The ancient Egyptians are considered among many to be the civilization upon which much of the western world's views and attitudes are based. Everything from religion, to architecture, to art has been handed down, generation by generation, to us in the present day. Although many of the ancient Egyptians' traditions have been modified or altered, the majority of their core principles remain constant.
The lands along the Nile were rich enough to be farmed, so over time the people started to grow crops. They found ways to store the yearly floodwaters and then use them for the dry seasons. The farmers learned to lift water out of the Nile or wells and send it across the fields through a system of canals. In order for all of this to work out they had to work together, no one could do any of it alone. So as the farmers and people began to cooperate, an organization began to grow. They found leaders among them who directed the work. A form of government developed and due to that they soon began to build cities, to manufacture things, in time to trade with their neighbors.
That is how it all started. Over a period from 3100 B.C. to 332 B.C. they grew in culture, arts, religion, science, medicine, and many other fields. The early Egyptian people grew food by the Nile and lived mainly by hunting for meat, fishing, and gathering wild plants. They kept a small number of cattle, sheep, or goats, and grew a few crops. Their crops were flax, barley, and a primitive kind of wheat called 'emmer.' They got the sheep and goats from the Middle East, and their crops too. Farming provided most of the food and helped their population grow. Later on in time, the basic diet of the ordinary people was bread and beer. The wealthier ones ate more meat and drank wine instead of beer. The most common clothes women wore were tunic dresses. Those were made by folding a rectangle of cloth in half, sewing it up at the sides, leaving holes for the arms, and cutting a key hole for the head.
