Trade-The+Nile+River+Valley+Civilization



As complex, city- based societies formed in the Nile, the civilization could draw on an expanding amount of human skills. The Nile River Valley could pull ideas from Mesopotamia, who had already furthered bronze technology, and Sudanic people who already developed iron. Specialized labor formed in the Nile, including work in pottery, textiles, wood, leather, and stone. This specialized labor and the creation of transportation systems set up the civilization for a successful trading network. Specialization of labor not only increased the complexity of the society, but also encouraged interaction with distant lands. The Nile river civilization began to use metal in tools and weapons much later than Mesopotamia. The people of the region produced little bronze because their area was poor in copper and tin. However, people of the Nile began work early on to create efficient modes of transportation. In Egypt, the Nile River was an excellent way to transport items, and Egyptians were traveling before 3500 B.C.E. One kind of boat that was created was a simple medium sized boat made of wood. The river flows northward, so that boats could travel from Upper to Lower Egypt. Winds almost constantly blow from the north, and therefore by simply raising a sail, one could travel from Lower to Upper Egypt. By 2000 B.C.E., Egyptians had traveled into the Mediterranean, and explored the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, and the western portion of the Arabian Sea. Egyptians also created a wheeled vehicle based off of Mesopotamian vehicles for local transport which relied on donkey caravans. In Nubia, navigation of the Nile was less convenient because of cataracts that made it necessary to transport goods over land before continuing on the river. They also had difficulties traveling upriver because the winds blew the same way as the currents. Therefore, they could use the Nile for transportation; however, the use of wheeled vehicles and donkey caravans was much more efficient. Egypt relied on trade more than other civilizations because the land had few natural resources other than the Nile River. Some trade between Nubia and Egypt took place at about 4000 B.C.E. Later on, trade was quite regular between the two areas. An extreme amount of ivory, ebony, leopard skins, ostrich feathers, gemstones, gold, and slaves all went down the Nile in exchange for pottery, wine, honey, and other products from Egypt. Some of the most prized objects exported from Egypt where the fine linen textiles woven from flax. Trade kept together the societies of Egypt and Nubia even when there were complications.

Egyptians traded with Mesopotamia around 3500 B.C.E., and throughout the eastern Mediterranean. The trade between Egypt and Mesopotamia sometimes included extremely large transfers of goods, for example, almost all wood that was used by Egyptians came from Mesopotamia because Egypt lacked a large amount of foliage. Pharaohs regularly imported large loads of aromatic cedar for use in their tombs. The Egyptians believed strongly in the afterlife and that when a person passed on, that they would take with them what they were buried with. In exchange for the wood, Egyptians exported gold, silver, linen, leather, and dried foods such as lentils. One trade documented about forty ships used to carry the cedar wood. Egyptians also traded with the area throughout the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in a land they called Punt. They imported gold, ebony, ivory, cattle, exotic animals such as apes, and human slaves from Punt, and exported jewelry, tools, weapons.