Bellringer

• What was silt and why was it so beneficial to the Egyptian people? (page 63)

Bellringer

• How long was the Nile River in ancient Egypt? Page 62

Bellringer

• Why was the area around the Nile River good for farming?

Chapter 3 Ancient Egypt & Nubia

Section 1: The Geography of the Nile

The Course of the Nile

• Nile is the world’s longest river• Flows north from its sources in central Africa

to the Mediterranean Sea for more than 4,000 miles

• More than the distance across the U.S.

The Nile Through Ancient Nubia

• Nile makes two bends, forming an S shape• Northern tip of the S is the city of Aswan,

Egypt• Land here is called Nubia

• Nubian section of the Nile contained six rock-filled rapids called cataracts

• Rain does not fall in Lower Nubia so people must live close to Nile

• Rain does fall in Upper Nubia and people farm in the summer and fall very close to the river

The Nile Through Ancient Egypt• Ancient Egyptian section of the Nile ran for 700

miles• Nile spread out to form a fertile, marshy area

called Lower Egypt• At the end of the Nile to the north, the river split

into several streams that are shaped like a triangle and called the delta

• Delta contained very fertile farmland

The Gifts of the Nile

• Every spring, waters come from the highlands and bring rich, fertile soil called silt

• Each spring, the Nile spills over its banks• Silt was very good for farming • Egyptians praised Hapi, the god of the Nile

Black Land and Red Land• Ancient Egyptians called their land Kemet- black

land, because of the dark soil left by the Nile’s floods

• Timing of the floods and height of the flood water varied from year to year

• Egyptians did not have to worry about flash floods and dry years were rare

Black Land and Red Land Cont.

• Red land was vast desert spread out on either side of the river

• Most of this land is the Sahara Desert and were not friendly to human life because you could not farm

• Deserts protected Egypt and Nubia from foreign attacks, unlike the Mesopotamians

• Egypt was still open to trade through the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and a path through Central Africa

Civilizations Along the Nile

• Communities appeared in the Nile delta of Lower Egypt around 4000 B.C.

• People built villages around the fertile river beds

• Homes were built of straw or bricks made from a mix of mud and straw

• First Nubian communities emerged around 3800 B.C.

• Nubians also fished and hunted since farming was difficult

The Growth of Trade

• The Nile was a highway for trade• Were able to travel up and down the river

easily• Many caravans also traveled through this

region.

• Because of cataracts, people could not travel through Nubia by river

• Nubians developed trade routes over land• Nubians became famous traders of the

ancient world

Section 1 Review1. How did the Nile River affect the lives of the

early Egyptians and Nubians?Annual flooding of the Nile River left fertile land for Egyptians and Nubians to farm

2. How did trade develop in various places along the Nile?

Nile was a natural highway for Egyptian boats to sail to other African and Southwest Asian countries for trading