March 8th is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Did you know that Gibbs Smith Education is majority female-owned? We love strong women! To celebrate, we thought we’d take you back to one of our favorite strong women … really far back. This excerpt is taken from Beyond Borders: World History to 1500 CE.
Hatshepsut (HĂT-shĕp-sūt) was one of the most successful pharaohs. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Thutmose I. As the daughter of a pharaoh, she was supposed to marry the next pharaoh and become queen. After her father died when she was 12 years old, Hatshepsut married and became queen at a young age. Before she turned 30, her husband died as well. The next son in line to be pharaoh, Thutmose III, was a baby, so Hatshepsut took control of Egypt while he grew up. Later, Hatshepsut named herself pharaoh. This was an unusual practice in Egypt, since women were not chosen as heirs to the throne.
During her reign, Hatshepsut expanded trade routes south of Egypt into a region called Punt. Scholars believe this is where Somalia and Eritrea are today. She is famous for sending an expedition of merchants to the Horn of Africa in east Africa. There, they acquired spices, perfumes, monkeys, leopard skins, and gemstones. The success of this expedition is recorded on the walls of Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. She is remembered for increasing Egypt’s wealth through trade and expansion.
As a symbol of her authority, Hatshepsut was sometimes depicted like other pharaohs, dressed in male clothing and with a beard. Although her reign was very successful, not everyone was pleased that she had risen to such a high position of authority. After she died, her son Thutmose III removed all images of her and removed her name from all royal documents.
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