Egypt Vocabulary

EGYPT VOCABULARY

1. Silt - A mixture of tiny bits of soil and rock; this fertile soil made agriculture possible along the Nile River.

2. Delta – A very fertile, flat land made of silt left behind as a river drains into a large body of water.

3. Irrigation – The watering of farm lands through the use of canals, water pipes or shadoufs.

4. Nile River – MAJOR Waterway of Egypt. It is about 4,000 miles long and runs NORTH from Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean Sea.

5. Lower Egypt – The area of Egypt where the Delta is located (Northern part of Egypt).

6. Upper Egypt – The southern part of Egypt.

7. Nilometer – A series of steps built along the Nile River to measure how high the flood waters rose.

8. Unification – The joining of separate parts to create one. Upper and Lower Egypt joined to form one country.

9. Pharaoh – This word refers to the great palace the rulers live in, later it came to mean ruler or king.

10. Economy – The way people of a country manage money and resources for the production of goods and services.

11. Papyrus – A reed plant that Egyptians use to make paper for writing.

12. Hieroglyphics – The Egyptians system for writing made up of about 800 pictures signs. These pictures could stand for words or sounds.

13. Scribes – A professional writer who kept records and copied letters and official government documents.

14. Empire – A group of lands and peoples ruled by one government.

15. Expedition – A group of people who go on a trip for a set reason. A trip to create or improve trade between different people or countries.

16. Sarcophagus – A coffin. 17. Shadouf – Egyptian technology used for irrigation that helped distribute water to the fields; Egyptian used this as an ancient “water pump”. (see page 72)

18. Scale – A unit of measure usually an inch used to represent distance on a map.

19. Small Scale – Given the map viewer, the big picture shows a big area in less detail by measuring its greater distance in large units.

20. Large Scale – A map that provides many details about a small area by measuring lesser distances in small units.

21. Social Pyramids – A diagram showing the divisions with a culture, usually showing the most powerful person or group at the top and the least powerful groups at the bottom.

22. Slavery – The practice of one person owning another person.

23. Social Mobility - Social Mobility is the degree to which, in a given society, an individual's, family's, or group's social status can change throughout the course of their life through a system of social hierarchy. Subsequently, it is also the degree to which that individual's or group's descendants move up and down the class system. The degree to which an individual can move through their system can be based on attributes and achievements or factors beyond their control.

** An example of Social Mobility is Abraham Lincoln. He is an example of Social Mobility because Abraham Lincoln grew up poor, Lower Class, and work his way up to President, Upper Class. A society that does have slavery does not have Social Mobility because they can not move up or down in a social class. **