“All of Egypt is the gift of the Nile.” It was the Greek historian Herodotus who made that observation. The remarkable benefits of the Nile are clear to everyone, but through history he was the first to talk about it and consider its fascination. Through history, the Nile played a major role in the building of civilizations. The first civilizations to appear in history started on a river valley or in a place where resources are numerous and example of these are in India where Indus river is found and Tigris where Euphrates is found and many other places (cradles of civilization).

The Nile is the longest river in the world, cuts a swath of green and life through the bareness of the giant Sahara desert in northern Africa. It is almost 4160 miles long from its remotest head stream, the Lavironza river in Burundi, in central Africa to its delta on the Mediterranean sea north east of Egypt. The river flows northward and drain 1100100 square miles, about tenth the size of Africa, passing through ten African countries. It has many tributaries but there are two main ones: the White Nile fed by lake Victoria and the Blue Nile coming from Ethiopian mountains. These two main branches join near Khartoum, the capital of Sudan and they continue together as Nile proper until meeting the Mediterranean Sea and forming the Nile delta in northern Egypt.

Around 5000 BC, one of the first great civilizations developed in the northern Nile river valley dependent on agriculture in a land called Egypt. Water; Fertile soil; and river’s flow north while prevailing wind blows south made the Nile the best transportation way, were examples of the Nile gifts. Another gift is that every year the flood came bringing disaster and famine due to destroying the crops and their villages. The first forms of government appeared in Egypt when the Egyptians organized their efforts under one leadership to avoid the disasters of the yearly flood.

On the other hand Nile flooding caused some problems in landmarks. Simple geometry had to be found to keep the boarder and a simple system metric (invention of the nilometer) to study the Nile flow and flood every year. As the state grew and more complex religious and political systems started to emerge, the need for a system to record events and rituals was growing too. Therefore, the need to have written records was of great importance. Because of that, the papyrus paper was found to satisfy that need. These are mainly the gifts of the Nile.

Being a rich source of water The Nile is seen as the foundation of life in ancient Egypt. Egyptians’ water uses were numerous. Mainly water was used for drinking and for watering plants and crops. Irrigation systems were among the biggest achievement of the ancient Egyptians’ civilization. They were primitive types of irrigation that depended very much on the physical geography and geology of the area but to their time, they were of great importance. All irrigation systems depend on taking water from a natural resource and diverting it to artificial channels or ponds where it is applied to crops. At first, before the irrigation systems were of great use and importance, Egyptian agriculture along the Nile was based on growing winter crops after flooding had subsided. But after many enhancements made in the field of irrigation methods, they were able to have more than one harvest a year and having more yields. These irrigation systems allowed them to grow plants that need watering all the time thus leading to more variety of crops. And due t the great amount of water the river delivers, it provided a constant water supply to the people of Egypt. Moreover, water uses are not limited to drinking and watering but it is also used for washing, bathing, manufacturing, building and many others.

The influence the Nile has is so extensive. Ancient Egypt was an agricultural estate and mainly relied on the flooding of the Nile for fertile soil. Inundation is the yearly gradual overflow of the Nile water or as we can say flood. Each year, in June and extending to the end of November, land would be covered with water and slowly water drains and flows back leaving behind high fertile soil. Its annual cycle of flooding and depositing of silt creates a new layer of topsoil each year. This topsoil is rich in organic nutrients and basic elements for plants such as ammonia and nitrogen. Besides this, when water recedes in October, it leaves behind pools of water in depressed areas whish is stored for some time until the soil could absorb more water therefore acting as a reservoir. On the other hand, the mud left by the flooding would be the best medium for planting their crops. Thus concluding that without the yearly flooding the soil would loose its fertility, as well as agriculture will loose its importance.

Nile gifts are not limited, another important issue arises from the unique river, which is transportation. The river’s flow north and the prevailing wind blows south made it obvious to the Egyptians to use it as a facilitated way of transportation. As known, Egypt was of two estates, Upper and Lower Egypt. For trade and moving from upper to Lower Egypt, the Egyptians used the Nile River as a highway. To go from Lower Egypt to Upper Egypt they used the flow of the river. Whereas moving from upper to Lower Egypt they used sail ships using the power of wind. An example of the Egyptians using this high way was when they transported the stones for the pyramids from Lower Egypt.

