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Egypt has often been called “the gift of the Nile”, and with good reason. The Nile, the longest river in the world,13 winds its way north from the mountains in east central Africa on up to the Mediterranean Sea. Every year (until more sophisticated dams and irrigation sluices were built in the mid-19th century), rainfall in the tropical belt and the summer monsoons of Ethiopia14 caused the Nile to flood.
The maximum territorial extent of Egypt
As it flowed, it picked up rich soil from central Africa and deposited it on the banks of its valley in Egypt, and its delta at the Mediterranean. This produced a layer of excellent topsoil which gave the ancient Egyptians their agriculture and thus their life. It is because of this fertile mud that the Egyptians called their country Kemet, “Black Land” (to contrast it with Deshret, “Red Land”, the desert which surrounded it), and why in Egyptian magic and symbolism, black is not a color of death, but of life.
People sometimes say that the ancient Egyptian civilization endured without much change for more than three thousand years. This is only partially true because, in fact, Egyptian ways of life, philosophy, religion, language, and art changed considerably over time. However, the ancient Egyptian culture retained its identity and general character to a remarkable degree over the course of its history a situation due in part to Egypt’s favorable and secure location.
Essentially a river oasis, the country was bordered by deserts to the west and east, by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and by the first cataract of the Nile at Aswan in the south. Egyptians were not isolated, however. Situated in the northeastern corner of Africa, Egypt was a center for trade routes to and from western Asia, the Mediterranean, and central Africa
Life in the Nile Valley and in the broader Nile Delta was punctuated by the fairly predictable rhythm of the annual flood of the Nile between July and October, which was caused by heavy monsoon rains far south in Ethiopia. When the waters receded, depositing rich soils on the fields, planting and harvesting followed. The growing time was followed by a dry season of low Nile water until the floods rose again the next year. The Egyptians believed the inundation was a gift of the gods, and its regular appearance strengthened their confidence in a divinely regulated cycle of death and life.
Historians divide the history of ancient Egypt into the following periods: Prehistory (up to ca. 3100 B.C.), the Archaic Period (ca. 3100-2650 B.C.), the Old Kingdom (ca. 2650-2150 B.C.), the Middle Kingdom (ca. 2040-1640 B.C.), the New Kingdom (ca. 1550-1070 B.C.), the Late Period (ca. 712-332 B.C.), and the Ptolemaic (Hellenistic) and Roman Periods (332 B.C.-A.D. 395). At these times of prosperity the kings initiated numerous building projects and sent out expeditions to extend Egypt’s borders and expand trade routes. During the so-called First, Second, and Third Intermediate Periods (ca. 2150-2040 B.C., ca. 1640-1550 B.C., and 1070-712 B.C.), the land was politically fragmented, often reverting to local rule in Upper and Lower Egypt.
List of Ancient Egyptian Sites
The falcon-headed god, Horus, the God of Kings
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