Trading across Egypt
Trade means giving something and getting something in return. Sometimes people barter: a farmer gives dates and gets olive oil. Usually they pay with money. People trade goods, which are things that are grown or made, such as rice, cotton, clay pots, olive oil, apricots, almonds, dates and salt. They also trade labour, which is work. A seamstress sews clothes for a family and is paid. A bricklayer builds a wall and is paid. Different regions have different things. In our trading game, the Nile Delta in the north offers rice and cotton, Siwa Oasis in the west offers dates, olive oil and salt, the mountains of Sinai offer apricots and almonds, and the Nile valley offers clay pots. This is only a game. Real farms and workshops make many more things. Each region has more of some things than it needs, and needs other things that it does not have. So regions trade, and transport carries the goods between them. Trade helps everyone get what they need.
| Region | Offers | Needs |
|---|---|---|
| Delta | rice, cotton | dates, salt |
| Siwa | dates, olive oil, salt | rice, clay pots |
| Sinai | apricots, almonds | rice, olive oil |
| Nile valley | clay pots | cotton, almonds |
| What is traded | Goods or labour |
|---|---|
| a bag of rice | goods |
| a seamstress sewing a dress | labour |
| dates | goods |
| a bricklayer building a wall | labour |
The trading game. Play in a group of four. Each child is one region: Delta, Siwa, Sinai or Nile valley. Make four cards of what your region offers. Trade with the others so that you get two kinds of goods that your region needs. Write what you gave and what you got. Mark your region on a map of Egypt. Then write two kinds of labour, such as a seamstress and a bricklayer, and say what each one does. Remember that this is a game: real regions make many more goods.