Flooding yearly caused many problems to Egyptians. In addition to its benefits to agriculture, each year flooding causes disasters to Egyptians present in the risk of their villages being damaged and their crops destroyed. So, Egyptians suffered many loses due to this yearly flooding. As an effect of that, the first form of government appeared when the Egyptians organized their efforts under one leadership to avoid these disasters and the yearly flooding following the concept of authority (decision making). As time past, the ruler (pharaoh) became more important with more power and influence on Egyptians. That simple government dealt with many problems that Egyptians were looking forward to control it like the irrigation systems, storage of food surplus, harvest cycle and many other tasks. But these acts were not for free and the government would not stand without having a resource or income so they had to follow the tax method. By time this form of government started to become more and more complex.

Inundation had to be studied after all to know exactly when is the flood going to happen and when shall they plant their crops. For that, the Egyptians invented a device called a nilometer to measure the level of the Nile and thus predict the extent of the flooding. Nilometers were built in various places along the river, they had three different formats – a slab or pillar, a well or a series of steps but all three were calibrated using the same unit of measurement, the cubit (about two inches shorter). These nilometer readings were taken by priests and then studied by Egyptian architects and astronomers. The most important nilometers, built and studied all time, were located at Elephantine Island, Philae Island, and at Edfu between Luxor and Aswan. Knowing that the Nile flooded ever year, a yearly calendar was made depending on that. This calendar consisted of twelve months and divided each one to thirty days and it was the most accurate in its time. For time knowledge the Egyptians used the sundials but they also used water dial more extensively (they used them during cloudy days). Furthermore, because of flooding erasing the boundaries of land. A simple form of geometry was found to redraw them.

A new type of gifts, which the Nile offered to Egypt at that time, was in the field of writing. Papyrus is a plant that used to grow on the riverbank of the Nile and now is extinct. It is one to three meters in height and has a woody, arom creeping rhizome. Its leaves are long and sharp keeled and the upright flowering stems are naked, soft and triangular in shape. The lower part of the stem is as thick as a human arm and at the top is compound umbel of numerous dropping spikelets with a whorl of eight leaves. This plant was very important to ancient Egyptians. It was mainly used for production of papyrus paper. The special method to prepare this paper is as follows::

The stalks of the papyrus plant are harvested

Next the green skin of the stalks is removed and the inner pith is taken out and cut into strips. The strips are then pounded and soaked in water for three days until pliable.

The strips are then cut to the length desired and laid horizontally over the horizontal strips resulting in the criss-cross pattern in papyrus paper. Another cotton sheet is placed on top.

The sheet is put in a press and squeezed together, with the cotton sheets being replaced until all the moisture is removed.

Finally, all the strips are pressed together forming a single sheet of papyrus paper.

A sheet a papyrus varies between 5 by 9 inches to 9 by 15 inches.

This production of paper factored in affecting the development of Egyptian societies. Its method of production was kept secret thus starting to have a monopoly on it. And they transported them and used them for trade with others. Not only papyrus plants were used for paper, they were used also in manufacturing boots, sandals, houses and others.

On the banks of the Nile arose one of the most advanced and powerful civilizations in the ancient world. The Nile represented the life of Egypt every time it flooded and brought about its fortunes. All the scientific, political, and agricultural advancements were a direct results of the existence this river.

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is a good country? Is a good country a country with a cheerful population? Is a good country a country which controls more land than the next? Is a good country a country whose government and economic system has absolutely no problems? Or is a good country a country that has a delicate balance of benefits and problems. Well, we are here today to discuss the corruption of Egypt, a good country, by Britain, a huge and powerful country. Although Britain was not the first, Britain has retained control of Egypt for nearly 40 years and I am here today to ask for the freedom and decolonization of Egypt from Britain.

This problem all started in 1882 when the British forced Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of the French Army, out of Africa. Instead of leaving the land of Egypt to its rightful owners, the Egyptians, Britain decided to colonize Egypt and control them through a protectorate. The protectorate allowed the British government to control Egypt’s economic and political decisions without intervention from the Egyptians. In other words, The Egyptians had completely lost control of their own country. Well, some of you might ask, “Why would Britain want to keep Egypt?” The response to this is more simple than you might think. Was it the fact that Egypt was such a weak country at the time? Or was it that Egypt was just waiting to be colonized? No, it was greed, pure British greed, that caused the corruption of Egypt’s balanced culture.

