Egypt

EGYPT

• Using mathematical knowledge and engineering skills, Egyptians built magnificent monuments to honor dead rulers.
• The Nile river flows northward through Africa for 4,100 miles. It is the longest river in the world
• it would flood and bring rich soil to Egypt
• Ii would flood in July because of melting snow from the mountains and rain.
• the flood water would recede in October, leaving soil behind
• There were risks involved in living in Egypt
• Less water in the Nile meant thousand of people would starve
• with to much water, the land would flood, destroying crops
• The desert around them restricted trade but kept away attackers
• river travel was common, but limited due to rapids called cataracts
• southern Egypt was called upper Egypt and northern Egypt was called lower Egypt.
• Egyptian villages dated back to 5000B.C.
• Individual settlements formed, which made lower and upper Egypt which then got united by a king named Narmer
• the king of lower Egypt wore a red crown and the king of upper Egypt wore a white crown
• Narmer created a red and white crown to represent a united kingdom.
• The capital of Egypt was Memphis, which was between upper and lower Egypt
• there were 31 Egyptian dynasties
• 2660-2180 is known as the Old Kingdom.
• They believed that pharaohs had live after death, or ka, so they built pyramids for them.

VOCABULARY

• delta- a marshy region formed by deposits of silt at the mouth of a river.
• Narmer- a king of the Old Kingdom who united upper and lower Egypt.
• pharaoh- a king of ancient Egypt, considered a god
• theocracy- government in which the ruler is viewed as a divine figure
• pyramid- a massive structure built for Old Kingdom pharaohs.
• mummification- a process of embalming and preserving a dead body.
• hieroglyphics- written script used by Egyptians
• papyrus- a tall reed  that grew in the Nile delta, used to make paper