Engineering An Empire Analysis

I believe ancient Egypt was “the gift of the Nile River” because of its location in the Sahara desert, and because of its dry location. The river provided water and soil which irrigated the Nile Delta. All farmers knew when it would flood, and prepare their fields. Ancient Egypt had very little contact with surrounding civilization for many centuries because of isolation. This kept foreign ideas and influences from disrupting their cultural balance and they were free of foreign invasion through most of their history.

“Egypt…is, so to speak, the gift of the Nile.” (Doc. E). The Nile River was a river that flowed for approximately 680 miles through ancient Egypt, and through other African countries. It was a crucial water source for ancient Egypt, and it was essential for the survival of the Egyptian people. Ancient Egypt was one of the dominating river valley civilizations in the ancient world, and it was located in northern Africa. It had deserts, bodies of water, mountains, and flat plains. In this context, shaping means developing and impacting. The Nile River shaped ancient Egypt in many ways. The geographical aspect and the resources the Nile provided; the transportation, and therefore trade; and the spiritual impact on the Egyptians that the Nile had all played roles in the shaping of ancient Egypt.

Imagine a mother and a newborn child. Now picture the mother abandoning the baby with no one to feed or take care of it. It is very likely that the baby would die. The Nile, a major river in northeastern Africa, could be considered as Ancient Egypt’s mother. Because Egypt was so isolated, the river was all they ever knew. The economy and belief system of Egypt were totally dependant on the Nile River, and if it did not exist, neither would this powerful empire.

One way the Nile helped shape ancient Egypt was buy give them a home and a way to transport themselves. In document A all of the important settlements were near the Nile. This is because they needed the Nile for food, water and ext. In document C it shows that the Nile is their one and only way of transportation. So the Nile is a major part of the egyptian life.

The Nile influenced Ancient Egypt in many ways. The first way is the flooding cycle. In paragraph six in,”How did the Nile shape Ancient Egypt it says”,”The flooding cycle determined the planting season for farmers. When it was planting season they grew flax for producing fine linen. They also harvested papyrus.

Egypt was seen as one of the most important river valley civilizations. Many historians argue that the Nile was the main source that helped Egypt be as successful as it was, because of it’s source of life. The Nile was shaped the entire Ancient Egyptian society from the beginning because of it’s usefulness to the Egyptians. The Nile River helped shape Ancient Egypt because it provided protection from invaders, jobs, trade, food supply, and had god like features.

“Whatever we do or fail to do will influence the course of history” once announced by Arthur Henderson. So you want to be educated about the Nile and ancient Egypt, here are a few facts to get you started. Egypt is a very old, ancient place, the first pharaoh began ruling around 2920 BCE. Almost 5,000 years ago. The famous Nile River, almost everybody knows about, is located in Egypt. The Nile River shaped life in ancient Egypt in several areas of Egyptian life. Three of these ways were transportation and farming, spiritual life, and population and settlement.

The Egyptians were very lucky to have the Nile River because without it they wouldn’t be able to survive. The Nile shaped Egypt by granting them with almost everything they needed. Where the Nileś source came from may have been a riddle to them but we know that came from Lake Tana which is the branch called the Blue Nile and from Lake Victoria which is the other branch called the White Nile. Egypt has been around for five thousand years and for all of those five thousand years the Nile River helped the Egyptians survive in Egypt. The Nile River shaped Ancient Egypt by setting a calendar, providing food and water,

As well as controlling the surplus, the Pharaoh had the head duties of protecting it. The ancient Egyptians used many unique factors to help protect their civilization. Soldiers were used, much like in other ancient civilizations, to protect the Nile River, expand their land settlement area and support the rule of the Pharaoh. During the New Kingdom, Egyptian armies became a powerhouse and very active allowing for expansion. Ancient Egypt could be protected quite well due to environmental factors including the river and desert. The river being surround by 1000’s of miles of desert made it easier to predict where attacks may come from. The Nile itself was also be able to used thanks to its slow moving nature. This provided a great highway that promoted economic and political stability and uniformity (Lockard, 2011).

All the civilizations lived among rivers. The ancient Egyptians lived among the Nile River. The ancient Egyptians highly regarded the Nile as incredibly important and life giving. The Nile was important because it watered all of the land and in return deposited silt that was used to grow crops to feed all the animals and people.

The Nile River was the life force of ancient Egypt. People from all over the region immigrated to the area for its irrigation waters and rich silt deposits. The geography of the region played a huge role in the way the inhabitants and civilization in general was formed. The main core of Egypt covered 386, 560 square miles, of which only 11, 720 were cultivable (Tignor et al., Worlds Together, 62). The Nile differed itself specifically from the Tigris and Euphrates in that its waters did not irrigate or fertilize nearly as well but it did create green belts along the water. This created a society that flourished along the river. The Nile unlike Mesopotamia did not have a bountiful borderland but did have a desert rich in materials. The Niles predictability as the source of life and abundance shaped the character of the people and their culture. (Tignor et al., Worlds Together, 63). The Nile was peaceful and calm unlike the vicious Tigris And Euphrates Rivers. Egypt with its natural borders, which included the Mediterranean Sea, Deserts, and Large Waterfalls, was very isolated. This helped to achieve

The Nile was the source of everything in Ancient Egypt. Early people built their lives around a river, eventually developing into Ancient Egypt. The Nile did not shape Ancient Egypt literally, but culturally. The Nile grew Egypt’s crops, created its traditions, making jobs, giving life to and protecting all.

Chau’s thesis that the rise and fall of empires was due to tolerance, inclusion, difference, and diversity is shown to be true of the Roman Empire because of the way that tolerance allowed and caused the empire to rise, enter its golden age, and fall. The Roman Empire was a “hyperpower” that lasted from 44 BCE to 476 CE. The empire contained Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe, along with North Africa; thus, there was an abundance of culture from many different conquered groups. Romans wanted to make these conquered nations provinces of Rome. The Roman Empire began (and the Roman Republic ended) with the assassination of Julius Caesar, who wanted to be a dictator. No longer a republic, the lands already ruled by Rome became part of an empire. The government became centralized with a single ruler, the emperor. However, even before the empire, during the Republic, there was also the similar feeling of wanting to conquer other nations was there.

Life on the river was pretty much the same for thousands of years, until 1889 when the first Aswan Dam was built in an attempt to control the yearly floods. It proved to be insufficient and was raised two more times until it was decided to build another dam upstream in 1946. Once these dams were functional they provided many benefits to the rapidly growing population, including easier access to drinking water, irrigation for agriculture, electricity for modern life and fishing (Burke and Eaton) . Certainly the benefits to Egyptians were numerable and undeniable. The does not mean there were no negative impacts.The yearly floods no longer came and all that good, nutrient-rich silt that used to wash down the Nile and onto the flood plans was now blocked by the dams. “Before the Aswan High Dam, the Nile River carried about 124 million tons of sediment to the sea each year, depositing nearly 10 million tons on the floodplain and delta. Today, 98% of that sediment remains behind the dam. The result has been a drop in soil productivity and depth, among other serious changes to Egypt’s floodplain agriculture. The Aswan Dam has also led

There are many different areas that ancient Egypt excelled in to help make them successful. The reason that ancient Egypt was able to become so successful was the various ways the ancient Egyptians used the Nile River. Some of the ways the ancient Egyptians used the Nile River was as a water source for agriculture and as a way of transportation for trade.