Egyptian civilization has a long history. The artistic genius engendered by the Egyptian craftsmen, the superb condition of many burial chambers, and the dry climate have made it possible to reconstruct a history of agricultural technology. Paleolithic-Neolithic artifacts (flint hand axes, arrowheads, hammers) along the Nile date back 12,000 years. A continuous 6,000-year record exists with a unique and productive agriculture at its base (Asimov, 1967; Darby et al., 1976; Janick, 2002; Singer, Holmyard, & Hall, 1954). From 4000 to 3000 BCE the people of the Nile valley formed a government, constructed the first pyramids, and established a highly advanced agricultural technology. The ancient names for Egypt underscore the relation between the land, the people, and its agriculture (Khattab, 2000). These include Ta-meri, the land cultivated by the hoe; Ta Akht, the land of flood and fertile soil; Kmt, the black soil; Tamhi, the land of the flax plant; Nht, the land of the sycomore fig...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Asimov, I. (1967). The Egyptians. Boston. Houghton-Mifflin.
Berrall, J. S. (1966). The garden: An illustrated history. New York: Viking.
Darby, W. J., Ghalioungui, P., & Grivetti, L. (1976). Food: The gift of Osiris (Vol. 2). London/New York: Academic.
Durant, W. (1954). The story of civilization. Part I. Our oriental heritage. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Galil, J. (1968). An ancient technique for ripening sycomore fruit in east-Mediterranean countries. Economic Botany, 22, 178–191.
Goor, A. and Nurock, M. 1968. The fruits of the Holy Land. Jerusalem, Israel University Press.
Huxley, A. (1978, 1998 rev.). An Illustrated History of Gardening. New York: The Lyons Press.
Huxley, A. (1998). An illustrated history of gardening. New York: The Lyons Press.
Hyams, E. (1971). A history of gardens and gardening. New York: Praeger.
Janick, J. (2002). Ancient Egyptian agriculture and the origins of horticulture. Acta Horticulturae, 582, 23–39.
Khattab, H. (2000, undated). Ancient Egyptian Agriculture Museum brochure. Cairo: Museum
Manniche, L. (1989). An ancient Egyptian herbal. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Singer, E., Holmyard, E. J., & Hall, A. R. (1954). A history of technology (Fall of ancient empires, Vol. 1). London: Oxford University Press.
Thacker, C. (1979). The history of gardens. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Wright, R. (1934). The story of gardening. New York: Dodd, Meade.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this entry
Cite this entry
Janick, J. (2016). Origins of Agriculture in Egypt. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10237
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10237
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-7746-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-7747-7
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities