Middle Kingdom of Egypt - Agriculture and Climate

Agriculture and Climate

It was I who brought forth grain, the grain god loved me,
the Nile adored me from his every source;
One did not hunger during my years, did not thirst;
they sat content with all my deeds, remembering me fondly;
and I set each thing firmly in its place.

extract from the Instructions of Amenemhat

Throughout the history of ancient Egypt, the annual flooding of the Nile River to inundate the fields on its banks was relied upon to feed the population. There is evidence that the collapse of the previous Old Kingdom may have been due in part to low flood levels, resulting in famine. This trend appears to have been reversed during the early years of the Middle Kingdom, with relatively high water levels recorded for much of this era, with an average inundation of 19 meters above its non-flood levels. The years of repeated high inundation levels correspond to the most prosperous period of the Middle Kingdom, which occurred during the reign of Amenemhat III. This seems to be confirmed in some of the literature of the period, such as in the Instructions of Amenemhat, where the king tells his son how agriculture prospered under his reign.

Read more about this topic:  Middle Kingdom Of Egypt

Famous quotes containing the words agriculture and, agriculture and/or climate:

    In past years, the amount of money that has had to be been spent on armaments, great and small, instead of on productive industry and agriculture and the arts, has been a disgrace to all of us in every part of the world.
    Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)

    But the nomads were the terror of all those whom the soil or the advantages of the market had induced to build towns. Agriculture therefore was a religious injunction, because of the perils of the state from nomadism.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    When we consider how much climate contributes to the happiness of our condition, by the fine sensation it excites, and the productions it is the parent of, we have reason to value highly the accident of birth in such a one as that of Virginia.
    Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)