It is traditionally believed that Ancient Egypt was a blooming oasis in the endless desert. Although the country's climate was hot, on the whole it favored a comfortable life and well-developed agriculture. However, this statement is not entirely true.
Instructions
Step 1
Researchers of Ancient Egypt are of the opinion that during the period of the emergence of civilization, i.e. 5000 years ago, the climate of Northeast Africa was not very different from that of today. There was, in fact, no division into seasons. Day and night were associated with summer and winter. It was unbearably hot during the day and cool at night. Sometimes there were frosts at night.
Step 2
The most difficult climatically were March and April, when the khamsin, the so-called "red wind of the desert", raged for 50 days. He covered the fields and roads of Egypt with a thick layer of sand. Sometimes a storm covered the sun with such a thick curtain of dust that at the height of the day the "Egyptian darkness" known from the Bible came. It rained exclusively in the Nile Delta, and it happened every few years, so the Egyptians perceived them as a natural anomaly.
Step 3
The life of the Egyptians depended exclusively on the floods of the Nile, which not only watered the land thirsty for moisture, but also fertilized it with fertile silt. In early June, the waters of the Nile turned green, as a large number of algae appeared in them. Then the Nile turned red, as volcanic dust fell into it from the washed-out banks. The water level in the red Nile rose rapidly, the river overflowed its banks and flooded the valley. This usually happened at the end of September, and already in October the water level dropped noticeably.
Step 4
The flora and fauna of Ancient Egypt was much richer than it is now. Acacias, fig trees, date palms, lotuses, papyri and other plants grew there. Wild donkeys, sheep, bison, gazelles, antelopes, giraffes, lions and leopards roamed the valley. Crocodiles, hippos, all kinds of fish swam in the Nile. The country was a real paradise for hunters and fishermen, if, of course, they managed to avoid the danger of becoming the prey of crocodiles themselves. In addition, nature has endowed the Nile Valley with huge reserves of building stone, incl. pink granite, sandstone, limestone, alabaster and many other rocks.
Step 5
Thus, the civilization of Ancient Egypt developed in not the worst, but at the same time far from ideal natural conditions. The Egyptians had to spend a lot of effort on the development of the originally wild spaces. In the future, nature rewarded the Egyptian workers so generously that they did not need to worry about the technical improvement of their work. Perhaps this is the reason for the slow development of Egyptian civilization.
