Egypt travel guide

The Old Kingdom
Around 3100 BCE Menes, King of Upper Egypt, led the dynastic way by conquering Lower Egypt, and built his capital at Memphis. Menes, along with pharaohs to come, weren’t just considered leaders, they were also revered as gods, the holders of secrets and mystical powers. It was during this time that the pyramid building came about. The first pyramid, the step pyramid, was built by Zoser about 2665 BCE, the others built by the pharaohs Sneferu and Khufu.

The Middle Kingdom
Led by Pharaoh Montuhotep II until around 1650 BCE, this was the period when great art and literature started to blossom in Egypt. As with all the Kingdoms, there were hiccups in between each, with invasions and insurgencies either from Nubia in the south or from Palestinian peoples called the Hyskos. But, in general, the pharaohs held on tight to their thrones and kept the country united.

New Kingdom
Stretching from 1550 to 1070 BCE the country was becoming richer and more powerful, controlling Nubia in the south, and also invading Syria and Palestine. It was during this Kingdom that the temples at Thebes were built, and pharaohs were buried in the Valley of the Kings. Not all men, however, the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled from 1490-1468 BCE. It was also during this period that Akhenaton ruled, to be followed by his son, aged nine, namely Tutankhamen, or King Tut. Most famous today because of the perfect remains of his tomb, that can still be visited.

Following Tut, came Ramses II, or Ramses the Great, often cited at the great tourist sites. He reigned for 67 years, had 200 wives, concubines and over 150 children. And as if that didn’t keep him busy enough, he built the two temples at Abu Simbel, a covered hall of giant pillars at Karnak, additions at the Luxor Temple, and the Ramesseum, a compound consisting of two temples and a palace. As well as visiting these remains, you can visit his too, his 3,000-year-old mummy open for all to see at Cairo’s Egyptian museum. The New Kingdom collapsed in 1070 and dynasties never quite took hold again in the way that they had for millennia.

Greco-Roman wrestling
First Alexander the Great in 332 BCE followed by another Greek, Ptolemy, bringing Egypt into the Greek Empire for 300 years. It was during this period that Philae temple was built. Until, you guessed it, the Romans stepped in 30 BCE , creating one heck of a Greco-Roman wrestling era. Following on from that, Christianity came to town. Which meant goodbye ancient gods, goodbye ancient culture. Goodbye ancient Egypt. According to some Christian traditions, St. Mark brought Christianity to Egypt in AD 37, and the church in Alexandria was founded in AD 40. The Egyptian Christians were, and still are called Copts, a word derived from the Greek word for the country, Aegyptos.

Byzantine and Islamic era
Skip forward a few centuries to the 4th Century when the reigning Roman Empire was divided into two halves, Egypt being in the eastern half, which then became the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine I established his capital at Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople (Istanbul today) and he established Christianity as the official religion. Coptic Christians did not share the same belief systems, however, and many were persecuted during this time, leading to much conflict with the Byzantines. Who were, eventually, defeated by the Islamic Empire in the 7th Century, with Egypt now being ruled from Baghdad, the next few centuries saw it being led from Tunisia and then eventually Syria, with Salah-ad-Din becoming leader in 1171, founding a dynasty called the Ayyubids who ruled Egypt for nearly 80 years. Followed by the Mamlukes dynasty which ruled until 1517.

The Ottoman Empire to the British one
Just to add to the cultural, complex mix, the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt in 1517 although they did grant the Egyptians a lot of autonomy as long as taxes were paid. The future was not rosy, however, with plague breaking out in 1719, economic decline and then the arrival of Napoleon in 1798. Although that did not last long, with the British joining forces with the Ottomans to defeat the French. The Ottomans then focused on modernizing Egypt, the most significant achievement being the building of the Suez Canal in 1859. Ironically designed by the French but invested in highly by the British. Which led, ultimately, to British colonial rule, as the British ‘stepped in’ to protect their financial assets, and remained a powerful, if controversial presence until 1947.

The Nasser and Sadat Years
Following a war with Israel in 1948, in which Egypt performed badly, alongside Arab allies Iraq, Jordan and Syria, there was a coup against the reigning King Farouk by the Free Officers, led first by General Naguib but replaced by Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser’s economic coup was to nationalize the Suez Canal in 1956 in order to finance the Aswan High Dam leading to a failed invasion of the country by Britain, France and Israel. A socialist leader, Nasser started to seek support from the Communist Bloc and created a more repressive regime in Egypt, including the displacement of the Nubian people to create the Aswan Dam. Land rights and discrimination issues are still battled for today by the indigenous Nubian people.

In 1956 Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Britain, France and Israel formed an alliance and in October 1956 Israel invaded Sinai. The British and French sent troops to Port Said but American pressure forced them to withdraw. However Egypt was defeated by Israel in the Six Day War of 1967 and Nasser died in 1970.Replaced by Anwar Sadat, who reversed the socialist policies, started to encourage foreign investment again and famously made peace with Israel in 1978 with the Camp David Agreement.

Morsi and Mobarak
Never a country to stay still, however, Sadat was assassinated by extremists in 1981 and was replaced by Hosni Mubarak. Who continued to reign, controversially and notoriously until the 2011 Uprising when he stepped down. In 2012, Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Morsi narrowly won the presidential election, Hisham Qandil was appointed as Prime Minister who puts in place a controversial cabinet, and ex-President Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for his role in killing protestors during the Uprising. In 2013 the army overthrew Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood was declared a terrorist organisation. In 2014, military leader Abdul Fattah al-Sisi won the presidential election, and Morsi was imprisoned for twenty years. Following the ban on his Muslim Brotherhood Party, the so called Islamic State fights for power through acts of extreme violence and persecution. Acts that are, tragically, still occurring today.