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World History Videos 95 videos

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African History 1: The Nile River 41 Views


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Description:

We're not going to make another "denial" joke. Nope. Not going to happen. This video is just about the Nile . Not denial. 

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

Ancient Egypt.

00:05

We’re guessing you’ve heard of it. [A pyramid in Egypt and person wearing an Egyptian mask appears]

00:08

It’s that place that had a penchant for burying its kings in giant pointy tombs and

00:13

wrapping the dead in toilet paper… [Egyptian buying toilet paper from a supermarket]

00:16

Something that looked like toilet paper anyway…

00:18

Have you ever considered how crazy it is that humankind’s first major nation state came

00:23

to life… in the middle of the desert? [People with camels in the middle of a desert]

00:25

What was Egypt’s secret?

00:27

The Nile.

00:28

No no…not denial

00:31

We mean the river Nile.

00:32

In a land that gets hardly any rain all year…

00:35

…a river that always has water is an essential commodity. [People gathering water from the River Nile]

00:39

The Nile’s water is the thing that first attracted people to the area thousands of

00:43

years ago.

00:44

And you know what happens when a lot of people end up in the same place? [People fighting in the desert]

00:47

After some pushing and shoving, they usually end up getting organized, i.e. creating civilization.

00:53

And that’s just what happened in Egypt.

00:56

Egyptian society was completely dependent on the Nile. [Guys hanging out eating food and drinking beer by the Nile]

00:59

The waters and fertile flood plains fed the entire nation, providing wheat for bread,

01:04

barley for beer, and fish for…um…eating.

01:08

The Nile’s waters also grew a reedy plant called papyrus. [papyrus growing from the River Nile]

01:13

What’s so special about that?

01:15

Not much.

01:16

Except that the Ancient Egyptians used it to create some of the world’s first paper. [Man holding a scroll of paper]

01:21

You can look in any recycling bin to see how well that trend caught on.

01:24

The river was also absolutely essential for travel in ancient Egypt. [Man on a jetski in the river nile]

01:28

Why hoof it though the desert when you can cruise down the Nile?

01:33

This watery highway is one of the main ways that the pharaohs kept Upper and Lower Egypt

01:38

unified.

01:39

Without the river, everything would’ve fallen apart.

01:42

Egyptian society was so in tune with the Nile’s annual floods that the Egyptian calendar was [Image of the Egyptian calendar]

01:46

actually based on it.

01:48

The years were divided into three seasons…

01:50

Inundation…when the land flooded.

01:52

Emergence…when the waters receded and the muddy soil was great for planting. [People planting in the soil of the river nile]

01:57

And heat…when the river was at its lowest and crops were harvested.

02:00

The Nile’s flooding was actually such an integral part of Egyptian life that they called [People stood by the Nile as it pours with rain]

02:04

rain that happened in wetter parts of the world “floods of the sky.”

02:09

And while they didn’t have a god of the Nile, the annual floods are thought to have

02:12

inspired the rituals of death and rebirth of Osiris, one of their chief gods. [Osiris laid down on a bed]

02:17

OK, by now we figure you’re catching our drift…

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