Ancient Egypt: The Nile and Unification

According to the Greek writer Herodotus Egypt is “the Gift of the Nile.”
A. The Nile is a long, powerful river running in a northerly direction some 750 miles from the last cataract to the Mediterranean. It floods annually and predictably an area five to fifteen miles wide. About five percent of Egypt is habitable. Without the Nile, there would be only barren desert.

B. From as early as 5000 B.C., small communities along the Nile began to drain marshes, irrigate, and plant regular crops (mainly cereal grains).

C. Slowly, these communities coalesced into single territories. The territories of the south were called “Upper Egypt” because it is nearer the source of the Nile, and the territories of the north were called “Lower Egypt” because it is nearer the mouth of the Nile.

D. It seems that a need to control irrigation led to political organization on a larger scale.

E. Much about this period is shrouded in legend, but about 3100 B.C., Menes united Upper and Lower Egypt. This unification ushered in the historical period.