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Social importance of Nile to old Egypt
River civilizations in the ancient world ch 2 sec 4
Social importance of Nile to old Egypt
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Ross Elder
Mr. Reagan
Ancient Civ
Question #4
12/18/13
Water was essential to all people of ancient civilizations. It was something they would depend on year in and year out. This was a big development because people learned how to use their surroundings (water) to their advantage. The reason that farming grew is because of the fertile soil. Rivers were the biggest part in how early people lived. Further into the paper I will explain the agriculture, water source, and the transportation within the Nile River, the Huang He (Yellow) River, and the Indus River.
The longest river in the world still to this day stretching 4,160 miles, the Nile, was the first river civilizations lived off of a major water source. The one thing that surprises everyone about this river is that it flows north not south. First, the agriculture was brought to the two civilizations on the Nile (Egypt and Nubia) by the Sudanic cultivators and herders. Egyptians and Nubians gathered all of the necessary materials for farming from Mesopotamians. They depended on the flood season deeply because of the food and ri...
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 need for a steady supply of water affected the technological developments of ancient societies in a number of ways. The first is that it affected the placement and structure of ancient cities and structures as shown in Source 8 (44), 9 (45), and 11 (46). Source 8, Sima Qian’s Description of the Building of the Zhengguo Canal, ca. 100 B.C.E., discusses the rivalry between the Han and the Chinn, which were both located along the Ching River for easy access to water. Source 9, Suetonius’s Description of the Water Projects Undertaken by Emperor Claudius (r. 41-54 C.E.), talks of how Claudius filled his city with water by using an aqueduct and making a drainage canal, completely modifying the city and the usage of water in it. Source 11, Frontinus’s Discussion of Rome’s Water System, tells of making extraordinarily high arches to get water to the upper parts of Rome so that the rich districts could simplify the process of getting water. Next is that it caused larger and more complex structures to be built which we can see by comparing different sources, for example Source 3 (43) and Source 6 (43) the technological advancement is easily seen, the Shaduf only allowed on...
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.
Increased agricultural production brought on by early irrigation techniques used on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers helped to suppor...
Do you know the name of the mighty, 4,160-mile-long river that runs through eastern Africa? If you guessed the Nile, then yes, you are correct. But other than setting the record of being the longest natural river in the world, the Nile has been of great importance to the people of Ancient Egypt. In fact, without the Nile River, Ancient Egypt as we know it today would never have existed! Therefore, the Nile River shaped life in Ancient Egypt through economy, religion, and government.
The Nile and Indus River Valley civilizations were both unique civilizations in their own way in comparison. Yet despite being separated by thousands of miles there are similarities in these two ancient civilizations. It is seen that amongst ancient civilizations, rivers are fundamental for them to prosper and provide for a relatively stable society for which a people can grow and develop. There are general similarities with pinpoint differences as well as general differences with pinpoint similarities. Both civilizations have left their influence on human civilization and history, with their unique characteristics of their religion, way of life, social classes, cultures, technological advancements, government systems, rulers and notable
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.
The Lotus And The Nile The blue lotus (Nymphaea caerulea) belongs to the Nymphaeaceae (Water-Lily) family. The blue lotus has several common names including: Egyptian lotus, blue water lily, and sacred lily of the Nile. It should not be confused with the "blue lily" or Agapanthus africanus, a plant of an entirely different genus (Anonymous, 1999). Be careful also not to confuse it with the Nymphaea lotus, which is the "white lotus".
"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).
Agriculture was a necessary means of sustaining a healthy society in all types of civilizations across the globe. Fishing and agriculture were the primary means for subsistence to the Moche. The Moche civilizations was w world plagued with droughts and El Nino” (Fagan, 1999, p.3). The need for consistent yields from the crops meant that the people could maintain their economic lifestyles and continue to flourish and survive. It is interesting that the irrigation systems that sustained
Approximately 5500 years ago four of the worlds' most prestigious ancient river civilizations had emerged. Our world has been left in astonishment and awe wondering how these civilizations were developed. Egypt and Mesopotamia were the first ancient river civilizations to create cities and their own ways of living. Society, geography, and religion played an enormous role in the development of the ancient cities. Although there is evidence of early Sumerian contact with the Egyptians, Egypt's civilization was largely self-generated and its history and cultural patterns differed from 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 Euphrates is a river in the Fertile Crescent, which plays an important role in the development of urban civilization. This is because the Euphrates river flooded every year, but at the same time, the flooding also brought rich nutrients; thus, the land of the areas near this river was extremely fertile and suitable for cultivation, which means in ancient when farming technologies were not advanced, numerous humans could be raised by the fertile land, in which case, it was easy to flourish the powerful civilization. Therefore, the Euphrates river exerted a profound ramification on the advancement of urban civilization.
were build near the river or ocean. This could bring to their city a lot of advantages. In the early year, of course people didn’t have railroad, freeway or airplane, so the water surface was very important for transportation, communicate with the other city, food source such as fish, and defense purpose… Before 500BC, the most transportations of human were horses, wagon, chariot or boat, and the fastest and easiest way to go to one place to another was boat. The ancient people were used water surface as the source for import, export goods around their region and develop the economic of their city. They also used the water to defense or invade other city by built up the strong navy.
The Nile, is the longest river in the world, and is located in northeastern Africa. Its principal source is Lake Victoria, in east central Africa. The Nile flows north through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea, with a total distance of 5584 km. From its remotest headstream in Burundi, the river is 6671 km long. The river basin covers an area of more than 3,349,000 sq km. Not only is the Nile considered a wonder by Herodotus, but by people all over the world, due to its impotance to the growth of a civilization.The first great African civilization developed in the northern Nile Valley in about 5000 BC.