Egypt and its neighbours - resources
Resources
Notes
EGYPT
The black land - kemet - the land of Egypt affected by the annual inundation:
kemet: made up of - narrow river valley of Upper Egypt
- fertile Delta and its marsh lands of Lower Egypt
- gave Egypt self sufficiency
marshes
daily life
- water
- inundation - fertile soil
- farming/agriculture
- irrigation in growing season
- transport and communication
- food: fish
- emmer wheat, barley
- vegetables: onions, lettuce
- fruits: figs, grapes, pomegranates
- hunting and fowling - bird life: ducks,
geese, wild animals
reeds
papyrus - paper
flax - rope, baskets etc
mud
- mud bricks for building houses and royal
palaces
- agriculture was mainstay of the Egyptian economy; vast bureaucracy
of officials involved in the measuring if the inundation, the assessment
of taxes, the collection of taxes and their recording.
animals
domesticated animals: herding
sheep, cattle, goats
Nile & faiyum
crops
- Vital to Egypt's existence - 'gift of the Nile'
- Egyptian calendar built around the cycle of the Nile: 3 seasons
 inundation - flood season: (June to Sept)

growing season: (Oct - Feb)

harvest season : (March-June)
- Linked to the Gods: Hapi
- an indication of the maintenance of ma'at
- bread and beer staples of diet
The red land - deshret - the desert plateau and cliffs at edge of Nile valley provided building material and mineral wealth
building
stone
semi-precious
- sandstone
- limestone
temples, tombs, stela
- granite - quarries - Aswan,
eastern desert - statues, obelisks
- diorite - western desert
- quartzite eastern desert
- alabaster
statues
- amethyst
- turquoise - Sinai
jewellery, inlaid decoration
metals
ores
oases (oasis)
- copper (important for bronze)
- gold
- malachite (cosmetics)
- natron (embalming)
- desert trade routes
- natron – mummification
- dates, wines
the resources of the desert were exploited fully by Egyptians for
building materials for temples and for precious materials for
decoration, art and jewellery.
Gold gave important commodity for external trade - as a valuable
metal it was sought after throughout the ancient world and thus gave
Egypt a valuable commodity with which to trade for other goods
(timber, exotic & religiously significant materials) it did not possess.
Gold also had religious significance and was closely linked to the
gods.
NEIGHBOURS
South - Nubia & Kush
- gold
nubian desert - mines
The gold of Nubia provided a key incentive for Egypt to
control this southern region
- grain
fertile land between third
and fourth cataracts
Nubia was an important trade route for exotic goods from
Africa
- labour
- slaves
- soldiers, medjay
In New Kingdom, Egypt extended its control over Nubia
and tightly administered it . It was Egypt's Southern
Empire
- diorite
- quarries - western desert
- Beyond:
- ebony
- ivory
- exotics animals: monkeys
- myrrh - incense
trade route to Africa / Punt
North - Palestine/ Syria
- timber
large timber for building was in very short supply in Egypt.
Beyond
Palestine/Syria was important for trade supply - its
geopolitical significance lay in its intersection of trade
routes between the east (from Asia) and the west. Hence
rival powers competed for control over it.
- Crete/Greece
- olive oil
beyond - trade routes to
East
lapis lazuli
silver
incense
Egypt sort to extend its influence over Palestine and Syria
throughout the New Kingdom, but had to compete with
other powers (the Mitanni, the Hittites) for
influence/control, especially in Syria. Northern empire.