Ancient Egypt’s farming system compared with Mesopotamia
Ancient Egyptians had an easier life compared to the other ancient civilizations because of their reliable agriculture system. Geography played a big role, especially in farming. Due to geography, Mesopotamia and Egypt had different farming methods, weathers, environment, and flooding seasons. In fact, Egypt’s great farming system led them to have better conditions to farm than Mesopotamia because of flooding, the rivers and irrigation and the farming tools that they used. Economy, crops, flooding, and the weather varied between Mesopotamia and Egypt. Geography, flooding seasons, different farming tools, and methods led Egypt to have a better agriculture system than Egypt.
The difference between geographies, which includes the environment, was the main factor that the farming was different in Mesopotamians and Egyptians. Flooding influenced farming in Mesopotamia and Egypt. However, flooding helped Egypt but it influenced badly in Mesopotamia (Grigg, p22). Egypt is settled on the world’s longest river, the Nile, which flows from south to north because of the geography of land. Unlike Mesopotamia, Egypt had a predictable flooding seasons. Farmers, knowing when to expect floods, were able to schedule growing seasons around when crops needed water (Gill, p28). Not only did flooding help with good timing with farming, but it also provided rich soil from the flooding. The Nile River floods between June and October. After floods, there would be a fertile land along the river which Egyptians used to plant and grow things such as fruits and vegetables (Gill, p29). Flood played a big role in farming and growing crops in Egypt.
On the contrary, growing crops were more difficult for M...
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The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt developed into successful civilizations. One civilization the Egyptians developed was in the Nile River valley. Based off the "Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ" packet, "Ancient Egypt was an advanced civilization in many areas including religion, architecture, transportation, and trade. Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations that developed a form of government as well as organized people in political states." Based on the documents, Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful and advanced civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily.
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
The Egyptians had three four-month seasons (Doc B). The seasons were flooding (Akhet), planting (Peret) and harvesting (Shemu). The Nile set the Egyptian calendar and the agricultural cycle for farmers’ work activity and crop growth. Several occupations depended on the Nile River (Doc C). Sailors, boat builders, fishermen and farmers depended on the river transport to market crops and make money. The Egyptians used sailboats, barges and tugs for transportation and trade (Doc C). The Nile was like the superhighway of ancient Egypt. It helped them move crops and goods up and down the river and sell beyond their local market. Nothing could happen without the Nile.
The Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia grew up to be successful civilizations. The surroundings of where they are located assisted them in survival. Although their lifestyles were different, both civilizations became successful in their own ways. Finally, their similar belief was a very helpful guidance when their rulers governed. Without these factors, the two civilizations might not have been
Egypt and Mesopotamia were two of the world’s earliest city-based civilizations, creating the basis for Middle Eastern and Western history. Both Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations existed on the banks of major rivers. While Egyptian civilization thrived along the Nile, Mesopotamia settled between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Although they shared this characteristic, it was also the cause of many of their differences in political systems, religions, and social stability.
One reason why I think Egypt was more unified, was the gift of the Nile. In my personal opinion people are products of their environment. The Nile, was one element that made living for a large population possible. The laid back atmosphere led the people to come together to create simple, but efficient ways of fertilizing the ground; furthermore, the fertile rich area allowed prosperity in crops and gave everyone piece of mind that they were not going to starve. (text, 73) On the other hand, Mesopotamia’s two rivers the Tigris and Euphrates, required people to create ways of irrigation to make the land more fertile for crops. (text, 59) The overall view of Mesopotamia’s greed arose from the possibility of loosing crops due to the floods. (text, 59) In other words, the land did not provide a great guara...
Although the kings of both lands were closely tied to religious institutions they had very different responsibilities to their people because of the culture of their location. The major point that differentiates Mesopotamia and Egypt is their location. The fact that Egypt was located in the most productive area of ancient times caused Egyptian pharaohs to focus more on their internal concerns, rather than gain new territories. The idea of Ma’at played a big role in the way of the pharaohs ruling over Egypt. Instead of expanding, they were more worried about having harmony and peace within the people, and keeping the balance of ma’at.
The Egyptian and Mesopotamian religion and society were similar, but their government/leadership was different. Religion in Egypt and Mesopotamia were very similar because both faiths were polytheistic and had priestly authority. Both cultures had powerful priests, both had a belief of an afterlife, and religion was part of their daily lives. Both societies had similar rigid social classes, relied on slavery; both also had a religion which played an important role in their daily lives. Although, their societies were very common, they still had some differences in government. The Egypt, the government was a theocracy, whereas the government in Mesopotamia was run by a monarchy. Despite their similarities, the differences between these two civilizations were most likely a result of unique geographical and topographical conditions.
In the first civilization, both Mesopotamia and Egypt relied on a hunter-gatherer economic system, during that time, every country in the world strived on it. Mesopotamia had rich soil for agriculture, but experiences floods. For the Mesopotamians, these floods would destroy major cities, but for the Egyptians it would keep the soil rich all year long without the damage that the Mesopotamians had experienced. With the rich soil foods were plentiful around the farm lands, which gave both countries the chance to establish largely dense areas, like what we now know as a city-state. The Nile River also served as a defense for the Egyptians they enjoyed centuries of tranquility and peace in which they used to develop peaceful development of their civilization. For the Mesopotamians, this wasn’t the case.
to 2650 B.C., changed his name to the more commonly known Zoser. It was Zoser
Agriculture- farming in Egypt was completely depended on the Nile River. If you were to go a couple miles farther away from the Nile River you would see nothing but bone dry desert so the Nile was very important to the Egyptians. Flooding season lasted from June to September, depositing a layer of silt beside the river. After the flooding season was over growing season lasted from October to February Egypt had very little rain fall so farmers made canals and ditches to the field.
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt began to develop circa 3,000 B.C. Located near rivers, the lands offered fertile soil and an excess of crops that drew in many people. As more people arrived, the small settlements flourished into large, thriving civilizations. Many aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, such as their cities, their strongly organized government, and their religion, greatly contributed to the success of these two civilizations.
The Mesopotamian geography affected their society because Mesopotamia was located on an open plain without protection from foreign intrusions. Egypt, on the other hand, was centered on the Nile River ad protected by natural boundaries. This allowed Egypt?s kingdom for prosper and last for thousands of years. Mesopotamia was not considered a nation or country, it was considered a region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that established a number of highly organized city-states. Since each city-state was independent there was no capital of Mesopotamia.
Providing extremely fertile soil is one, if not the most important, roles the Nile River played in the life of the ancient Egyptians. By providing fertile soil, the Nile made it easy for cities and civilizations to grow alongside the banks of the river. This fertile soil comes from the annual flooding of the Nile. This replenishes the top soil with silt deposits that hold much needed nutrients for crops to grow. Ancient Egyptians developed highly complex irrigation methods to maximize the effect of the Nile waters. When the Nile overflows in mid summer, Egyptians divert the waters through the use of canals and dams. As the water seeped into the farm land, rich deposits of silt ensured a good harvest for the year. This allows the civilizations of Egyptians to grow enough food to feed the community. Without the annual flooding of the Nile, Egyptians would have a very difficult time growing necessary amount food to sustain life. Most of the land in the Egyptian nation is dry desert. Very little rain falls year round here. The river provides the needed water to grow the crops as well as provide drinking water for the people. Th...
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.