SocietyNorth Africa

Farming along the Nile

5,001 BCE

A river that fertilises the fields for free, every single year

In depth

The Nile is nearly unique among great rivers in flooding predictably and gently, in summer, with water from the Ethiopian highlands. That gave a surplus which could be measured, stored and taxed — and a need to *predict* the flood, which drove the calendar and land surveying. As the Sahara dried, people crowded into this narrow strip, and what became Egypt took shape.

For children

Every summer the Nile overflowed its banks and left a layer of fertile silt. Farmers did not need to fertilise — the river did it for them. That is why Egypt could grow so rich and so densely populated.

Connects to

The Green Sahara9,001 BCE – 3,501 BCE
The pyramids of Giza2,561 BCE
Writing is invented3,201 BCE

Part of Terra Saga — the story of Earth on a timeline. terrasaga.org