Name ______________________________
Number: _______
Period: ______
Early Centers of Civilizations
The Gift of the Nile
1. In the same centuries B.C. in which civilization was flourishing in Mesopotamia,
another civilization was growing in what is now ___________________________.
2. Near the Mediterranean Sea the ____________________________ divides into
several branches and spreads out over a wide area.
3. Every year at about the same time, the Nile River __________________,
depositing a fresh strip of rich, black soil along each bank.
4. Like the Sumerians, the Egyptians built ________________ to carry water from
the Nile to their fields. They also built _______________ to form ponds to store
floodwater for later use.
5. The ancient Egyptians built _____________ and _______________ to use the Nile
as a river “highway”. They developed __________________ and began to rely on
the wind for power to sail upriver against the current.
6. Over the centuries, the ancient Egyptians worked out ways to ________________,
or tell ahead of time, when the river would flood.
7. By studying the skies, they observed the yearly flooding, or __________________,
began soon after the star ________________ reappeared after months of being out
of sight.
8. The Egyptians developed a __________________ with 365 days in a year. Their
calendar divided the year into three seasons: _______________________________.
9. The ancient Egyptians believed in many different _____________________, or
gods, each with a different responsibility.
10.Most Egyptians prayed to their gods and believed in a life after death, or
______________________________.
11.The ancient Egyptians believed that they would need their bodies in the afterlife
so they developed ways to preserve dead bodies. Making a _________________,
or a preserved body took ___________ days.
12.Most of the small farming settlements in ancient Egypt developed on the Nile
Delta and along the Nile River between the delta and the first of six
_______________________, or waterfalls.
13.The settlements on the Nile Delta became part of a kingdom known as
_______________________________. The settlements in the Nile Valley to the
south of the delta became part of the kingdom of ________________________.
14.King Menes of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt in about 3100 B.C. and
formed the world’s first ____________________________, which is a region with a
united group of people and a single government.
15.Many experts believe that is was King Narmer who began the first Egyptian
_________________________________, which is a series of rulers who belong to
the same family.