home Economy books The history of the world economy - Polyak GB

The history of the world economy - Polyak GB

4. Economics of Ancient Egypt

The emergence of the state, economic development

The history of the ancient Egyptian state is interesting and instructive - millennial his story allows us to trace the economic, social and political aspects of the development of the people and the state.

An example of Egypt once again convinced of the paramount significance for the state of the economy - the basis of the development of the people and the state. The ideology and one of its manifestations - a religion designed to ensure economic development.

For thousands of years in Egypt has consistently changed about a dozen religions. In the prehistoric period is dominated by fetishism. People worshiped objects, sacred stones, trees. There were cults of nature - and the people worshiped the water, the River Nile, the animals - people worshiped sacred bulls, sheep, snakes, etc...

During the existence of the ancient Egyptian kingdoms people worshiped many gods, the chief among which was the sun god Ra, then Amon. As a result of the religious reform in the XV century. BC. e. the country introduced the cult of a single god Aten. Subsequent anti-religious reform returned again the god Amun, who was later replaced by the gods of the Greek-Roman pantheon. They, in turn, replaced Christianity, and within a few centuries - Islam.

Change one's religion, but remained the Egyptian people and the state. Remained unshakeable goal of economic policy of the state - life support of the population. To achieve these goals, it was necessary for thousands of years to create and maintain the irrigation network in the country and to look beyond minerals (building materials, copper, gold, iron), to provide farm labor. For the sake of minerals and slaves Egyptian pharaohs constantly waged wars, which ultimately ruined the country and have repeatedly led to the collapse of a unified Egyptian state, and even to the conquest of its foreigners. Thus, although the war and were to solve economic problems, but they drained the economy of the country and led to the disintegration of the state. Decays Egyptian states were the starting point for the division of Egyptian history into periods: Old Kingdom (PG millennium BC - XXII century BC......), The Middle Kingdom (XXI BC - XVIII century.... .. BC) New kingdom (XVI century BC -... the XI century BC)....

The oldest on the planet Egyptian state emerged at the end of IV millennium. BC. e. in the Nile valley. The territory where the Egyptian civilization was created, was a narrow strip of land along the river, sandwiched between the deserts of North and East Africa. Neil provided the existence of the people in this part of the world since the time of the Stone period. The waters of the White Nile, originating in Equatorial Africa, passing through the territory, rich in vegetation, carry with them a large number of plant sludge. The waters of the Blue Nile are mineral mud. Joining together in a single river, they are bottled each year in the north, irrigating and fertilizing her land, creating favorable conditions for agriculture.

In ancient times the climate of North Africa was wetter. The fauna is adjacent to the Nile Valley, the steppe was also much richer. All this created favorable conditions for the emergence of cattle here, and then agriculture based on the domestication of animals and plants.

Living in this country, the population formed by mixing Semitic, Berber and other tribes of North and East Africa. Their language belongs to the Afro-Asiatic language family. Ancient people lived in communities led by the elders. The need for irrigated agriculture in the same way as in Mesopotamia, forced the community to join together to create irrigation networks. The construction of canals and dams was carried out not only freemen, and the captured slaves. Of the nobility began to emerge, local rulers, the community occur bundle, creating small states, which by mid-FV thousand. BC. e. united in the state: Lower Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt in the south. As a result of a long struggle between them about 3,000 years. BC. e. they were united in a single state. The territory of the state was divided into regions (noma), led by the governors of the Pharaoh - nomarhov.

The land belonged to Pharaoh, who complained of their officials, military commanders, priests. The irrigation system consisted of canals, locks, dams, surrounding fields and shadoofs, lifting equipment, like wells, "Crane", through which water rises to the field located above the water level. State officials were responsible for the development and maintenance of the irrigation system, watched the water rise in the Nile. The government conducted large work on the creation of channels and reservoirs. Already in the Middle Kingdom has established a system of regulation of the movement of water from the Nile to the reservoir, which will create a large Fayum oasis, where there was a stand up city Cahoon.

Agriculture and industry

Lack of arable land has led to limited cattle breeding, which had grown in stall conditions. Already in the period of the Old Kingdom Egyptians were led breeding cattle. Of great importance was poultry farming, especially the breeding of ducks and geese.

The main branch of agriculture was farming. Grown mainly barley, vegetables, flax. The instruments of labor in the agricultural sector in Egypt for a long time remained primitive. Basically it was a hoe, the plow, the sickle with flint cutters, later replaced by a metal. Low levels of tools is explained by cheap labor.

Even in prehistoric times the country's population to skillfully use a variety of materials for the manufacture of household items, tools and weapons. There are huge reserves of various stones. His early learned to handle, polishing. From stone made knives, axes, adzes, arrowheads, blades for sickles. The stone was a building material. Because of heavy stone blocks and slabs, well-crafted and fitted to each other, erecting huge temples, pyramids and buildings. Up to the historical period used boomerangs, made from wood. From shells made fishhooks.

Plowing (Egypt 1400 BC. E.)

Egyptian baker (III in. BC. E.)

In Egypt, metallurgy began to develop early. To smelt copper and lead. Lead was mined near Aswan and the Red Sea, copper - in the Sinai Peninsula and in the Eastern Desert, gold - in Nubia and the Eastern Desert. High level reached jewelry production.

The most rapidly began to develop crafts in the period of the New Kingdom. In this era when pharaohs palaces, temples created workshops in which sometimes worked up to 150 people. There are new ways of processing gold:.. Weave gold threads, production of gold chains, forging, etc. Ancient Egyptian jewelry and religious articles of precious metals adorn major museums of the world.

In Egypt, the material production technology was first developed for writing - papyrus. For these purposes from the beginning of the III millennium. BC. e. herb used papyrus stalks are cut into strips and overlap. Crossed layers pinched under pressure, and then dried. As writing material papyrus was used in the Middle East and Europe, even in the Middle Ages.

Egyptian gold smelters (top) and manufacturers of clay bricks (bottom) (mural from the tomb of Rekhmire, Thebes, XV c. BC. E.)