A Short History of Egypt

The world’s oldest civilization rose on the banks of the Nile around 5000 years ago when the the first dynasty of pharaohs came to power under Narmer. The first pyramid was built in the 27th century BC and the 4th dynasty was the most powerful, when Khufu, Khafre and Mycerinus built the Pyramids of Giza. Between 51 and 48 BC, Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra VIII. The Roman empire turned their sights on Egypt and there were continual skirmishes. Following the defeat of their naval forces at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, after which Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.

When the empire fell, Nubians, North Africans and Persians invaded but Egypt remained relatively stable until AD 640 when the Arabs arrived, bringing Islam. Egypt fell to the Turks in 1517 and was later invaded by both the British and the French at different points in time.

Egypt aligned itself with the Allies in WWI and afterwards, the Wafd national political party was formed. The Arab League was founded after WWII by seven Arab countries, including Egypt, but the war had left Egypt in a shambles. In 1952, Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser led a group of military officers and pulled off a coup. The British and French invaded but the United Nations-deployed peacekeepers insisted that the invaders should leave.

President Hosni Mubarak was elected to serve his fifth term as president in Egypt's first contested presidential race in 2005. Periodic attacks on tourists resumed in Sinai in 2005 and 2006 but are generally assumed to be one-off events rather than a sustained terrorist campaign.