Download World History Chapter 2 Section 3

World History Chapter 2
Section 3
Kingdom of the Nile
Geography
• Without the Nile river there would not have
been an Egyptian civilization
• Dessert protected Egypt from invasion
• It also limited settlement
• Yearly Flood – soaked land and deposited silt?
• Egyptians built dikes, reservoirs and irrigation
ditches to control the Nile
Two Regions
• Upper Region and Lower Region
• Upper Egypt – from the first cataract in the Nile
to within 100 miles of the Mediterranean Sea
• Cataract - waterfall
• Lower Egypt – delta region where the Nile
empties into the Mediterranean Sea
• Delta – triangle shaped marsh area of land
formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of some
rivers
• 3100 B.C. – King of Upper Egypt – King Menes,
united both upper and lower regions
• Founded the first capital at Memphis – site
where Nile empties into delta
• Nile helped to unify Egypt as a transportation
and communication network and a trade
route
Kingdom’s of Egypt
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Old Kingdom – 2575 – 2130
Middle Kingdom – 1938 – 1630
New Kingdom – 1539 – 1075
Power was passed from one family to the next
which kept the land united
• The ancient Egyptian sculpture called The
Sphinx is also located on the Giza plateau, and
was probably carved at the request of the 4th
dynasty pharaoh Chephren or Khafre. The
statue is carved out of the native bedrock, and
has the body of a lion and (so is believed)
Pharaoh Chephren's face. Later the Sphinx
became associated with the Egyptian god
Harmakhis.
Old Kingdom
• Kings – who were later called Pharaohs,
organized a strong central state
• Key in government and state – people
believed he was a god
• Absolute power – owned and ruled all land in
the kingdom
• Also seen as human – expected to behave
morally and Pharaohs were judge for there
deeds
• Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom took pride in justice
• Used bureaucracy – system of government that
includes different functions and levels of
authority
• Vizier – chief minister – supervised business of
the government
• Headed various departments – tax, farming,
irrigation
• Thousands of scribes followed his orders
• Great Pyramids – Old Kingdom built the great
Necropolis’ / cemeteries
• Giza – location of the greatest pyramids
• Tombs inside of pyramids were where the dead
would live for eternity
• Believed in an afterlife – preserved dead rulers
and gave them everything they would need in
their new lives
• Pyramids took a long time to build, so most rulers
started building them when they took power
Middle Kingdom
• Marked by power struggles, crop failures, and the cost
of building pyramids led to collapse of Old Kingdom –
so not very well financially
• Turbulent Period – Nile did not rise as it used to
• Corruption and rebellions were common
• Some progress – drainage projects at delta made more
farm land
• Egyptian armies also controlled gold rich Nubia / Kush
• Trade continued with Middle East and Mediterranean
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1700 B.C.
Hyksos invaded and took over the Nile delta
Little conflict between people and new rulers
Introduced horse drawn chariot
Hyksos impressed with Egyptian culture
Adopted Egyptian customs, beliefs, and names
After 100 years of Hyksos rule, new Egyptian
leaders emerged
New Kingdom
• Empire grew 1450 B.C. it stretched to Syria
and the Euphrates
• First Female Ruler
• Hatshepsut – exercised all rights of a Pharaoh
• Encouraged trade to Mediterranean
• Thutmose III – stepson – great military leader
and stretched borders farther than ever
• Ramses II – ruled for 66 years
• Best known, as he boasted about himself on
monuments – some may not have been true
• Fought many battles against the Hittites to the North
• Signed a peace treaty with them – first such document
known to have survived
• Egypt conquered Nubia – this gave them gold, ivory,
cattle and slaves
• Ramses II – used gold from Nubia to pay his charioteers
Decline
• 1100 B.C.
• Invaders – Assyrians and Persians conquered
the Nile region
• in 332 B.C the last dynasty of the Nile ended
as the Greeks took control of the area