The Evolution of Early Egyptian Civilization: Issues and Evidence

        The environment and geographical location of a certain area is extremely important to look at when focusing on the emergence of a civilization. The Egyptian civilization can rightfully fall under this category as the country’s geography tells us a lot about the civilization and how it came to be. Environmental changes in Africa beginning around 10,000 BC are the cause of the emergence of the Egyptian civilization, as the climate began to undergo a disastrous change and the Sahara began to loose its rainfall and animal life. The people of the Sahara began to migrate towards sources of water. Some headed towards the tropical rain forests, but the majority headed towards the Nile River Valley, just as Robert J. Wenke proves in his book The Evolution of Early Egyptian Civilization: Issues and Evidence. He notes that, “several scholars have suggested that declining rainfall after the end of the Pleistocene forced desert populations into the Nile Valley and thus directly led to agricultural economies” (Childe, 1934; Hassan, 1984b).

        “Through most of Egypt's early history such simple factors as floodplain width and flood basin size "explain," in a statistical sense, most of the variability in settlement location, size, and density” (Wenke 290).” The Nile River Valley has been a life-source for Egyptians since ancient times, as water is vital to sustaining life. From Ancient Egypt to present day Egypt the majority of the population has lied on the Nile River because of this. The Nile River Valley is an essential area in the Northern part of Africa due to the fertile strip of land amongst the mass desert area. When looking further into the importance of this region it is no wonder that the majority of the population of Egyptians lived in the surrounding areas of the famous Nile River. The Nile River is not just a source for water, but extends into a source for food and agriculture and even as a source of protection for the surrounding civilizations. For food the ancient Egyptians depended on either the plants and crops they would grow in this fertile area, or on the fish they would catch in the Nile. To catch the fish they would use either nets or spears. This important food source was quite simple to get and was plentiful because of the Nile.