Geographically, the ancient Map of Egypt was
divided between north and south, known as Lower and
Upper Egypt respectively, and prior to the
1st
Dynasty, these two regions were politically
separate. Then, around 3100 BC, the country was
unified, but the Egyptians continued to think of
their country as consisting of these two major
sections. Throughout Egyptian history, each was
represented by different crowns that could be
combined into one, by different plants, the lotus
and papyrus, and a tendency towards different gods.
However, this tradition did not completely die out
during ancient times. Even today, Egyptians make a
distinction between Lower and Upper Egypt, though
they also frequently refer to Middle Egypt as a
region between the north and south. If one thinks
about this, it is not uncommon in other countries.
For example, in the US, a distinction is often made
between the north and south.
A second way that the Egyptians divided up their
ancient map of Egypt was between the desert lands
and the fertile Nile Valley. The Red Land was the
inhospitable desert to either side of the Nile
Valley, which to some degree was a mysterious land
to those living in the Nile Valley, subject to
chaos. On the other hand, the Nile Valley was
referred to as the Black Land, which
provided
the ancient name of Egypt, Kemet. Today, Egyptians
are well aware of the difference between the Nile
Valley and the deserts, though the terms Black Land
and Red Land are no longer used to denote them.
Today, the map of Egypt does not cover as much
land as it did during the Empire period of the
New Kingdom, or even during the height of the
Middle Kingdom, but it does take in more land
than during some periods of Egyptian history. For
example, in ancient times,
Aswan in
southern Egypt was typically thought of as the
southern boundary of Egypt proper, even when Egypt
controlled much of
Nubia further south. Today, the map of Egypt
includes the upper part of what was once Nubia,
while Southern Nubia is a part of the Sudan. To the
west, the borders were always somewhat indistinct,
as there was not much to control other than sand,
but for much of ancient Egypt's history, most of the
current Oasis regions were considered a part of
Egypt, though they may have enjoyed considerable
independence due to their isolation. To the east,
the ancient map of Egypt once took in a considerable
amount of land, particularly during the New Kingdom,
including a
stretch
along the Mediterranean Sea through present day
Israel and up into Syria. However, even though this
land was under Egyptian control, just as in the case
of Nubia, Egypt proper was still mostly thought of
as ending somewhere along the division between
Africa and the Sinai Peninsula, even though Egypt
had control of the
Sinai
through much of its history, as it does today.
During much of Egyptian history, the Sinai was a
part of Egypt, but the Egyptians were really only
interested in specific places in the Sinai for
mining purposes.
Politically, in ancient Egypt, Lower and Upper
Egypt were sometimes political divisions, while at
other times they were not. Of course, prior to the
1st
Dynasty, they were completely separate political
divisions, but during some periods of Egyptian
history, there were two
viziers, the most powerful men under the king,
for the north and south. At other times, there was
only one vizier over all of Egypt. More
consistently, the map of ancient Egypt was divided
among
nomes, much smaller divisions which were mostly
laid out along the
Nile River and in the northern delta. For the
most part, there were few desert nomes. Each of them
were under control of a monarch, the term used
basically to mean a governor. Today, the map of
Egypt is divided politically into 26 governates,
which include all the landscape of Egypt including
the desert regions and the
Sinai.
Overall, the map of Egypt has probably had more
changes than that of any other existing country,
certainly because Egypt has existed as a country
longer than just about any other.
