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The Egyptians were experts at trading, importing and exporting goods with various countries. Due to its geographical location, Ancient Egypt was able to obtain great success through trading and commerce. The Nile River provided many inlets into the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, these passages allowed for greater opportunities for trading and communication with neighboring countries. The use of vessels proved to be a great resource in securing the Egyptian economy with its vast amount of riches, providing the main mode of transportation for trade and travel. This paper will examine Ancient Egypt’s relation with the Nile River and the trade and commerce that secured it as one of the greatest nations in history (Baines, 2002).

The Ancient Egyptian economy was known as a command economy, by which most of the economic actives were controlled by the central bureaucracy. Under the Roman rule, public works was still a major undertaken which involved many workers and administrators to complete its inner working. Many of the canals and waterways used by the Ancient Egyptian were built by abundances of slave labor and maintained throughout Roman-Greek rule of Egypt("The ancient Egyptian economy", n.d.).

The Nile River was the backbone of Egypt’s existence and culture, giving the Egyptians a strategic advantage over their neighboring landlocked countries. The Ancient Egyptian’s relied on the Nile as a source of water for drinking and agriculture, as way of travel, and as a part of daily life. With the vast desert land on both sides of the Nile River, the horse drawn carriage made trading a slow and tedious way of transporting goods and supplies. The Egyptians were able to capitalize on this by developing navigational systems that made tr...

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... (David, 2003).

Egyptians traded goods with other countries and the Egyptian government under Roman rule controlled the trade and profit from it. Much of what the Egyptians needed they had in their own country, but wood, metals, and precious stones were imported from west Asian countries and incense, spices, and perfumes were imported. Egypt had control over most trade routes, and garrisons were stationed along them. Fortresses located at the boarders had a significant effect on trade between Egypt and other neighboring nations (David, 2003).

The Nile River was the source of Ancient Egypt’s economy and the Mediterranean was the main by which the world took notice. The river was the backbone of the Egyptian culture, supplying its people with agriculture, trade, and commerce. The Nile River gave way to the beginnings of a continuous trading community and culture.