The+Growth+of+Communities+and+Trade+Along+the+Nile

A long, long, time ago, along the Nile...
Around 6000 B.C., hunting and fishing communties appeared along the Nile in Nubia. In 6000 B.C., your great-great-great-great x 100 grandparents were probably not even born! About 5000 B.C., farming communities began to appear along the Nile in Egypt and Nubia. If you're wondering why all these settlements suddenly began popping up all along the Nile River, I have an answer. You see, the area now known as the Sahara Desert wasn't always a desert. Around 8000 B.C., northern Africa was turned into desert because of climate change and overgrazed pastoral lands. So, to survive, the inhabitants migrated to the Nile River. When they arrived along the Nile, they settled in the delta and valley regions of the Nile. The delta inhabitants built their villages along the fertile river beds which later was proved to be a very good decision which improved farming. Easy farming was later a key factor in the development of the Egyptian empire. In upper Egypt (south of the delta) the future Egyptians build their farming settlements scattered across the banks of the Nile River which also proved to be useful for farming. The Nubians had very limited farming so they had to add fish from the Nile and ducks from its banks to their diet. After a while, these settlements grew which expanded their trade.

Egyptian Trade Grows
As the Egyptian empire grew, so did their trade economy. The Egyptians would send their ships down the Nile. The ships would then exit the Nile to trade with nations along the Mediterrranean Sea. The Egyptian traders would bring back items such as cedar from the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptians would also send caravans to Mesopatamia and the Red Sea Ports. They would carry items to trade with such as gold, silver, copper, and fine pottery. They would carry these items through the desert to the land trade spots. As you can see, the Egyptians were very good traders.

Nubian Trade
People that wanted to trade with the Nubians could not reach Nubia using the Nile because of the cataracts. Cataracts are difficult to navicate sections of the Nile. They are also very shallow. In order to trade, the Nubians would send large caravans consisting of about 300 donkeys per caravan. The caravans would travel all over Africa and southeast Asia. The Nubian caravans would carry items like ostrich feathers and ebony wood. That is how the Nubians would trade without using the Nile.

Links
To learn more about overseas Egyptian trade routes, [|click here] To see a great video of Egyptian farming, which was very valuable to the growth of Egyptian communities and the Egyptian empire, [|click here] To view my powerpoint click on [|The Growth of Trade and Communities Along the Nile.ppt] To view my bibliography, click on [|wiki Bibliography.doc]