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Archeological evidence shows that ancient tribes existed along the Nile long before Egypt’s dynastic period began in
6000 BC. Egypt has been unified as a single state for as long as 5,000 years. In 3100 BC Egypt was united under King Menes
who started the pharaoh dynasties that Egypt is famous for.
In 343 BC, the pharaoh era ended when the Persians invaded
Egypt and King Nectanebo II was defeated in battle. Later Egypt fell to roman rule. The last ruler of the Ptolemaic line,
Cleopatra VII, committed suicide with her lover, Marc Antony, when Caesar Augustus captured them.
In the first century
AD, Saint Mark the Evangelist brought Christianity to Egypt, shortly before Egypt passed into Byzantine rule.
In 639
AD, Egypt was absorbed into the Islamic Empire when the Muslim Arabs defeated the Byzantines.
The Ottoman Turks took
over Egypt in 1517, and it then became a province of the Ottoman Empire. Unfortunately, during the same century the Black
Death plague killed 40% of Egypt’s population.
In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt. But in 1801 the French
were expelled. The Ottomans experienced a state of anarchy afterwards, as Mamluks and Albanians in service to the Ottomans
vied for control.
In 1805, Muhammad Ali, commander of the Albanians, seized control of Egypt. Later, the Dynasty that
Muhammad started would become subservient to the British Empire.
British rule continued until the revolution in 1952,
when Egypt finally regained its independence.
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