Following up on Transatlantic Slave Trade: A Look from West Africa, this week we’ll discuss ancient Egypt’s economy which was heavily dependent on the predictability of the flooding from the Nile river.
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The civilization of ancient Egypt was indebted to the Nile, the longest river in the world, and its dependable seasonal flooding. The river's predictability and fertile soil allowed the Egyptians to build an empire of great wealth. The Nile, with its fertile flood plain not only provided food, but acted as a natural artery of communication and trade.
Ancient Egyptians developed agriculture gradually over thousands of years with the development of basin irrigation, the method by which water was trapped in basins that were surrounded by low mud walls. Basin irrigation allowed the ancient Egyptians to control the rise and fall of the river to best suit their agricultural needs and provided water throughout the different seasons.
The flooding of the Nile is the result of the yearly monsoon between May and August, causing enormous precipitations on the Ethiopian Highlands whose summits reach heights of up to 12,928 feet.
This practice allowed them to control the river’s flooding to best suit their agricultural needs. A crisscross network of earthen walls was formed in a field of crops that the river would flood. Warm climate along with flooding of the Nile river provided Egyptians with as many as three harvest per year.
Farmers grew grains such as barley, corn and wheat, but also fruits and vegetables such as onions, beans, dates, figs, cucumbers, grapes and melons. Natural resources including flax, papyrus, stone, and gold which were used to make cloth, paper, buildings and jewelry.
The domestication of animals and crops, required selective breeding over the course of generations. Cattle and sheep provided meat and milk. Oxen were used in farmwork to increase amount of land worked and crops grown.
Herbs were used in cooking, medicine, as cosmetics and in the process of embalming. Over 2000 different species of flowering or aromatic plants have been found in tombs.
Surplus crops provided Egypt with materials to export and trade with other countries which led to the rise of industries of merchants and craftsmen.
Much of trade was through bartering. Coins were introduced in around 500 BC. Before then, metals such as gold were given values based on their weight. The unit was called a deben. If a shirt was worth one deben, and a sack of flour was worth 4 debens, you could trade one sack of flour for four shirts.
Ancient Egyptians traded with the lands surrounding the Mediterranean, Red seas, and neighboring lands.
Exports included surplus of crops and goods produced such as pottery, linen made from flax, and paper made from papyrus. Papyrus could be used to make boats and baskets, but mostly was used to make paper which was invited around 3000 BC and one of Egypt's main exports. China began to make paper from bamboo around 100 AD.
Another valuable export was gold. Ancient Egypt was rich in limestone and granite, which stonecutters used to build temples, tombs, and pyramids.
Farming and trade helped the population grow, creating a strong society with class systems, jobs, religious customs, writing, and education.
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