Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs

Ancient Egypt: The Land of Pyramids and Pharaohs — page 9
Chapter one egypt’s beginnings The first-known nation-state was in the Nile Valley in around 3000 BC This nation-state arose from the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt The Nile Delta separated the two regions with Upper Egypt being everything south of the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt being everything everything north of the Nile Delta Because Upper Egypt actually looks lower on a map than Lower Egypt many have questioned why they were named this way Historians determined however that because the Nile River actually flows from south to north the ancient Egyptians based their understanding of geography on that flow which led to the reversal Long before there was a ruler on a throne evidence discovered discovered by archaeologists indicates there were smaller villages that eventually formed the upper and lower kingdoms Earlier still evidence has been uncovered uncovered of groups of people living in the Nile Valley Predynastic Culture The first leader of Egypt established a dynasty or family line of rulers This dynasty was the first of many to follow in Egypt Researchers sometimes use the term Predynastic to describe Egypt and its history before the rise of the nation-state nation-state and its kingship Specifically the time period known as Predynastic lasted from around 5000 to 3100 BC The peoples that had settled in this area were descendants of inhabitants from northeast Africa who had spread over the area during the Paleolithic period During this timeframe there were a number of key events that ultimately ultimately led to the emergence of the Egyptian state Research indicates that early humans humans passed through the Nile Valley as far back as 1 8 million years ago during the Stone Age Later between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago groups of modern humans settled permanently in the Nile River valley They were 12 ancient egypt the land of pyramids and pharaohs