Egypt+Five

 E g y p t F i v e

//Overview //

A day in the life of Ancient Egypt revolved around the Nile River. People relied on the Nile River for the flood that would grow their crops. The Nile would flood every year allowing the farmers to grow their crops on brand new nutrients that the Nile brought. They adapted to the harsh and hot enviorments of Egypt by using their surroundings by using the mud that this water created to build to build mud bricks for their houses. Most Ancient Egyptians were field hands or farmers, tending to the crops. Others were scribes, who wrote all the goings on in hieroglyphics, which is kind of like Egyptian alphebet. Few people were nobles. Ancient Egypt is famous for mummies (the wrapping of dead people to preserve them), hieroglyphics (Ancient pictures on a wall that tell a story), and gods and goddesses(they believed that something good would come out of everything, as long as they did good things.) On this page, you can learn what things were like in Ancient Egypt.

//This is an image of the Sphinx now in Egypt.//

//Adaptation to Area //

People of Egypt adapted to their environment of constant floods by making the floods benefit them. The Nile floods every year regularly, before seeding and harvesting, due to the immense amount of water that rains down on the mountains in the south and that comes down to the Nile River. The flood would leave nutrients that are helpful for growing crops when it recedes. This helped shape the civilization by providing lush crops and extra food for the Egyptians when food might be scarce. The Egyptians would build dam-like walls that would save water for the occasional dry spells when it wouldn't rain at all. The Egyptians adapted to floods by building their houses on high ground or building their houses above ground. The flood didn't harm them though, since they had walls to protect villages in case the flood got too big and since the flood was so predictable that they even based their calendar on it. They called this rich and fertile land which the Nile floods on, Black Land and they called the vast barren wasteland that is far away from the Nile, Red Land. The Egyptians also made the Red Land benefit them by using it as a protection against enemy forces, since it is likely that they will starve and die of thirst even before they got to Egypt, and using it as a source of precious metals and precious stones.  //Image of the Black Land and an image of the Red Land.//

//Weather and Climate // Ancient Egypt was an incredibly hot climate, but it also had many water resources. During the heat spells, the Ancient Egyptians had to wear light clothing so that they wouldn't overheat and build their walls extra thick so that the heat won't reach them. The water resources in Ancient Egypt were very plentiful as well. These include the Nile River, the Red Sea, and Lake Nasser. People used these bodies of water as drinking water, but also used them to enrich the soil that they used for planting food. The Nile River floods once a year, providing water and nutrients for plants for everyone to grow their crops and feed their families. But there wasn't just bodies of water in Ancient Egypt. Precipitation fell from the sky, mainly in the form of rain. The rain that fell in Ancient Egypt was approximately 2.5 to 7.4 inches of rain each year. The average temperature ranged between 20 degrees Celsius and 27 degrees Celsius, as it does now. One of the main deserts in Egypt is the Sahara Dessert. It stretches over most of the country, and is now known all over the world as the World's largest hot desert, and the third largest desert, after Antarctica and the Arctic. It is over 9,400,000 square kilometres. Along with deserts, Egypt also has mountains. These include Mount Shayib and Jebel Katarina, which is the highest mountain in Egypt. In English, Jebel Katarina means Mount Catherine.  //This is where Egypt is now located in Africa, around the Nile River.//

//Modern Lessons//

There are some things that people in Ancient Egypt did to adapt to their enviornment that is similar to what modern people did. For example, they learned to adapt by using their surroundings to benefit them. Modern people in Canada mostly build houses and various other things out of wood because there are plenty of trees in Canada. Similiarly, people in Egypt learned to use their surrounding, which is mainly just sand. They adapted by learning how to make bricks out of sand and building houses with it. They also learned that moist mud and sand from the nile cools the hot desert heat down, like the aboriginals learned that using cedar prevents the house from getting too wet when it rains a lot. The ancient Egyptians also learned to adapt to their hot temperatures by sleeping on top of their roof on extremely hot nights and making their walls extra thick so that the heat won't reach them easily on hot days. Even though modern people don't sleep on roofs, this is similar to us since we have fans and air conditioners to keep us cool. Ancient Egyptians and modern people both learned to adapt to their environments.

//References //

Black Land image <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Egypt Map] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Egyptian God Image] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Hieroglyphics Image] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">Mr Donns website <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Museum of Ancient Egypt] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Oracle Thinkquest] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|Red land image] <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="background-color: #f49ff4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 110%;">[|The British Museum Website]