The Nile River had always been an important water source for the ancient Egyptians. This river would flood annually, if the flood was too low, it could compromise the crop yields. This is exactly what happened towards the end of this empire. As a result of diminishing monsoons, the Nile started to flood less and less making Egypt much dryer than it once was. This destroyed the agricultural system and lead to wide-spread famine. Both climate change and natural disasters (specifically floods and monsoons) contributed to the decline of ancient Egypt. As was previously mentioned, the decline of monsoons near ancient Egypt caused the Nile to flood less which caused Egyptian soil to become dry. This made it harder for farmers to grow crops and started to cause food shortages.
Ancient Egypt responded to these environmental factors by focusing more on agriculture rather than raising live animals and cattle because ultimately these took more effort to maintain and there were little resources to go around. As a result, the decline in floods and monsoons the land in Egypt became very dry, so much so that even parts of the Nile began to dry up. People started to live closer and closer to sources of water because if you were too far life was very difficult. The gap between those who wealthy and those who were poor also started to increase since food became very expensive.
There are several similarities between ancient Egypt and modern civilizations when it comes to environmental factors and their effects. For example, ancient Egypt got a lot dryer as a result of climate change, this also occurs with modern civilizations such as Cape Town, the capital of South Africa. This city suffered from a three-year rain-deficit from 2015-2017, this caused the land to become extremely dry. The situation was so crucial that the city's water supply dropped to 20% in 2018. During the decline of ancient Egypt, the price of daily living when up as a result of natural disasters, this is something that continues to happen today in modern civilizations. For example, a 2010 earthquake that hit Chile caused the products available in supermarkets to fall by 32%. This made certain products with limited availability very expensive. As a result of climate change ancient Egypt grew very concerned about its future. This is another thing it shares with many present-day civilizations. Nowadays, governments all over the world are becoming more concerned about the effects of climate change. Many are desperately looking for a solution in order to avoid the same fate as ancient Egypt.
Bibliography:
Cavallo, Alberto, Eduardo, Cavallo, and Roberto Rigobon. Prices and Supply Disruptions During Natural Disasters. Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013.
"How did climate change influence the rise of ancient Egypt" DailyHistory.org. October 3, 2021. https://dailyhistory.org/How_did_climate_change_influence_the_rise_of_ancient_Egypt
Pascale, Salvatore, Kapnick, Sarah, Delworth, Thomas, and Cooke, William. "Increasing risk of another Cape Town ‘Day Zero’ drought in the 21st century" PNAS. November 9, 2020. https://www.pnas.org/content/117/47/29495
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