Thousands of years ago, before the existence of Egyptian civilization, the regions of North Africa that surround the Nile River were fertile grasslands and woodlands, providing farmland and grazing land for communities of people. Historians estimate that around 3500 b.c.e., however, the environment in these grasslands began to change dramatically, perhaps because of overgrazing of the land, and...

Agriculture arose independently in many locations throughoutthe world, and each time it was the result of people’s manipulating plants and animals that already lived around them. InAfrica this process happened numerous times in diff erent locations. Africa’s geography prevented the smooth transmissionof crops and livestock from place to place. As a result, peopleon the continent...