Gift of the NileGift of the NileGeography of Ancient Egypt

Nile River

Longest River (begins near the equator, and flows to the Mediterranean Sea)

Southern part of the Nile has cataracts (or waterfalls)

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Nile Delta

The Nile flows North

Upper and Lower Nile

Delta is the fertile land at the river’s mouth where the Nile dumps into the sea.

Floods every summer left silt.

Red Land, Black LandBlack land refers to the fertile soil near the Nile.

Red land is the desert away from the Nile’s

floodplain

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Can you find the difference in my picture between the fertile land and the desert

surrounding it?

Regular flooding (look for the ibises)

Farming Technology

dug irrigation canals

Shaduf spread the water over the field

Agricultural Techniques

Egyptian Crops: first to ground wheat into flour and make bread

Wove flax to make linen

Houses of mud and straw...difference between rich and poor. Poor people hung out on the roof; they even slept outside.

Climate: 8 mo. sunny/hot, 4 mo. sunny/cooler

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Copper was used for tools (6000 BC), later needed to use iron for stronger weapons

gold mined (in Nubia) and minerals (in Sinai)

Mined precious stones

turquoise

lapis lazuli

Mining

Use of the Nile

Water

Food

Silt (deposited after the floods)

Travel for bartering

Travel north by the current

Travel south by the wind