1
WGU
GKE 1 Â Task 1
June 17, 2014
Geography and the Development of Human Civilization
A. Without argument, the most significant geographic or environmental factor of Ancient
Egypt to shape early civilization is the Nile River. The Nile has been referred to as life's blood
for the Egyptian civilization. (Fassbender, 2008). To begin understanding how the Nile River
was the greatest factor, one must understand a few facts about the River itself. It starts from two
separate sources; first the lakes of central Africa, called the White Nile, and second the Blue
Nile; that comes from the mountains of Ethiopia. The Blue Nile and the White Nile come
together and flow northward to the Nile delta, starting the 4,000 mile length of the life blood of
Egypt; finally spilling into the Mediterranean Sea. The Egyptian climate does not offer much in
rainfall, averaging less than 2 inches per year in some areas and non existent in other areas. The
early human civilizations were able to farm near the banks of the Nile River with much success
compared to the outlying harsh climates of the Sahara and Arabian deserts on both sides of
Egypt. Each summer the Nile River would swell as the rain fell and the snow melted in the
mountains. Overflowing its banks and lightly flooding the land with fresh water and thick rich
deposits of alluvial soil created a land that could "yield two harvests before winter" (Kreis,
2006); creating an ideal location for early human civilizations to settle and prosper.
This flooding of the Nile River did more than create agriculture wealth for the early
Egyptians, it also helped create some very early inventions such as the calendar; (Keita, n.d.)
created from the expected annual nature of the floods, the end of the...