Ancient Geographic Map of Egypt
The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt was the city of Memphis. Throughout the following kingdoms (middle and new), and the intermediate periods between them, the capital moved to several different cities, including the southern city of Thebes.
Old kingdom Egypt's neighbours included Lybia to the west, across the desert. In a later period, the Lybians became known as the 'sand raiders' for the constant attacks they made to Egypt's western borders.
Other neighbours included Nubia to the south, where gold was mined at Koptos; Arabia to the east & Syria to the north-east.
The Ancient Egyptians relied much more on the yearly Nile floods than Egypt does today. If, for some reason there was no flood, or the flood was very small, the ground would not be as fertile, causing famine and death among the populace. Some argue that the famines caused by the low level floods towards the end of the Old Kingdom helped contribute to the downfall of this period.