The economic situation of Egypt before its colonization was quite good. The working and owning class maintained the industrial aspect while the upper class maintained the government and political prospect. Through the colonization of Egypt, Britain gained control of the Suez Canal, a major part of the world trade routes. With this advantage, Britain decided to heavily tax the ships which passed through. This brought mass amounts of money of which the Egyptians never saw. Instead of going to maintain Egypt or even the Suez Canal itself, the money went straight to the British government as profit. Finally, the news that Britain had colonized Egypt and was using it as a “profitable business” reached the public. Immediately, the Egyptians began to leave the country. The British had to act quickly, for they knew that without the Egyptians to maintain the land and canal, the profit would be lost. The British government decided to impose heavy public taxes on the Egyptians, something that the Egyptians never encountered before. These taxes were so heavy that in order to pay them, people needed to stay in Egypt in order to pay them off. To make money, Egyptians were forced to maintain the land for the British. After paying the taxes, people were left with just enough money to buy food and necessities. Basically, Egyptians were held against their will on their own land, which is considered illegal and is punishable by law.

Aside from Britain’s “economic scam”, Egypt’s Political situation had greatly declined since its colonization by Britain. The Egyptians were eager at first knowing that their once powerful government was now going to be huge and include the British as well. They assumed that the larger government would give them the ability to make bigger and quicker changes. Unfortunately, the Egyptians later found out that the new Egypt-British government had now become the British government and rejected any thoughts or requests that the Egyptians had.The Egyptians decided to make a little government of themselves in secret and Egypt’s once powerful, successful government was quickly reduced to a general assembly of less than 20 people. Since the British did not listen to the suggestions of the general assembly, the assembly slowly became a rebellion group and for the most part discussed revolt against the British. Without any concern for the Egyptian assembly and its ideas, the British government used the newly acquired territory to make large profits including the Suez Canal scam.

The mediocre military in Egypt greatly improved both in structure and mass since the British took over. Unfortunately, this pristine army was used entirely as a British commodity, without any Egyptian permission. The new army was composed of mostly high to upper class citizens. These citizens were chosen either because they had enough money to leave Egypt, or they were rebellious. The citizens were shipped to a British camp in Cairo where they were stripped of their money and clothes. They were given one uniform, a rifle, and a pair of shoes. The following day they would begin learning deadly techniques for battle. Throughout this process, the Egyptian citizens thought that they would be used for defensive purposes. Little did they know that the British were planning to use them to do their “dirty work” in battles that were totally non-Egypt related The Egyptians could do nothing to avoid this unfair ruling by the British. If decolonized, Egyptians could be rid of this problem and live in love, not fear.

Oddly enough, the only things that the British improved in Egypt were the health care, education, and improved farming methods. This improvement was not for the Egyptians however, but for the traders and merchants which stayed in Egypt while crossing the Suez Canal. Although the Egyptians did not benefit from these improved resources, they were still expected to pay for it in the form of taxes.

The economy of Egypt, according to the constitution of 1971, is one based on socialism, with the people controlling all means of production. The progress of socialism after 1952 was at first unstable, despite land-reform measures. It was only until the early 1970’s that almost all important sectors of the economy either were public or were strictly controlled by the government. This included large-scale industry, communications, banking and finance, the cotton trade, foreign trade as a whole, and many other sectors. Personal income, as well as land ownership, was strictly limited by the government. Some of these restrictions have been relaxed, permitting greater private sector participation in various economic areas. Africa is now divided into 26 muhafazat. Five cities–Cairo, Alexandria, Ismailia, Port Said, and Suez–have muhafazah status. The governor is appointed and can be dismissed by the president of the republic. He is the highest executive authority in the muhafazah, has administrative authority over all government personnel except judges in his muhafazah, and is responsible for implementing policy. The muhafazah council is composed of a majority of elected members. Although it has not been possible in practice, according to law at least one-half of the members of the muhafazah council are to be farmers and workers. The town or district councils and the village councils are established on the same principles as those underlying the muhafazah councils. The local councils perform a wide variety of functions in education, health, public utilities, housing, agriculture, and communications; they are also responsible for promoting the cooperative movement and for enforcing parts of the national plan. Local councils obtain their funds from national revenue, a tax on buildings and lands within the muhafazah, these include: miscellaneous local taxes or fees, profits from public utilities and commercial enterprises, and national subsidies, grants, and loans.

