Egypt

Today we took notes on Egypt to prepare us for the test next week. Here are some of the notes I took:

• the Nile river flows northward across Africa for 4,100 miles, which makes it the longest river in the world
• brings water and food to the parched desert land in which it flows through
• it flows through Egypt from distant mountains, plateaus, and lakes in present-day Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Ethiopia
• the settlements that arose became very fertile
• in Mesopotamia, the Nile river over flows every year bringing water and rich soil that allowed settlements to grow
• irrigation was used to water and help keep plants alive when it was dry
• the abundance brought by the Nile was so great that the Egyptians began to worship a god named Herodotus, "the gift of the Nile"
• when the Nile's floodwater was just a few feet below normal, the amount of fresh silt and water was greatly reduced. Many people starved
• when they were higher they could destroy home, important buildings, and precious seeds for planting
• the Nile acted as a natural barrier between Egypt and other lands, making the land Egyptians lived on very small
• the point where boulders make river travel impossible with the dangerous rapids in the Nile was called the First Cataract
• because the elevation was higher, the river in the south was called upper Egypt
• the area between the Mediterranean and the First Cataract lay very different regions
• to the north, near the sea, lower Egypt includes the Nile Delta region
• the Nile Delta region begins 100 miles before the Mediterranean Sea
• the Nile provided a good mode of transportation
• boats northbound just drifted with the current
• boats southbound hoisted a wide sail
• over time Egypt evolved from several settlements to one kingdom throughout Egypt, though to be ruled by a man names Narmer
• before there was one kingdom, Egypt was split into 2 parts; upper and lower Egypt
• The king of upper Egypt wore a tall white crown that looked like a bowling pin, the king of lower Egypt wore a red crown
• a carved piece of slate known as the Narmer plate shows Narmer wearing the crown of upper and lower Egypt, possibly used to resemble the unification of Egypt
• eventually the history of ancient Egypt would consist of 31 dynasties and span over 2,600 years
• the Egyptian god-kings known as pharohs, were though to be almost as splendid and powerful as the gods of the heavens
• Egyptians believed their kings ruled even after death, because of this, the kings tomb was more important than his palace
• kings tombs were also known as pyramids
• these pyramids were great feats of engineering, hundreds of feet, weighing over 15 tons, with millions of blocks, and spanning over 13 acres
• confidence derived from nature usually being on their side (Egyptians)
• they were religious
• polytheistic
• re- the sun god; osiris- god of the dead} both are the most important gods of Egypt
• isis- represented idea of mother/wife} most important goddess
• there was an afterlife for Egyptians