Ancient Egypt Flashcards
1
Q
ancient Egypt
A
- civilization in northeastern Africa that dates from the 4th millennium bce
- dependent on the annual inundation of the Nile River to support its agricultural population
- Agriculture centered on the cultivation of cereal crops, chiefly emmer wheat and barley
- Basin irrigation was achieved by simple means, and multiple cropping was not feasible until much later times
- Most Egyptians were probably descended from settlers who moved to the Nile valley in prehistoric times, with population increase coming through natural fertility
- Slavery was never common, being restricted to captives and foreigners or to people who were forced by poverty or debt to sell themselves into service
- construction of the great pyramids in the 4th dynasty (c. 2575–c. 2465 bce)
- uneven distribution of wealth, labour, and technology was related to the only partly urban character of society