what role did the nile river play in the development of egyptian civilization?

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what role did the nile river play in the development of egyptian civilization
 
Herodotus said "Egypt is the gift of the Nile "and he was correct.
There is no doubt without the Nile river and its unique annual inundation the ancient Egyptian civilization would have suffered the same fate as the Mesopotamians and Sumerians and it most certainly would not have developed into the magnificent culture it did.
Each year in June the tropical rains that fall in the ancient volcanic ranges of Ethiopia and Uganda would reach Egypt and the Nile river would flood the ribbon of flat lands along its bank.
When the flooding subsided the water left behind a layer of nutrient rich black loam.This soil was so important to the Egyptians agrarian culture that they referred to themselves as kmt or kemet "the people of the black land ".
The Nile not only provided a continual source of fresh water it was also the super highway of the ancient Egyptians.
It was via the Nile the huge granite blocks used in the construction of the pyramids and other important monuments and building were brought from Aswan in Upper Egypt to Giza and Saqqarra and other locations.
It is only since the construction of the Aswan Dam,which controls the amount of water that flows into Egypt and ended the cycle of the inundation, that Egyptian farmers have found it necessary to use fertiliser to ensure the growth of the crops.
This is a very good essay on the Nile river and its role in Egypt's development.
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/nile.htm
 
Almost 100% because it had a system provided by nature to fertilize their annual agricultural productivity.
Intensive agriculture allows for am economic base to create civilization, an example is the United states. We have intensive agriculture and so people are free to pursue other pursuits beside hunting and gathering food.
Look at countries that do not have reliable agricultural systems like Darfur in the Sudan, people hunt and kill other people for sport and profit because the people can not raise crops and afford weapons . This is why the Muslims have killed and murdered non Muslims for centuries. Muslims in America are peaceful because Americans have guns otherwise they would be stealing your sons and daughters to sell into slavery the same as they do anywhere they can in the world.
slaves were a major import into ancient Egypt for the purpose of agricultural labor.
 
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