Animal husbandry and grain farming, coupled with fishing and forestry,
made possible the growth of cities and laid the foundations for the
nuclei of these civilizations.
Temples, tombs and other public constructs provided the centers around
which Egyptian civilization was built. The stone, wood and other raw
materials used in the building of these unique examples of human
handiwork were floated up and down the Nile from their sources of
origin. Annual Nile floods provided silt deposits necessary to fertilize
farms and gardens. Nile water, impounded during floods, irrigated the
land during the long dry seasons. Banked by deserts, the Nile was a
ribbon of fertility running through a largely uninhabited wilderness.
The upper reaches of the Nile lay in the mountains of Central Africa.
The Nile delta, built up through ages by silt deposits, provided a
meeting place where African, European and Asian traders could exchange
their wares and lay the foundations for the civilization of lower Egypt.
The Nile also provided the means of communication which connected Lower
Egypt with Upper Egypt and led, finally, to the unification of the two
areas in a long enduring and prestigious Egyptian civilization. Once
again geography was laying down the guide lines within which
civilizations have been built up and liquidated.
Thus far we have noted the role of physiographic factors that have led
to building the nuclei of empires and civilizations.
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