HIST 2A Lecture 3: Lecture #3
Document Summary
As time progresses, more people/settlements move towards the river. Cataracts - slow moving waterfall/sections where the river tumbles over rocks; in the. Could not sail the ships through the nile river. Nile flood was more regular and more easily controlled. Not a lot of irrigation; nile river absorbs the floods. No failure of the floods to arrive. River"s natural current goes towards the sea; really slow, not powerful. Movement of goods and political control over a large region. Generally a more positive picture of life and afterlife. Nile made life a little bit easier compared to mesopotamia. Resulting focus on nile river and tendency towards isolationism. Increasingly complex chiefdoms - clustering of settlements. Agricultural villages and trading centers all up and down the nile. Mesopotamia has large cities, but egypt does not. Lower egypt (memphis) -> upper half of ancient egypt vs. upper egypt (thebes) -> southern half of ancient egypt.
