Civilization along the nile
• Hunter-gatherer groups
moved into the Nile Valley
around 12,000 years ago.
• They settled along the Nile
in small villages.
• Farmers in Egypt developed
an irrigation system as they
did in Mesopotamia.
Civilization along the nile
• They build basins to
collect water during the
yearly floods & to store
the resource.
• They built a series of
canals that could be used
in the dry months to
direct water from the
basins to the fields.
Civilization along the nile
• The Nile provided early Egyptian
famers with an abundance of food.
• Egyptians enjoyed a varied diet.
– Wheat, barley, fruits
– Vegetables
– Fish, geese, duck
Civilization along the nile
• The Nile also provided natural barriers that made
Egypt hard to invade.
•
•
•
•
The desert to the west was too big & harsh to cross.
To the north was the Mediterranean Sea.
The Red Sea protected Egypt in the east.
Cataracts in the Nile made it difficult for outsiders to
sail in from the south.
Civilization along the nile
• The villages grew without invasions from outsiders.
• Wealthy farmers became village leaders.
• Strong leaders gained control over several villages.
• By 3200 BC, the villages had banded together &
developed into two kingdoms.
Civilization along the nile
• The two kingdoms were:
– Lower Egypt
– Upper Egypt
Kings unify egypt
• The king of Lower Egypt
wore a red crown to
symbolize his authority.
• The king of Lower Egypt
wore a cone-shaped
white crown.
Kings unify egypt
• 3100 BC, leader named
Menes rose to power in
Upper Egypt.
• He wanted to unify Upper
and Lower Egypt.
• His armies invaded and
took control of Lower
Egypt.
Kings unify egypt
• He married a princess
from Lower Egypt to
strengthen his control
over the unified country.
• He combined both the
red and white crowns to
show his leadership over
the two kingdoms.
Kings unify egypt
• Historians consider Menes to be
Egypt’s first pharaoh.
• Menes also founded Egypt’s
first dynasty (a series of rulers
from the same family)
• He built a new capital city at the
southern tip of the Nile Delta.
Kings unify egypt
• The city was later called
Memphis.
• The first dynasty lasted about
200 years.
• Pharaohs that came after
Menes wore the double
crown to symbolize their rule
over Upper & Lower Egypt.
Kings unify egypt
• Rivals eventually
appeared & challenged
the first dynasty of Egypt.
• They took over Egypt and
established the Second
Dynasty.