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Nile Valley - Origin of African American Civilization The first settlements in Nile valley date back to 700. 000 B. C. It is generally assumed that various nomadic tribes, after having settled in the area, began to develop agriculture, which was the condition for emergence of every ancient civilization. Egyptian state first started formally emerging shortly after the establishment of the civilization between the Tigris and Euphrates river valley. This happened in 3100 B. C. , after Northern and Southern kingdoms were being united by Pharaoh Menes.
This year is also associated with the beginning of what is now referred to as Old Dynasty. Menes is credited with the development of Egyptian irrigation system. He built an extensive system of channels, which enabled ancient Egyptians to divert water from the Nile. It is remarkable, that this irrigation system exists up to this day.
It was during the reign of Menes that the construction was started on Memphis, which later became the capital of Egypt. Linguists suggest that Egyptian alphabet also appeared around the same time. It is commonly assumed that it was being inspired by the Sumerian alphabet. Ancient Egypt is best known for its pyramids that were being erected around 2. 500 B. C.
by Pharaoh Cheops. Even now, these pyramids amaze modern engineers. The Cheops pyramids are impressive today - by the standards of the time of their construction, they must also have appeared to be superhuman. Twenty years in the building, these pyramids used between five and six millions tons of stone, some blocks being moved over 500 miles, with virtually perfect masonry work on site so that the alignment variance of the stones even today is less than one percent. There are different theories about how these wonders of construction thought could have been built. Most historians suggest that ancient Egyptians were relying on slave power, for the building of pyramids.
Many ancient depictions of Egyptian slaves leave no doubt that they were Black. Egyptians referred to them as Nubians. This brings us to the much-debated issue of whether it is appropriate to consider ancient Egypt as the first Black state. Many African Americans historians go as far as to completely deny the objective reality, in their attempts to represent ancient Egypt as exclusively Black civilization.
The truth is that the emergence of ancient Egyptian civilization was being triggered by the migration of nomadic tribes from the North. They began to settle in the Nile Valley around 5. 000 B. C. The numerous archeological artifacts suggest that during the time of Old Dynasty, Egyptian population consisted of White, who were a majority, Semitic and Black people.
Diggings reveal that Black people lived predominantly in Southern Egypt. It was them, who were being used as slaves by Egyptian pharaohs. Nevertheless, as Egyptian civilization progressed, Black people begin to integrate more and more in society. They served as mercenaries in Egyptian army. The book March of Titans cites the inscription, written by Count Uni, who was a governor of Southern Egypt, which the shows that Africans played a great role as soldiers: His majesty made war on the Asiatic Sand-Dwellers and his majesty made an army of many ten thousands: in the entire South... among the Irthet Blacks, the Major Blacks, the Yam Blacks, among the What Blacks, among the Kau Blacks, and in the land of Time.
Therefore, to suggest that Black Africans alone were the creators of ancient Egyptian civilization is absurd. Ancient Egypt was rather a multicultural society. This led to a situation when Egyptians racial type began to be affected by the process of racial mixing. By the time of New Dynasty, majority of Egyptians had dark skin. Nevertheless, the pharaohs even than were depicted as having lighter skin than everybody else. This is an undeniable fact.
However, it is also wrong to suggest than Black people did not play a significant role in forming Egyptian culture. While ancient Greeks, for example, did not possess a structured concept of the time, Egyptians did. They really did believe that the achievement of immortality could take place in some physical form. Many historians relate it to Black spiritual influence. Also, Egyptian pantheon of Gods is clearly affected by the African religious tradition. Egyptian Gods have human bodies with heads of different animals.
This probably derives from mask tradition, which is clearly of African origin. This is why it would be much closer to the historical truth to say that Black people played a significant role in ancient Egyptian civilization, but they did not define it. Egypt started as the state, which is being populated by three distinct racial groups. Archeological discoveries that are related to the time of Old Dynasty had proven it. However, the anthropological findings that are related to the time of around 1000 500 B.
C. indicate that the Egyptian society, back than, was racially homogeneous. That is to say that, before being captured by the Alexander the Great in 325 B. C. , Egyptian society became multicultural, in full sense of this word. Nevertheless, it is quite questionable whether this society had really benefited from it, since multiculturalism in ancient Egypt is strongly linked to the period of its decline. The history of ancient Egypt can help us a great deal with understanding of the factors that are the main driving force behind cultural development in every civilization.
Civilizations emerge out of conflict. However, as time goes by, racial animosity within such civilizations become less acute, which also signifies the beginning of their decline. The Nile Valley had always attracted settlers, because of its fertile soil, regardless of their racial background. Therefore, we cannot say that Ancient Egypt was completely African state, even though that this notion is being actively promoted among African-Americans, to make them feel better about themselves.
Nevertheless, the ideological doctrine, which distorts historical facts, cannot be considered as being very effective. History is a science, which needs to be deprived of politically correct sentiment; otherwise, it looses its credibility. Ancient Egypt, in time of its decline, can be compared to contemporary America, where the promotion of multiculturalism is believed to be beneficial for all Americans. Still, many historical examples, such as history of ancient Egypt, suggest otherwise.
Bibliography: Ben-Jochanan, Joseph The Nile Valley Civilization and the Spread of African Culture. 2000. Africa Within. com. January 29, 2007. web Jeffries, Leonard Reclaiming Nile Valley Civilization. 2000. Africa Within.
com. January 29, 2007. web March of the Titans. Chapter 8. Nordic Desert Civilization. 1999.
Ottawa Publications. January 29, 2007. web Abstract: This paper suggests that the civilization of ancient Egypt was rather multicultural. Outline: p. 1 Achievements of ancient Egyptians. p. 2 Historical truth vs.
historical distortion. p. 3 Conclusion.
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Research essay sample on Nile Valley Origin Of African American Civilization
