Transformation of the Egyptian Nile from a natural to a
cultural landscape has been occurring for more than 7,000
years. Around 5000 b.c., Neolithic people in the Faiyum saw
perhaps half the river’s floodplain covered with savanna grasses
and dry thickets. In these habitats the people grazed domestic
sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, and hunted elephant and harte-
beest (African antelope). From the river, they took Nile perch
and other fish, trapped birds, and hunted hippopotamus and
crocodile. They grew barley and emmer wheat, planting their
crops after the annual floodwaters retreated in late October.
They left the land fallow after the May harvest—the Nile was
far down in its channel, and it was difficult to lift up enough
water to plant a second summer crop.
With some improvements, this simple technology of sea-
sonal flood irrigation sustained the civilization of Pharaonic
Egypt (3100–332 b.c.). The conversion to permanent, or
perennial, irrigation began modestly around 1500 b.c. with the
introduction of the shaduf, a device for lifting water to summer
crops. It brought increasing amounts of floodplain wildlands
into cultivation. The pace of change quickened under Greek
and Roman rule (332 b.c. to a.d. 324). Unused regions of
Upper Egypt and the Faiyum were settled and planted with
wheat, barley, broad beans, millet, sesame, lentils, clover, and
flax. Other water-lifting devices, like the Archimedean screw
and waterwheel, were used to irrigate more land along the Nile
and its canals. The limit of cultivation set by available technol-
ogy was almost reached, with the planted area being almost
equal to what was planted 2,000 years later, in 1880. Agricul-
tural improvements were accompanied by population growth,
cultural landscape has been occurring for more than 7,000
years. Around 5000 b.c., Neolithic people in the Faiyum saw
perhaps half the river’s floodplain covered with savanna grasses
and dry thickets. In these habitats the people grazed domestic
sheep, goats, pigs, and cattle, and hunted elephant and harte-
beest (African antelope). From the river, they took Nile perch
and other fish, trapped birds, and hunted hippopotamus and
crocodile. They grew barley and emmer wheat, planting their
crops after the annual floodwaters retreated in late October.
They left the land fallow after the May harvest—the Nile was
far down in its channel, and it was difficult to lift up enough
water to plant a second summer crop.
With some improvements, this simple technology of sea-
sonal flood irrigation sustained the civilization of Pharaonic
Egypt (3100–332 b.c.). The conversion to permanent, or
perennial, irrigation began modestly around 1500 b.c. with the
introduction of the shaduf, a device for lifting water to summer
crops. It brought increasing amounts of floodplain wildlands
into cultivation. The pace of change quickened under Greek
and Roman rule (332 b.c. to a.d. 324). Unused regions of
Upper Egypt and the Faiyum were settled and planted with
wheat, barley, broad beans, millet, sesame, lentils, clover, and
flax. Other water-lifting devices, like the Archimedean screw
and waterwheel, were used to irrigate more land along the Nile
and its canals. The limit of cultivation set by available technol-
ogy was almost reached, with the planted area being almost
equal to what was planted 2,000 years later, in 1880. Agricul-
tural improvements were accompanied by population growth,
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