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The Old Kingdom Of Egypt : The Great Pyramids Of Ancient Egypt

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Ancient Egypt was a civilization of ancient Northeastern Africa located along the Nile River in the place that is now the country Egypt. Ancient Egypt was split into two sections, Upper and Lower Egypt. Lower Egypt covered the delta region where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea. Upper Egypt stretched from the Nile’s first cataract to within a hundred miles of the Mediterranean Sea. The ancient Egyptians settled by the Nile River because its annual flooding provided them with the reliable, rich soil that they needed to grow crops. They also developed wide-reaching trade networks along the Nile, in the Red Sea, and in the Near East. The Egyptians even based their seasons on the flooding of the Nile. The seasons were inundation (flooding), growth, and harvest. When the river did not flood, the nutrient level in the soil depleted greatly and their food shortages increased greatly. The Old Kingdom of Egypt through the New Kingdom lasted from 2575 B.C. to 1075 B.C. with two intermediate periods and the Middle Kingdom separating them. The Old Kingdom lasted from 2575 B.C. to 2130 B.C., and during this Kingdom the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built at Dahshur and Giza. Next was the First Intermediate Period, which lasted from 2129 B.C. to 1939 B.C., and during this period there was a breakdown of Egypt’s central government. After the First Intermediate Period came the Middle Kingdom. This Kingdom lasted from 1938 B.C. to 1630 B.C.; during this time the pharaoh Amenemhet is a most notable pharaoh who overthrew Mentuhotep III. During the Second Intermediate Period, which followed the Middle Kingdom and lasted from 1629 B.C. to 1540 B.C., the Hyksos raiders from Asia moved into the Delta introducing the Egyptians to the chariot. Finally, the New Kingdom lasted from 1539 B.C. to 1075 B.C., and during this Kingdom the tombs of the Valley of the Kings were built and the great pharaohs--Hatshepsut, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, Tuthmosis, and Ramesses II--ruled Egypt. In ancient Egypt, the government was headed by a pharaoh whom the people thought were one of the gods but also human. Their system of government was a bureaucracy, which includes departments and levels of authority, and they had hereditary rule, which

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