When you just look at the modern map it’s absurd to think about the number of people that live in Africa north of Sahara. It looks like a wasteland that stretches all the way to the coast.
Also, with this timeline, it seems plausible that the earliest Egyptian empires may have been around just early enough to actually experience this desertification. No doubt countless tribal peoples had (or have) oral histories describing how their homeland was eaten away by desert.
No doubt countless tribal peoples had (or have) oral histories describing how their homeland was eaten away by desert.
it’s a bit like how the bible’s flood story was the result of the oceans overcoming land after the last ice age melted away.
the sahara bounced back and forth between fertile grasslands and desert wastelands over the eons and the ancient egyptians of the first kingdom became a thing at the tail end of last transition from grassland to desert.
i like how the “fall of civilizations” podcast frames it. he describes the people of the region as being disparate peoples occupying various parts of the last grassland sahara who slowly migrated over the centuries towards river deltas like the nile as the desert encroached on their homes bit-by-bit over the generations.
i suspect that climate change is going to happen the same way for us and FAR AWAY future generations will be just as ignorant about how it happened or that it even happened.
Also, with this timeline, it seems plausible that the earliest Egyptian empires may have been around just early enough to actually experience this desertification.
AfaIk, one theory is that the ancient Egyptians moved from deserting regions in the Sahara (following a now dry branch of the Nile) to Egypt, i.e. the origin of the ancient Egyptian culture is in the Sahara region.
When you just look at the modern map it’s absurd to think about the number of people that live in Africa north of Sahara. It looks like a wasteland that stretches all the way to the coast.
Also, with this timeline, it seems plausible that the earliest Egyptian empires may have been around just early enough to actually experience this desertification. No doubt countless tribal peoples had (or have) oral histories describing how their homeland was eaten away by desert.
it’s a bit like how the bible’s flood story was the result of the oceans overcoming land after the last ice age melted away.
the sahara bounced back and forth between fertile grasslands and desert wastelands over the eons and the ancient egyptians of the first kingdom became a thing at the tail end of last transition from grassland to desert.
i like how the “fall of civilizations” podcast frames it. he describes the people of the region as being disparate peoples occupying various parts of the last grassland sahara who slowly migrated over the centuries towards river deltas like the nile as the desert encroached on their homes bit-by-bit over the generations.
i suspect that climate change is going to happen the same way for us and FAR AWAY future generations will be just as ignorant about how it happened or that it even happened.
AfaIk, one theory is that the ancient Egyptians moved from deserting regions in the Sahara (following a now dry branch of the Nile) to Egypt, i.e. the origin of the ancient Egyptian culture is in the Sahara region.