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Post by brennan on Oct 30, 2022 22:31:31 GMT
If Egypt had colonies, most likely they would have been on the Mediterranian. This would be extremely beneficial, as it would have allowed Egypt to trade with much of the ancient world. They could have developed better weapons than what they had because they would have had access to more resources like iron. Part of the reason Egypt fell apart was because they could not get any iron weapons during the Iron Age. They wouldn't have had too many competitors at sea. Egypt would have developed a powerful navy to combat any early rival nations and to ward off pirates. They could also have used their naval power to help in their war against the Hittites. They could have harassed Hittite costal cities and prevented the Hittites from being able to attack the Egyptian Empire.
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raunchel
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Post by raunchel on Nov 8, 2022 21:22:19 GMT
Colonies would be difficult for Egypt because their lifestyle didn't lend itself to colonisation like the Phoenicians and Greeks did. And the later style of settled colonialism in the Americas and the like also won't be an option because that kind of opportunity just isn't there.
I could however see some events making it more likely. At least in places like Cyrenaica or Cyprus (which on multiple occasions were Egyptian holdings). I will mostly focus on Cyprus because in many ways Cyrenaica is just overland expansion, just like Nubia would be. Or, for that matter, going beyond the Sinai.
Cyprus also had the advantage of a relatively small population so you could easily create enough population space there. Either by several big fights that basically end up shattering the population or something like an epidemic or another natural disaster to create said space. If it's then under Egyptian control I could imagine a more expansionist ruler, especially when there is a bit of overpopulation, deciding to settle some of those people there. Of course, they would struggle with adapting their farming techniques and the like but struggling with farming land beats not having land to farm. Or food could even be imported while focusing on the copper that Cyprus was famed for.
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Post by Fractal Multiverse's Energy on Nov 21, 2022 2:24:12 GMT
What we have generally seen is that colonies are usually set up by a Civilization if the new piece of land is more hospitable, cultivable or lucrative by also being an extent of the former two.
Which piece of land surrounding Egypt fits this description? Egypt already had access to Mediterranean Sea for trade. They had the best lands to cultivate. They had a hospitable climate, for the most part. Going down South could potentially be an option (Nubia), if there is a population swell, and need for more food generating lands. Though Nubia isn't as good as Egypt, it's still somewhat good. If that is successful, then parts of Ethiopian highlands could be brought in, if started early enough before the Ethiopian Civilization arose.
One other option could be Lebanon and other parts of the coastal Levant and parts of Southwest Anatolia, but adequate incentive should be generated. And competition with the Hittites, Greeks, Mitanni, etc increases as you venture that side, bringing Egypt into a situation of war with those kingdoms. South is the best direction for Egypt, if it needed colonies.
Edit: One lucrative colony for Ancient Egypt, before expanding further into East Africa, could be Yemen. It's definitely not easy but doable with a good navy and a land based transport route along the Hejaz, with stops at Mecca and Medina (then Yathrib). However, a large pastoral food supply should be set up at Yemen to be able to feed so many people as agriculture as in Egypt cannot feed the "bulk food" for the Egyptian colonies in Yemen. It will have to survive on camel and goat meat/milk products and fish.
One side effect of this is that we could see an earlier development of Mecca and Yathrib as trading route stops and hubs, which could lead to the Hejazi Arabs being more relevant to the Mediterranean earlier, while they got relevant well in the 7th Century, in OTL.
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