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GEOGRAPHY

major influence, not determinative

influences principally in what was available to eat and build with, also accessibility to outside world

unique for cohesion over time – ancient Egypt and modern Egypt pretty much coterminous

Most salient geographic fact of Egypt is Nile: sole source of water for most of country, necessary for irrigation and travel, effectively no settlement not connected to it. Kind of a problem: faucet and sewer same thing. NO rain (effectively) for most of country, at least until 2008.

Deserts also crucial: effectively form boundaries to east and west. Egypt never entirely cut off from rest of world, never entirely easy to get to either. Relative isolation, relative ease of communication and agriculture on Nile, contribute to cohesion of Egyptian society and state.

Prevailing winds from north, help navigation except in places where the river flows south (big bend in Nubia) – there the ancient travel crossed desert

Broadly in Egypt, three major regions of settlement/agriculture. Nile valley (Upper Egypt); Nile delta (Lower Egypt); Faiyum (more or less an oasis).

So, what is the Nile?

longest river in the world, really a series of rivers that together have a massive drainage basin over most of NE Africa.

Three major tributaries: White and Blue Niles, Atbara River. tons of minor tributaries

White is longer, starts in equatorial East Africa. Lake Victoria in Uganda is fed by numerous streams, longest of which starts in Rwanda. Victoria Nile flows to Lake Albert Albert Nile flows to Sudan, where called Bahr el-Jabal. Sudd: largest swamp in the world, loses more than half its volume of water tried to dig a canal to bypass in 1980s but abandoned. Bahr al-Ghazal flows through the Sudd, joins Bahr al-Jabal at the north of the swamp, becomes the White Nile proper (sometimes entire west tributary system called White Nile) this has whitish clay suspended in it, hence the name White Nile at Khartoum, meets Blue Nile

Blue Nile from highlands of Ethiopia, highest source is Lake Tana Vast majority of silt comes from Blue Nile vast majority of water during the flood comes from Ethiopia VERY seasonal as to how much water coming from where – White Nile relatively steady, Blue huge floods with rain in highlands, Atbara almost purely seasonal river. Rains are in summer – monsoons off the Indian Ocean hit mts. Flood doesn’t begin until late July or August in Aswan, later in N Egypt.

So, in general, White Nile watered the low Nile January to June (70-90%), Blue and Atbara the inundation. So much more water in flood, annual totals come to Blue and Atbara 90% of total water, 96% of sediment.

cataracts: stripes of granite, harder than sandstone bedrock, erodes more slowly, creates rapids

farthest south is 6th, south of Atbara entrance

6 numbered, many unnumbered

between 3rd and 2nd an almost totally impassable region called the batn el-hagar “belly of rocks” – famous as a place of collecting shipwrecks

1st cataract at Aswan, north of here continuously navigable and floodplain much wider, sustains agriculture

THE FLOOD AND AGRICULTURE: dams started being built in 1830s, Aswan High Dam in full effect by 1970 but last big flood was 1964.

Before dams flood was relatively predictable. More so than other rivers; not enough to insure safety or freedom from famine.

big rivers are extremely powerful and depend on their seasonal etc changes; look at the issues we’re having with Mississippi and erosion in Louisiana – similar issues arise from damming of Nile.

Nile carves back and forth to make valley. because of silt, areas next to river natural levees; these are where settlement mostly occurs, channels cut allow lower lying land behind to flood. Problem: most areas suitable for settlement have been continuously settled, so we have modern towns on top of where we would want to dig if we wanted to answer questions about towns.

Flood is the engine that drives Egyptian agriculture. emmer wheat for bread; Barley for beer; various fruits, vegetables, legumes; grapes for wine in delta and oasis; flax for linen; domesticated animals: cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, geese, pigeons, ducks; fish from the Nile main source of protein for most Egyptians; hunting of mammals and birds especially in marshes

Most of Egypt is desert – the Sahara. Only about 5% of the land is cultivated.

Ancient sea bed; most bedrock in Egypt is sedimentary. Broadly two regions: south is sandstone; north is limestone (with flint nodules). Line is just south of Abydos. In general, stone not moved very far so monuments of south are sandstone and those of north are limestone

granite used for architectural elements but almost never for whole buildings, comes from Aswan

most common building material: mud-brick

very little wood, and what there is of poor quality, so not used much as building material; large timbers of cedar were imported from Early Dynastic times on from Lebanon

acacia and tamarisk used for building elements, like roofs

palm trees grown for dates, fronds used in basket making and matting; sycamore fig for figs and wood

also a problem for fuel, not to have trees: usually used animal dung.

Non-building stones/minerals quarried outside Nile valley

other important stones: basalt from north of Faiyum; calcite in Middle Egypt

deserts, especially eastern and Sinai, mined for stones including amethyst, carnelian, turquoise, jasper

lapis is not found in NE Africa; ancient source was probably Afghanistan – majorly long distance trade

Metals: gold found in eastern desert, even more in Nubia, this a major reason for Egyptian interest in Nubia (and source of name), and gold a major part of interaction between Egypt and other states throughout history. Copper: found in eastern desert in small quantities, mined more extensively in Sinai Iron: not used extensively until 25th-26th Dynasties; earlier examples from meteoric iron