Lesson Plan: Agrarian Civilizations: Agriculture in the Nile Basin

Here is a step-by-step guide to using this lesson plan in the classroom/laboratory. We have suggested these steps as a possible plan of action. You may customize the lesson plan according to your preferences and requirements.

Step 1: Topic introduction and discussion (Go to the Reading)

1. Use the reading, ‘What Is An Agrarian Society?’ by WorldAtlas.com to define and describe agrarian societies.
2. Use the text to describe various aspects of agrarian societies such as how they came about, what are their main characteristics, their modes of production, their socio- economic role, and present-day agrarian communities.
3. Discuss the challenges faced by them including the threats of failed crops due to climatic factors.

Step 2 : Extend understanding of the importance of agriculture for the rise of civilizations

(Go to the infographic, ‘Agriculture & Civilization)

1. Use the infographic, ‘Agriculture & Civilization’ by Khan Academy to explain the rise and establishment of a several ancient civilizations across the globe, based on agricultural practices.
2. Discuss the particularities of these different societies such as their geographical locations, local weather conditions, and the crops grown.
3. Use the examples in the infographic to emphasize on the importance of having fertile soils and an abundance of fresh water supply for the establishment of a successful civilization.
4. Thus, explain that these civilizations were generally found in fertile river valleys like the Nile Basin for the Egyptians.

Step 3: Develop the topic further by discussing about agriculture in ancient Egyptian Civilization

(Go to the reading, ‘Ancient Egyptian Agriculture’)

1. Use the reading, ‘Ancient Egyptian Agriculture’ by Joshua J.Mark, Ancient History Encyclopedia to discuss how ancient Egyptian civilization thrived in the Nile Basin.
2. Use the text to explain how the Nile was instrumental in establishing the Egyptian agrarian society and was also important for trade and commerce.
3. Explain how it became a part of Egyptian culture while several engineering innovations were developed to utilize the river’s water to the optimum for crop cultivation and animal husbandry.
4. Use the text to describe the importance of agriculture for the rulers of Egypt for garnering wealth through barter and collection of taxes in the form of grains.
5. Discuss how latter-day Egypt served as the ‘breadbasket’ for the Roman Empire and the subsequent Arab invasion.
6. Finally, discuss how despite technological advances in major commercial ventures, traditional farming practices continue among the small Egyptian farmers and agriculture remains an important part of the country’s economy.

Step 4: Discuss the possible effect of climate change on present day Egypt’s agriculture

(Go to the infographic, ‘Climate & Agricultural Yields’)

1. Use the infographic, ‘Climate & Agricultural Yields’ by World Bank to briefly talk about the possible impact of climate change on the projected agricultural yields leading up to the year 2050 in Egypt and several other countries.
2. Use the tool for an enquiry-based discussion on what climatic factors could possibly affect the Egyptian agricultural economy.

Step 5: Conduct a Classroom/ Laboratory Activity

(Go to the activity Agriculture’)

1. Use the teaching module, ‘Agriculture’ by Open Geography Education, to enable your students to explore the role of climatic factors on crop yield in present day Egypt and/or other regions of the world.
2. Use the tab, ‘Agricultural Patterns Assignment’ to follow a step-by step guide to explore the visualization tool (ArcGIS Online Map), ‘Agricultural Patterns’ to answer questions such as ‘What factors affect crop yield?’, ‘Does crop yield always depend on rainfall?’, ‘What role does temperature play in crop yields’, and ‘How does agriculture affect population?’.
3. Use the Online Map to visualize the effect of various climatic parameters such as annual terrestrial surface temperature and annual precipitation on crop yields in Egypt and/or any selected region.
4. Correlate these observations with non-climatic parameters such as population density and soil fertility constraints, to highlight the significance of altered crop yield due to climatic factors for the chosen region.
5. Finally, use the observations to enable a classroom discussion on the possible impact of climate change on the agricultural productivity of a region.

Suggested questions/assignments for learning evaluation :

1. What are agrarian societies?
2. How did agriculture help in establishing ancient civilizations? Give examples.
3. What was the socio-economic importance of agriculture in ancient Egyptian civilization?
4. How does climate change pose a threat to present day Egypt’s food security and agricultural economy?
5. How are agricultural economies in the world being possibly affected by climate change? Give examples.

The tools in this lesson plan will enable students to:

1. understand what agrarian societies are
2. learn how several ancient civilizations rose and flourished because of agriculture
3. discuss the importance of agriculture for Egypt’s food security and socio-economic stature.
4. explain the possible threats posed by climatic factors to Egypt’s agricultural economy

If you or your students would like to explore the topic further, these additional resources will be useful.