Ancient Nile Geography Essay

719 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Significance of the Nile to egyptian civilization

The Nile greatly impacted Ancient Egypt and its civilization. The Nile was surrounded by deserts which helped keep Ancient Egyptians safe from outside invasions. They had flood seasons which provided them with food. Lastly, they had the river, which served as a means of transportation for them. The geography and seasons of the Nile influenced Ancient Egypt, and without these three key factors, or with different ones, Ancient Egypt and its civiliazation would have been very different than it is.
The Nile’s geography impacted Ancient Egypt and its civilization. There were the deserts surrounding the Nile, the Sea, and the Nile River itself. To the east and west of the Nile there were deserts that could help protect the Ancient Egyptians and prevent …show more content…

They went by river using boats, and dependent on the direction they were traveling they needed to use a different style boat. The Nile River flowed south to north because northern Egypt had a lower elevation than southern Egypt. When a boat was traveling upstream, or against the current smaller boats were used to pull larger boats. When boats were traveling downstream, with the current, they typically went with just oars, and no smaller boats pulling them along (Document C). Food was probably one of the main items being pulled by the tugboats and sailboats, along with popular trade items. One of the trade items could include silk. The boats went four knots during flood season and even slower the rest of the year (Document C). Given that the Nile River is the world’s longest river traveling from one city to another and back at such a slow speed would have taken a long time, and was likely not an occupation that only occurred during the flood season. The Nile River itself, again contributed to the ways of life in Ancient Egypt, as a source of transportation from one location to another. Geography was the major factor in what helped to shape Ancient Egypt. The geography of the Nile affected three things in particular, protection, agriculture and food, and transportation. The deserts surrounding the Nile helped prevent invasions from outside Ancient

Show More
Related

  • How Did the Geographic Features of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia Impact Civilization Development?

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.

    Read More

  • How The Nile Shaped Ancient Egypt

    449 Words  | 1 Pages

    The first way that the Nile shaped Ancient Egypt was through population distribution. According to document A, the map of Ancient Egypt, a lot of people lived among the Nile. But a majority lived by the delta. Living among the Nile and by the delta gave people fresh drinking water, good farmland, and ways of trading and transportation. The Red Land was land desert area that protected

    Read More

  • The Nile River Shaped Ancient Egypt Research Paper

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the ways that the Nile shaped Egypt was through economy. According to document A, the Nile’s location was perfect for trade and interaction with other nearby ancient civilizations such as Mesopotamia and the Indus

    Read More

  • The Nile River's Impact On Ancient Egypt

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Nile River helped shape Ancient Egypt into the civilization we know of today. There were a lot of contributing factors that the Nile had on Egypt. For example, the Nile allowed for transportation between the surrounding cities. The Nile River could be navigated all year long, and this was a way that the cities could communicate. Egypt is located in Northeastern Africa and has the Libyan and Arabian deserts surrounding the river. Without the river, Egypt would have remained a desert and not been transformed into the civilization that we know it as. The Nile River was truly considered “the gift of Egypt” because the Nile economically, socially, and spiritually provided support for Egypt; without the Nile, Egypt would have remained a desert

    Read More

  • Ap Human Geography Research Paper

    455 Words  | 1 Pages

    ​The Nile River has been very important for the Egyptian and Nubian civilization. The Nile River was important for Egyptian agriculture and transportation. The Egyptian was able to use the Nile to bring water to their crops. This system is call irrigation. Because of irrigation, they were able to grow crops such as papyrus, which was then use to write and record information. Another way the Nile River was use for

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On Ancient Egypt

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Was it a gift or a curse? The Nile is the world's longest river at 4,160 miles. Of that total, approximately 660 to 700 miles of the Nile are actually in Egypt. It is one of the four most important river civilizations in the world. Land in Egypt was called Black Land (representing life) and Red Land (representing danger). For Egyptians, the Nile meant the difference between life and death. Today, we know that the Nile influenced ancient Egypt in many areas of life such as providing food, shelter and faith to the people. Specific areas dealing with settlement location, agricultural cycle, jobs, trade, transportation and spiritual beliefs will prove the case.

