History
Remains dating from the Egyptian Paleolithic period are some of the oldest in the world, but it is of course the pharonic era that made Egypt famous and unique.
Egypt, or Kemet as it was called in pharaonic time, was unified around 3000 B.C. Old Kingdom, or the Pyramid Age, lasted from 2650 - 2200 B.C., and during this period most of the countrys 90 pyramids were built.
During the Middle Kingdom (2000 - 1700 B.C.) an emporium was started being built stretching from South Sudan to Iraq and further. This colonization caused an invasion from the east by the Hyksos, which ruled Egypt from 1700-1550 B.C. Leaving behind the introduced horse and carriage that Egyptians learned to master.
The pharaohs of the New Kingdom 1550 - 1000 B.C. ruled from Luxor in the south where you can find their exquisite tombs in the Valley of the Kings and the "Pharonic" Vatican, The Temple of Karnak.
In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came to Egypt starting the Greek Ptolemaic Era. The Romans and later Byzantium took over after winning the battle ofActium in 30 B.C. Later on, Cleopatra VII committed suicide - using snakebite, which leads the holy family to flee to Egypt. St Marc came to Christianize the Egyptians, leaving behind him one of the first Christian communities in the world, the Coptic Church.
In 642 A.D. the Arabs overruled Egypt. During the coming hundreds of years Cairo and Egypt was alternately controlled from Damascus, Baghdad and from different clans like the Tulunfamily, the Fatimides, the Ayoub family and the Mamelouks.
By 1517, Egypt became a part of the Ottoman Empire until the invasion of Napoleon in 1798. From 1805 begins modern Egyptian history under the reign of the Mohamed Ali family. Cotton was starting to be cultivated, railroads and the Suez Canal were built, and modernization had struck Egypt. In 1952 Farouk the last king of Egypt, was overthrown in the revolution led by Gamal Abd El Nasser.
By coming to Egypt, you will hear more about Cheops, Ramses, Saladin, Nefertiti, and Sadat and Amon personalities!