Ancient Egyptian civilization arose on the African continent. The earliest Egyptian people had to contend with all manner of threats that emerged from the natural world. One such threat that plagued Egyptians in ancient times was the impact of hippopotami on crops. The animals constantly destroyed the crops of Egyptian farmers by trampling on them or by digging them up. As a result, they were extensively hunted. Even after hippopotami were no longer a threat to Egyptian agricultural communities they were still often hunted as part of a ritualistic ceremony.  

The cataracts are a series of shallow, white water rapids found in stretches of the Nile River. During antiquity, the cataracts acted as a natural barrier that prevented trade from flourishing down the full extent of the Nile River into the heart of Africa.

Iry-Hor was the first king of Egypt known by name, and likely ruled during the early 32nd century BCE. His tomb is the oldest burial place in the Abydos necropolis, and there was once controversy over whether or not he was actually a king. However, excavations of the necropolis confirmed that his tomb was of royal proportions, and an inscription found near Sinai in 2012 showed his name in the format of a ruler, so the controversy has largely been laid to rest. 

Many rulers and cities in ancient Egypt are known to Egyptologists by both an Egyptian name and a Greek name. This is because many of the earliest histories of ancient Egypt were written by Greek sources and the names they gave to people and places have been passed on by later historians. Generally, it is conventional to refer to people and places by the name most commonly used to describe them, regardless of whether the name is Egyptian or Greek in origin. One city that is commonly called by both its Egyptian and Greek name is Nekhen, also known as Hierakonpolis. Nekhen is one of the earliest cities of Upper Egypt and was important in the formation of predynastic Egyptian culture.

Nekhen (also called by its Greek name Hierakonpolis) and Naqada were two proto city-states which arose in Upper Egypt during the predynastic period. At some point, these two societies came together, along with numerous other smaller states, to form a unified Upper Egyptian society. Most likely they were slowly unified by a series of powerful predynastic rulers.

The Red Crown was an important piece of Egyptian iconography. It first appeared in the predynastic era to denote the ruler of Lower Egypt. The Red Crown was worn by ancient Egyptians throughout the dynastic era to denote dominion over Lower Egypt. A white crown was worn by the rulers of Upper Egypt. Those pharaohs who ruled over both Upper and Lower Egypt tended to wear a red and white crown, so as to emphasize their ultimate authority.

Senet was a board game that was played in Egypt beginning in the predynastic period. It is one of the earliest known games in human history and was played throughout Egyptian history.

During the Naqada II phase (during the predynastic era) of Egyptian cultural development, artistic complexity and variety regressed significantly. This is primarily the result of the growing homogeneity of Egyptian culture at the time and the related decline in artistic and cultural diversity.

It took 20 years to build and took over 2 million large cube-shaped pieces of rock (limestone). The last remaining of the "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World," the Great Pyramid was meant to be the final resting place of Khufu. Not much is known about Khufu, expect that he was the 2nd pharaoh of the 4th dynasty.

Egyptian religious belief was neither geographically uniform, nor unchanged over time. Different Egyptian cities had different understandings of the origin of the Gods and the creation of the universe, and so had diverse religious practices. Similarly, Egyptian civilization survived for such a long period of time that there was ample opportunity for religious growth, change, and reformation. At various times in Egyptian history, different Gods found themselves in the ascendancy.