    Read More

  • Comparing Gilgamesh Epic, Nile-Documents, And Hymn

    1771 Words  | 4 Pages

    Conscious of the geographical region, Egyptians settled around the Nile, as the Nile provided substance (agriculture, irrigation, trading routes, etc.). The Egyptians noticed that the Nile would flood regularly, and exploited this natural flooding by building an irrigation system to support their agriculture, as well as their society. “Hymn to the Nile” depicts this prosperous age of agriculture, “Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples.” ("Ancient History Sourcebook: Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 BCE."). However, the Nile might have contributed to the eventual collapse of ancient Old Kingdom Egyptian civilization. The Nile partially destroyed the society that it had once nurtured. A series of low or high floods over the course of a few years immensely impacted their agriculture, which in turn created epidemics of famine and civil unrest. The Egyptian civilization eventually prospered once more, only centuries later and with new social

    Read More

  • Ancient Mesopotamia Dbq

    730 Words  | 2 Pages

    The locations of both of these civilizations has guided them through survival and existence. Ancient Egypt was located near the Nile River, which produced a fertile area in the middle of a desert. The people relied on this sector for two effects, which were food and water and the environment

    Read More

  • How Did Ancient Egypt Influence Western Culture

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ancient Egypt is considered to be one of the most significant eras in history, due to its lengthy existence and its overwhelming contributions to the development of western civilization. You could say that Egypt provided the building blocks for Greek and Roman culture, and through them, influenced all of Western tradition. Today Egyptian imagery, concepts, and perspectives are found everywhere; you will find them in architectural forms, on money, and in our day to day lives. We are able to distinguish various elements of its culture that played a key role in its development, such as agriculture, architecture, religion, and government to name a few. Egypt 's impact on later cultures was and still is immense.

    Read More

  • Ancient Egypt - Land of the River

    1685 Words  | 4 Pages

    "All of Egypt is the gift of the Nile." It was the Greek historian Herodotus who made that observation. The remarkable benefits of the Nile are clear to everyone, but through history he was the first to talk about it and consider its fascination. Through history, the Nile played a major role in the building of civilizations. The first civilizations to appear in history started on a river valley or in a place where resources are numerous and example of these are in India where Indus river is found and Tigris where Euphrates is found and many other places (cradles of civilization).

    Read More

  • Geography and its Effect in Ancient Civilizations

    682 Words  | 2 Pages

    In ancient civilizations, geography affected them in so many ways, like the climate, resources, and the landscape that they use. The climates affect them because monsoons were offend common that brought heavy rain and wind to the area. The mountains provided them with protection against invasions, but the mountains were also used for trading with other to get the resources that they needed.

    Read More

  • Egypt: The Gift Of The Nile

    482 Words  | 1 Pages

    The flooding surges of the land, and leaves behind water for the people, and fertile land, which can be used for agriculture. The impact the Nile has on Egypt during the ancient times and present are consierably apparent. The influence the Nile has is so extensive, that even the speech is transposed. For example, "To go north" in the Egyption language is the same as, "to go down stream"; "to go south" the same as "to go upstream." Also, the term for a "foreign country" in Egypt would be used as "highland" or "desert", because the only mountains or deserts would be far away, and foreign to them. The Nile certainly had an exceptional influence on Egypts, both lifestyle and thinking.The Nile also forced a change on the political system and ruling in Egypt.

    Read More

  • The Nile River-Egypt

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nile River is arguably one of the most important water sources in the world and has an extremely rich history dating back thousands of years. Without the Nile, the ancient Egyptian civilization would have never existed. Egypt is basically a whole lot of sand and not much else, except they have the Nile River flowing through it, on it’s way to the Mediterranean sea. The ancient Egyptians lived along the Nile River and it provided them with abundant water, food (fish) and the opportunity to develop agriculture along it’s banks. The Nile River was also used for transportation and trade with other regions because land travel was more difficult than floating on the river. The Ancient Egyptians were at the mercy of the seasonal flooding and droughts but learned to work within the natural system of the River and weather cycles (Carnegie Museum of Natural History). Modern people, however were more interested in conquering nature, rather than living in harmony with it.

    Read More

  • Egypt: The Gift Of The Nile

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Egypt is known as the gift of the Nile, but why well that is what this paper is all about. For starters Egypt would not be the place it is today without the Nile it would be reduced to a dry uninhabitable desert. The Nile provides water to the entire land and as we all know water is a necessity for all life to exist. Another thing that the Nile supplies is silt, this silt is full of nutrients that makes farming not only possible but actually a lot easier than it is here in the states . The Nile also makes trade with nearby cities and towns possible so supplies are never short.

    Read More

  • The Importance of the Nile to Ancient Egypt

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nile played an important role in the life of the ancient Egyptians. It makes life in the deserts of Egypt possible. It provided drinking water, a source of irrigation for crops, and most importantly the fertile soil used to grow crops. Without the Nile River it would have been difficult for Egyptian civilizations to survive. The Nile provided the crucial resources needed by a growing civilization. It caused all the ancient Egyptian communities to develop alongside the river. It also created a way of transportation of goods and people. This caused the development of boats and other water traveling methods.

    Read More

More about Ancient Nile Geography Essay

Open Document