The Effect of Nubia and Egypt.

Darwin may not have only been talking about evolution when he coined the theory of the survival of the fittest; so too remains true with entire civilizations. “The luck of the draw.” Such was the case with Egypt and Nubia, the “Gifts of the Nile.” While it may have been strategic on the former nomad’s part, there simply was not much of a better place to have chosen. By settling land so near to the Nile river, both Egypt and Nubia were very prosperous.

Probably the largest and most obvious of reasons why both cultures survived long enough to be properly perpetuated in history books is because of the Nile River and the prosperity of both societies in terms of crops. The agricultural revolution in and of itself allowed for nomadic people to have to opportunity to settle down and create homes and eventually entire cultures. Given the arid deserts that are numerous in the continent of Africa, Egypt and Nubia were able to become very prosperous, unlike other countries, as they were able to take advantage of the Nile’s floodplains. With a steady source of food, and reliability on their crops, both Egypt and Nubia were not plagued with struggling to get each other fed, leading to a growth in population. One cannot help but to include in a history the larger, more established cultures. Egypt and Nubia were certainly both large in number, and established in their lands due to the wonderful geography they settled upon.

Egypt and Nubia were also subjected to much trade and various other cultures as the Nile River links both to sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean basin. Not only was trade of goods made possible, but it is stated that these outside cultures were then able to teach Egypt and Nubia how to gather grains, and grow gourds such as watermelon. These outside cultures also introduced cattle and donkeys, and taught the people how to domesticate them. Most importantly they taught the inhabitants of Egypt and Nubia how to write and created records of their own, using the language of Copic. Naturally these methods that had been taught to both regions were adapted and perfected in ways specific to themselves, but without the initial spark, our culture today could have missed decades of important information about the two societies as oral histories are hardly accurate. For this ability to preserve their culture Egyptians and Nubians have their location to thank. If it were not for their convenient locality and accessibility to other more advanced cultures, Egypt and Nubia may not have been able to start a record of their people, thereby not allowing for their history to even be made known until much later.

As it is plain to see, not only does location affect the history of a culture, it also affects whether or not a region even HAS a history at all, at least in the case of Egypt and Nubia. Because of their brilliant location and luck in choosing one, the histories of these two places have been recorded and will forever be perpetuated as their descendants live on even today.