Ancient Egypt and Kush
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The Nile: The Nile is the longest river in the world
 The Nile River brought life to Egypt.
 The Nile River sliced through the desert of Upper Egypt and created rich fertile soil in an
area 13 miles wide.
 At several points, this terrain caused cataracts, or strong rapids.
 Silt is a mixture of fertile soil and tiny rocks back and make a land ideal for farming.
 The silt from the Nile made the soil ideal for farming.
 The people in Mesopotamia build basins to collect water during the yearly floods.
 The Nile provided early Egyptian farmers with an abundance of food.
 The Nile had natural barriers that made Egypt hard to invade.
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Ancient Egypt
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Around 3100 BC a leader named Menes rose to power in Upper Egypt.
A pharaoh is a title used by the rulers of Egypt.
A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family.
The Old Kingdom, was a period in Egyptian history that lasted from 2700 BC to 2200 BC.
The most famous pharaoh of the Old Kingdom was Khufu who ruled in the 22500 BC.
Khufu is best known for the monuments that were built to him.
Ancient Egypt Social Structure
 At the top of Egyptian society was the Pharaoh.
 Just below the Pharaoh were the upper classes, which included priests and key
government officials.
 Many of the priests and officials were nobles, or rich and powerful families.
 Below the nobles were the middle class of lesser government officials, scribes, craftspeople, and merchants.
 Egypt's lower class, about 80% of the population, was made of mostly farmers.
 Below the farmers in the social order were the slaves and servants.
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Ancient Egypt Life
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Ancient Egyptians practiced polytheism, or the belief in more than one god.
The Ancient Egyptians had gods for nearly everything, including the sky, sun, and earth.
Much of Egyptian religion focused on the afterlife, or life after death.
Mummies were specially treated bodies wrapped in cloth.
Pyramids were huge stone tombs with four triangle-shaped walls that met at a point at the
top.
 Engineering is the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes.
 Burial in a pyramid demonstrated a pharaoh's importance. The size of the pyramid was a
symbol of the pharaoh’s greatness.
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The New Kingdom
 The New Kingdom was a period during which Egypt reached the height of its power and
glory.
 Egypt became the leading military power in the region.
 Military conquests made Egypt rich.
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 Profitable trade routes, or paths followed by traders, developed.
 Queen Hatshepsut, an Egyptian ruler, worked to increase trade. She supported art and
architecture.
 Ramses the Great reign as pharaoh was one of the longest in history.
 Scribes kept records and accounts for the state. They also wrote and copied religious
texts.
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Egyptian Achievements
 In the Egyptian writing system, or hieroglyphics (hy-ruh-GLIH-fiks), Egyptians used picture
symbols to represent words.
 The Rosetta Stone was a stone slab inscribed with hieroglyphics.
 Sphinxes were imaginary creatures with bodies of lions and heads of other animals like
humans.
 An obelisk (AH-Buh-lisk), a tall four-sided pillar that is pointed on top.
 The ancient Egyptians were masterful artists. They painted scenes on canvas, papyrus,
pottery, plaster, and wood.
 King Tutankhamen’s treasures have taught us much about Egyptian burial practices and
beliefs.
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Nubia and Kush
 Africans established the first great kingdom in the interior of Africa. We know this kingdom
by the name of the Egyptians gave it-Kush.
 The Kings of Krush ruled from their capital at Kerma (Kar-muh).
 The Egyptians destroyed Kerma, the Kushite capitol. Later pharaohs-including Ramses the
Great- built large temples on what had been Kush territory.
 During the mid-1000s BC the New Kingdom of Egypt was ending. The power of the
pharaohs declined. Kushite leaders regained control of Kush.
 In just 10 years the Kushites were driven out of Egypt by the superior weapons used by the
Assyrians.
 In Meroё, the Kushites developed Africa's first iron industry.
 A trade network is a system of people in different lands who trade goods.
 The Kushites sent goods down the Nile River to Egypt. There, Egyptian and Greek
merchants, or traders, carried goods to ports on the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
 Kush’s exports or items sent out to other regions.
 Imports or goods brought in from other regions.
 Kush gradually declined in power because of poor land conservation.
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