The Nile: Important Elements To The Egyptian Way Of Life

The Nile was a crucial element to the Egyptian way of life because it influenced settlement patterns, religion and economics in many different ways. This river, not only provided the Egyptians with security, but with ambition.

The people of Ancient Egypt settled along the Nile in two major parts, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt. Lower Egypt was the place where most settlements were found and we can infer that was because the ground was vastly fertilized. In Document A, we see the settlement patterns of the Ancient Egyptian people in relation to the Nile. Where the land is more fertile and where we see tributaries, there are more settlements. This not only provided the citizens with greater amounts of fertilized land, but provided them with trading

The waterway also provided for a means of travel. When the Nile would flood, it would fertilize the ground, then making wonderful farming soil. If there was good soil, they had more trading opportunities because the crops were better and there were more of them. The Nile also provided the Egyptians with trading routes. The people could travel to any and every other settlement via boats. In Document B, we can read about the Nile’s flood cycle. The season referred to as, “Akhet” is the time in which the fields are entirely covered in water. This season lasts for about 5 months and gives farmers a time to contribute to the government and pay off their public-labor tax. They did this by working to repair the canals and quarrying. Those who were not farmers, also played a huge role in the economic success of Ancient Egypt. These jobs included, rowers, bowmen and people who loaded the ships. In Document C, we see a picture of what we can assume are Egyptians traveling downstream to another settlement with the intent of trading. Their boats appear to be transporting lumber and boxes of crops or some other type of trade

Both of these civilizations were extremely innovative and learned to embrace the problems around them and made something utterly astonishing. The major geographical happening that they had in common was a flooding river. Though it was the same problem, the two civilizations went about it different ways. The Indus River Valley civilization chose to build their buildings and homes on elevated structures so the river could simply flow beneath them, still doing its job of fertilizing the land. Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, chose to build canals that directed the water and determined how much would reach each