EGYPT (3000 BC -30 BC) EGYPT'S NILE VALLEY WAS ONE OF THE MOST FERTILE PLACES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD. EACH SUMMER,MONSOON RAINS SWELLED THE NILE AND FLOODED SURROUNDINGS FIELDS,DEPOSITING A RICH LAYER OF SILT. IN PREHISTORIC TIMES PEOPLE SETTLED ALONG ALONG THE RIVER AND BEGAN CULTIVATING WHEAT AND BARLEY AND BUILDING RAFTS OF PAPYRUS. AROUND 3000 B.C ,A KING FROM UPPER EGYPT LED FORCES INTO THE NILE DELTA AND CONQUERED LOWER EGYPT, FOUNDING THE FIRST OF MORE THAN 30 DYNASTIES THAT WOULD RULE THIS LAND OVER THE NEXT 3000 YEARS. Rulers from Thebes (today's luxor) inaugurated the middle kingdom around 2050 B.c - a time of expansion when Egyptian troops conquered much of Nubia (Sudan) .Lords of Thebes also repelled an invasion by warriors called Hyksos around 1630 b.c Thebes emerged as capital of the New kingdom (ca 1550 B.c - 1070 B.c), when Egypt reached the height of its power .New Kingdom rulers such as Ramses II sent armies