Egypt has been crossed and re-crossed by migratory people since the dawn of time. However, the earliest signs of human habitation in the Nile Valley date from about 250,000 B.C. At that time all of North Africa was habitable and hunters could range over the land. About 25,000 years ago the climate dried, the grass steppes turned to desert and people moved to places where there was water, especially the Nile Valley, where c. 5000 B.C., agriculture was introduced from the Fertile Crescent. A number of settlements from this period have been found along the Nile valley and in Sinai.
At some time during the next 2000 years, it appears that Egypt developed into two main kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. Narmer (Menes), the king of Upper Egypt, conquered Lower Egypt c. 3100 B.C. and united the country. This event brought in the era of the pharaohs, and Egypt developed one of the greatest, and most long-lived, civilizations in the history of the world. For 3000 years, the pharaohs built great monuments and recorded their great deeds on the walls of magnificent temples and in tombs that were designed to last for eternity. It was probably during the reign of the Pharaoh Merneptah (c. 1236–1223 B.C.) that the Israelites left Egypt on their long journey to Canaan. They crossed the wilderness of south Sinai and today there are many places there that are reminders of their experiences.
In 332 B.C., Egypt was conquered by Alexander the Great, who founded the city of Alexandria to be his capital, thus ushering in an era of brilliant achievements in science, literature and philosophy. Alexander’s successors, the Ptolemies, ruled until Cleopatra VII was defeated by the Romans in 30 B.C.
During the Ptolemaic period, the Nabataeans built their capital at Petra in Jordan. Their skill at finding and capturing water made it possible for them to extend their trade routes into Sinai where they built at least two large settlements.
Roman, and later Byzantine, Egypt became the most important source of food in the Mediterranean. Christianity replaced earlier pagan beliefs, but the populace suffered under heavy taxation and the leadership was too far away to protect the country. Despite persecution by the Romans, many churches were built as early as the fourth century and hermits giving up comfort laid the foundation for the great monasteries many of which are occupied to this day.
In the seventh century the Prophet Muhammad introduced Islam to the Arabian Peninsula and the new religion spread rapidly. In A.D. 639, Amr Ibn al-’As came to Egypt at the head of an Arab army, and within two years this able general had established his supremacy and built a new capital, Fustat, outside the Roman fort of Babylon at the apex of the Nile Delta. The country was ruled by governors appointed by the caliphate until it achieved independence in 1171 under the first Ayyubid ruler, Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi, known in the west as Saladin.
At the end of the Ayyubid period, the throne was taken by a series of Mamluks (slaves), who were at first Turks and later Circassians. They, in their turn, were conquered, in 1516, by the Ottomans and Egypt once again became the dependency of a great empire.
Throughout this long period in Egypt’s history the sultans and their emirs built ceaselessly and left Cairo with an unparalleled legacy of beautiful mosques, schools and other outstanding buildings. Philosophy, literature and the sciences, especially medicine, flowered alongside architecture during the Islamic period in Egypt.
This state of affairs remained until an Albanian general called Muhammad Ali was invested as Pasha in 1805. Muhammad Ali Pasha ruled Egypt for more than forty years and introduced major changes in the country. He monopolized ownership of land, industry and trade, and reformed education and the agricultural system. His introduction of long-staple cotton from Sudan was a major contribution to the economy.
After Muhammad Ali’s death in 1849, his weaker successors allowed many of his reforms to lapse, although in 1869 the Suez Canal was completed under his grandson Khedive Ismail. However, Ismail’s extravagant plans for modernizing the country led to the administration being taken over by the British. The British remained in power until King Faruq was deposed in 1952. After the Revolution, General Gamal abd-el-Nasser became president of the republic in 1954..