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Ancient Egypt.

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

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

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

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Something that looked like toilet paper anyway…

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

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

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What was Egypt’s secret?

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The Nile.

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No no…not denial

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We mean the river Nile.

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In a land that gets hardly any rain all year…

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

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

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years ago.

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

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

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And that’s just what happened in Egypt.

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

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

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

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

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What’s so special about that?

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Not much.

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

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

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

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

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

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unified.

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Without the river, everything would’ve fallen apart.

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

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actually based on it.

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The years were divided into three seasons…

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Inundation…when the land flooded.

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

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

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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]

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

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

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

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

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