[padobson]

Oh man, awesome reference!

I read biographies on Cleopatra and Julius Caesar a couple years back and was amazed how much planning went into Egypt's economy.

The similarities to Venezuela can be pretty interesting! In the ancient world when economies were highly reliant on wealth created by agriculture, the Nile delta was the most fertile land in thousands of miles in any direction. Each year the Nile flooded predictably. When irrigation was plentiful, all of Egypt prospered. When the Nile went through a dryer year, all the peasants working the land starved.

Excellent reference!