Egyptian farmers prayed everyday for the success of the yearly flooding of the Nile. This overflow of the Nile produced a repeating cycle which allowed farmers to plant, flood, and harvest their crops Just in time for the next cycle to begin. After the floods recede, it leaves a thick bed of mud called silt. In this rich new soil, farmers could plant and harvest enormous quantities of wheat and barley, which also led to ruptures that allowed their villages to grow.
Unfortunately, If the floodwater’s were a few higher than usual, It would spread to mud brick villages nearby, destroying houses, granaries and previous seeds that farmers needed for planting. The Nile also provided a reliable transportation system between Upper and Lower Egypt. The Nile flowed north, so northbound boats simply drifted with the current. Southbound boats hoisted a wide sail. The prevailing winds of Egypt blow from the north to the south, arraying sailboats against the river current.
This ease of contact made possible by a watery highway helped unify Egypt villages and helped promote trade. In Egypt, practical needs led to developments and inventions. The development of writing was one the keys to growth of Egyptian civilizations. Pictograph was the earliest system of writing, but scribes quickly developed a more flexible writing method called hieroglyphics. As with the Sumerian writing, a picture stood for an idea. Also,
Egyptians used papyrus, reeds that grew in the marshy delta. The reeds were split into narrow strips, dampened then pressed. As it dried the sap turned the reed into a paper like sheet. Egyptians also developed a system of written numbers for counting, adding, and subtracting. Farmers used the early geometry to reset and survey property boundaries after the floods. But one of the greater accomplishments of the Egyptians was the development of the calendar to keep track of time between floods…
