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The development of ancient societies was a very long and arduous process, often spanning many years until they reached their peak form. However, there are factors such as geography, environment, and relief that may hinder or accelerate a society's development. So what are they? There are many examples of civilizations built by bodies of water such as rivers or lakes due to the large amount of readily available resources to be used such as rich soils for agriculture, trade, or transport. Ancient Egypt is a shining example of this, arguably the ancient world’s most iconic superpower, it is often argued Ancient Egypt would not have existed in its mass if it wasn’t for the river Nile, which helped facilitate trade, communication, transport, and farming. It is widely understood that Egypt’s gain of national prosperity so early and in so great a degree was due in large measure to the products of her fields.
The annual flooding of the Nile often brought regular deposits of alluvial soil that made the lands around it extremely fertile, so once the Ancient Egyptians figured out how to work around the flooding the production of crops increased dramatically, growing and bringing in wealth and stimulating it’s agricultural economy greatly. In addition to this there was a good supply of fish and poultry to sustain the Egyptian people, so the risk of running out of food was fairly low in comparison to other surrounding civilizations. In fact, so prosperous was Ancient Egypt’s agriculture that they would often sell their crops to neighboring civilizations and societies that may have been struggling at the time, furthering their economy and influencing their development. In addition, the Nile wasn’t only useful for agricultural purposes, as its great length made it a perfect method for travel and trade. We know this due to the masses of documentation occurring at the time in the form of Cuneiform tablets, which due to the uniquely dry climate of Egypt were remarkably well preserved. Not only could you find letters from rulers or high-class citizens, but also completely mundane things such as trade receipts. Through these discoveries, it's easy to tell that the Nile posed as a sort of highway for the Ancient Egyptians and the surrounding civilizations.
Armies would also use the Nile for transport when advancing on territory, which allowed a tactical advantage for invasions in the expansion of territory, furthering Egyptian development through warfare. Communication was also essential in influencing the development of the Ancient Egyptians, as due to the harsh environment surrounding Ancient Egypt transport and movement were difficult on foot, and so the development of boats was vital for communication with other nearby civilizations, which as aforementioned was vital for trade. However, it is important to understand that it wasn’t only the River Nile that benefited Ancient Egypt and in turn, positively influenced its development. Ancient Egypt was protected by two oceans, which no substantial threat could manage to cross to invade, and a large desert, which hit dangerous temperatures both day and night. Both environmental borders posed substantial hurdles to overcome if another civilization wanted to invade and so provided natural stability, so with both natural geographical protection from the ocean and land, along with the natural prosperity that came with being situated directly next to the Nile, the development of Ancient Egypt was very positively impacted by the environment and geography of the surrounding area.
Alternatively, although a large amount of Ancient Egypt’s development can be credited to its surrounding geography and environment, it cannot be ignored that Egypt’s development is also in part due to its leadership and politics. For example, the unification of upper and lower Egypt by Narmer and the movement of Egypt’s center to Memphis, brought in a new age of Pharaonic rule, producing dynasties. This unification strengthened Egypt’s development significantly, as this Is usually seen as the beginning of Egyptian civilization. It is due to this that Ancient Egyptian politics began to thrive. Due to religion and politics being too closely interlinked, there was a great amount of construction to accommodate places of worship for their many deities. Due to this Ancient Egypt’s architectural prowess was well developed, creating mud-bricked housing for its lower class people and stone bricked for the higher classes. With construction comes specialized buildings for things such as food or grain production.
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