Geography and Government of Egypt

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Geography and Government of Egypt
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Objectives

• Understand how geography helped shape ancient
  Egypt.
• Analyze the achievements of the Old Kingdom in
  Egypt.
• Describe the events that brought turbulence to
  Egypts Middle Kingdom.
• Explain how Egypt grew strong during the New
  Kingdom.

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Terms and People

• cataract a waterfall
• delta area of marsh land formed by silt
  deposited at the mouth of a river such as the
  Nile Lower Egypt
• dynasty ruling family
• pharaoh Egyptian king who held absolute power
• bureaucracy system of government employing
  different departments and levels of authority

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Terms and People (continued)

• vizier chief minister who supervised the
  business of government in ancient Egypt
• Hatshepsut Egypts first female ruler
• Thutmose III Hatshepsuts stepson pharaoh who
  expanded Egypts empire to its largest extent
• Ramses II pharaoh who ruled for 66 years and
  expanded Egypt northward into Syria

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How did the Nile influence the rise of the
powerful civilization of Egypt?
The fertile lands of the Nile Valley attracted
Stone Age farmers from the Mediterranean area,
from nearby hills and deserts, and from other
parts of Africa. In time, a powerful
civilization emerged that depended heavily on the
control of river waters.
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Egypt is wholly the gift of the Nile.
Greek historian Herodotus
Yearly floods from rains in the south brought
rich silt to replenish the soil. People had to
cooperate to build dikes, reservoirs, and
irrigation channels.
Since ancient times people have lived in a narrow
band of land beside the Nile River.
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Ancient Egypt was divided geographically into two
parts.
Upper Egypt stretched from the the Niles first
cataract to within 100 miles of the Mediterranean
Sea.
Lower Egypt covered the Nile Delta, the marshy
land at the mouth of the river.
At 3,700 miles, the Nile is the worlds longest
river.
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About 3100 B.C., Menes, the King of Upper Egypt,
united the two regions.
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Egyptian history is divided into three kingdoms.
Old Kingdom 2575 B.C.2130 B.C.



Middle Kingdom 1938 B.C.1630 B.C.
New Kingdom 1539 B.C.1075 B.C.
Power passed from one dynasty, or ruling family,
to another, but the land generally remained
united under powerful kings called pharaohs.
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During the Old Kingdom, Egypt became a
centralized state.

• The pharaoh was viewed as a god, though he was
  expected to act morally.
• Rule was by a bureaucracy, a system of
  departments with different levels of authority.
• A vizier, or chief minister, oversaw departments
  for taxes, farming, irrigation, and other
  functions.

Pharaohs built pyramids, tombs where they would
live in the afterlife. The best known are the
Great Pyramids that still stand at Giza.
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The Middle Kingdom was also a turbulent era. The
Nile did not rise as regularly as in the past.
Rebellions and corruption were also problems.
In 1700 B.C., the Hyksos invaded the delta.
Their horse-drawn chariots awed Egyptians.
The Hyksos ruled for a hundred years, until new
Egyptian leaders arose.
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Under ambitious pharaohs, the New Kingdom grew
powerful, reaching as far north as Syria and the
Euphrates River in 1450 B.C.
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Egypts first female ruler, Hatshepsut, held
power from about 1472 B.C. to 1458 B.C. She
encouraged trade along the Mediterranean and Red
Sea.
Her stepson, Thutmose III, succeeded her. A great
military leader, he expanded Egypts borders to
the Euphrates River.
Beards indicated male authority, so Hatshepsut
wore a false one.
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The most famous pharaoh was Ramses II, who ruled
from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.

• Ramses battled the Hittites before signing the
  oldest known peace treaty.
• He used gold from Nubia to pay his army, which
  included many Nubian charioteers. Nubians played
  a prominent part in Egyptian culture during this
  era.
• After 1100 B.C., Egypt declined. Assyrian and
  Persian invaders conquered the Nile region.