Egypt, Africa : Egyptian Natural Resources: Then and Now

Egypt relies on a lot of natural resources to keep their nation living and prosperous.

Ancient Egypt’s primary natural resource was the Nile River. The Nile River provided transportation, fish, and helped the fertilized the land for Egypt’s crops to grow. Egypt also used other natural resources in metals and rocks. The main types of rocks that were used in Ancient Egypt are limestone, quartzite, sandstone, alabaster, and granite. The most popular metal used in Ancient Egypt is copper. Because copper came mixed with other elements, it had to be heated in order to get the copper out. The Egyptians uses a heating process called smelting to remove impurities from the copper. Flint was also another popular natural resource. Flint is a type of stone that was used to make sickles for harvesting crops and making weapons. The Egyptians used another type of stone called Steatite to make inexpensive charms which had a significant religious meaning to the early Egyptians. Flax was another major natural resource in ancient Egypt. It grew well in the fertile Nile Valley. The Egyptians beat and separated the flax into parts and spun it into linen cloth. Papyrus was another popular natural resource used to make paper. The papyrus plant grows in water, it is cut into strips and is pounded to made loose-textured paper. The Ancient Egyptians used all the natural resources that were available to them to keep their society thriving.

Today, Egypt relies on some of the same natural resources but they have also developed new natural resources. They still use the Nile River for transportation, fishing, and fertilizer. Egypt’s natural resources include petroleum, natural gas, phosphates, and iron ore. Egypt also supplies crude oil that is found primarily in the Western desert. Modern day Egypt also uses iron ore, phosphate, limestone, manganese, talc, and zinc just like the Ancient Egyptians. Honey has become a popular natural resource among the modern day Egyptians. Bees provides Egypt with the production of wax and honey. Honey is used as a medicinal base and a sweetener offering to the Gods. Just like the Ancient Egyptians, modern day Egyptians use the papyrus plant to make paper.

Ancient Egyptians and modern day Egyptians use their natural resources efficiently in order to take full advantage of the land assets they had.