4-1 Note Guide: Geography of Ancient Egypt
1. Around 5,000 B.C. people began building farming villages in a river valley in Africa.
(A) What was the name of the river valley? (B) During what months of the year does
the Nile flood? (C) Why is the flooding of the Nile River a good thing?
(A)The Nile River Valley had farming villages around 5,000 B.C.
(B) The Nile Floods from July through October.
(C) Nile flooding made the valley lush and green. Then farmers worked the
land into a productive agricultural region.
2. In many ways, Egyptian civilization owes its life to the Nile River. (A) Why is Egypt
called the “Gift of the Nile”? (B) How long is the Nile River? (C) What countries does
the Nile River pass through? (D) Where does the Nile River empty into?
(A)
Water and food are provided to the Egyptian desert by the Nile River.
(B)
The 4,000 mile Nile River flows NORTH form the mountains to the
Mediterranean Sea.
(C)
The Nile passes through Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan and finally Egypt into
the Mediterranean Sea.
(D)
The Nile River empties into the Mediterranean Sea.
Lower Egypt
3. Much of East Africa has a
rainy season that lasts from
May until September. The Nile
floods because of the extra
water. (A) What is silt? (B)
What is a delta? (C) Where is
the Nile Delta located (Lower or
Upper Egypt)? (D) Where is
Upper Egypt?
(A) Silt is tiny bits of soil
and rock carried
downriver, so all this
good topsoil ends up at
the end.
(B) A delta is the fertile,
flat land made up of the
deposited silt. It is fan
shaped.
Upper Egypt
(C) The Nile Delta is in
Lower Egypt (northern
Egypt and downstream).
(D) Upper Egypt is south
of Lower Egypt cutting
through stone cliffs and
desert sand (high
elevation).
4. Egyptian farmers almost always welcomed the mud left by each summer’s Nile flood.
(A) Why do farmers like silt-filled mud? (B) What happens as a result of not enough Nile
flooding? (C) What happens as a result of too much Nile flooding?
(A) Silt-filled mud contains the minerals plants need to grow.
(B) Not enough Nile River flooding meant the crops failed and the Egyptians
starved.
(C)Too much flooding could destroy homes and wash way people and
livestock.
5. In October the flooded land began to dry in Egypt. Farmers begin to their crops. (A)
What crops do farmers grow? (B) What is flax? (C) What is irrigation? (D) What is a
shadouf?
(A) Farmers grew wheat and barley grains for bread. The Egyptians also
grew vegetables including cucumbers, lettuce, onions and beans.
(B)
Flax was grown to make cloth.
(C)
Farmers use irrigation technology to water crops using canals or pipes
to move the water.
(D)
A shadouf is a bucket-lifter that helps scoop water from the river to
pour in the fields.
Shadouf
6. Harvest time ended in late June, before the Nile began to flood again. (A) What do
farmers do during the flooding period of the Nile? (B) How many miles separate Upper
and Lower Egypt?
(A) Farmers would visit neighboring villages during the four months of the
flood season since they could not work.
(B)
600 miles separated Upper and Lower Egypt. It took over a month to
walk it or half that time by boat.
Key Facts from 4-1:
The Nile provided:
1. Fertile soil
2. Water for irrigation
3. Quick transportation
These three reason allowed the largest civilization to develop at that time in history.