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Life Before the Pharaohs

For more than half of the twentieth century, much like the pyramids, the predynastic Egypt was a mystery to archeologists. The little discoveries that had been made from the period preceding the pharaohs were not enough to either prove or disprove the various theories circulating at the time.

One of the first artifacts dated at the time of the unification to be unearthed was Narmer’s palette, discovered by the English archeologist James Edward Quibell at the end of the nineteenth century. The discovery was made at Hierakonpolis, about four hundred and fifty miles outside of Cairo. The object depicted the unification of the Lower and Upper Egypt, the event being attributed to Narmer; he also found a macehead that carried the insignia of Scorpion, a king which was believed to have ruled Upper Egypt just before the unification. Not far from the spot where Quibell had found the palette, his colleague, Frederick W. Green, discovered an extremely decorated tomb that had been built for a ruler who dominated the surrounding region almost two centuries before Narmer. Their discoveries were the first ones to document this moment of extreme importance in history: a time of political and cultural change and evolution. Unfortunately they were not nearly enough to explain that evolution.

The little evidence available led several archeologists to come up with more or less “believable” theories about the predynastic Egypt. Some sustained that the society before the pharaohs was a primitive and one that could not have evolved into the great Egyptian state without any outside help. Walter Brian Emory was one of the supporters of this theory.

Only three years before this amazing discovery, another English archeologist, William Fliders Petrie, had unearthed at Naqada about twenty-one hundred graves containing such objects as fired-clay pots, palettes, and amulets made of stone, bone, and ivory. The latest graves were dated to about 3100 BC, while the earliest were dated to the predynastic period. Petrie assigned the objects found in the “predynastic graves” to three major periods: the Amratian (3800-3500 BC), the Gerzean (3500-3200 BC), and the Protodynastic (3200-3100 BC) periods; a fourth period, the Badarian (before 4000-3800 BC), is added in the 1920’s. Using the scarce evidence they had, Petrie and other archeologists concluded that life before the pharaohs was quite a primitive one and it wasn’t until very short before the dynastic era that the culture would evolve. But he had deduced this by studying graves and not habitation sites, which meant that he had no evidence of what day to day life was, therefore he couldn’t know if the evolution had came from within or from outside.

The uncertainty floated around for a long time, before any light would be shed upon this ancient period of our prehistory. In 1969 a team of archeologists from the American Museum of Natural History discovered a structure dating to the Protodynastic period, very close to the place where Quibell had made his discovery. Excavations outside Hierakonpolis led to the discovery of a whole Amratian village along an ancient dried-up creek bed, Wadi Abul Suffian, which finally made possible the reconstruction of what day-to-day life might have been. The population was constituted mostly of farmers and craftsmen; the leaders were the ones that managed the manufacture and commerce of the goods. During this period the first signs of written language appear also. During the Gerzean period we see a very primitive layout of what will become the irrigation system being created. We also see the old local chieftains expand into regional kings. At the same time, the tombs grew larger and more sophisticated, so by the end of the Gerzean they were very much alike the graves of the early pharaohs. The Protodynastic was a period of political unrest and consolidation, a period during which the city of Hierakonpolis became one of the greatest, biggest and most powerful urban centers in Egypt.

The excavations at Hierakonpolis have, without doubt, proven the fact that there was no <"dynastic race" that invaded the Nile Valley in the late fourth millennium BC> as Emory sustained nor any other outside force that influenced the development of the predynastic civilization; Egypt’s development into a state was gradual, but entirely from within.

Personal Opinion: My overall impression of the article is that it was objective one, although not very concise. As I first started reading it I realized I didn’t have much knowledge of the prehistoric Egypt and what exactly is known about it today; yet the article gives us a pretty good insight of how we came to know all we know about it today and also how well we do know it. That gives you a much better understanding of the topic.

Its strongest point I would say is the fact that it without any doubt achieves its goal: proving that Egypt, the first nation-state, developed from within, and invalidating all the other “influential” theories that had emerged since the beginning of the twentieth century. Another thing that I liked in this article is that the author does not suppress the contrary view points, but instead tries to bring logical arguments against them.

Although I don’t see any major weaknesses, I could say a down-point was the over-attentiveness the author paid to details. Although there are certain things he couldn’t have left out, there certainly are some details he could have skipped.