» View our adventures to Egypt
Archaeological records of a highly developed civilization in the area now known as Egypt date
back to 4000 BC, making this remarkable country 6,000 years old. In 3100 BC, King Mena of Upper Egypt (Greeks knew him as Menes) unified the country into a single kingdom. He was the first of a line of kings who ruled Egypt for nearly 3,000 years.
Historians group the dynasties of Egypt into three kingdoms: the Old Kingdom, the Middle
Kingdom and the New Kingdom. The Old Kingdom lasted about 500 years. The people of the Old Kingdom worshipped their ruler as a god on Earth. They called him Pr’o (Pharaoh), and believed him to be the son of the preeminent Egyptian sun god, Ra.
About 2200 BC, the pharaoh’s power waned, and the kingdom split into small, warring states.
After a long struggle between the smaller states of Egypt, the rulers of Thebes unified the nation
into a single state, beginning the Middle Kingdom. For the next two centuries, Egypt once again enjoyed a period of great peace and prosperity.
In 1800 BC, the Hyksos laid siege to Egypt. They used horses and chariots, and had superior bows. For the next several decades, Lower Egypt was an occupied land. However, the Egyptians of Upper Egypt quickly adopted the Hyksos’ means of warfare and liberated Lower Egypt, ushering in the age of the New Kingdom.
Armed with their new techniques of warfare, the rulers of the New Kingdom set out to
build an empire, conquering lands throughout Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. Slaves were often brought back to Egypt from conquered lands. The pharaohs used these slaves to build new temples and repair old ones, including the remarkable Temple of Amenhotep at Luxor.
Central to the Egyptian religion was a belief in life after death. This led to the practice of mummification for important members of society. Elaborate burial tombs were erected for the pharaohs and their families. The most notable of these were the great pyramids in Giza, architectural wonders unlike any the world had seen or has seen since.
Despite the great achievements of the early Egyptians, the kingdom went into rapid decline after
being conquered by the Persians in the year 341 BC. During the next 2,000 years, the land that was once the capital of a thriving empire was conquered and occupied by the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, and British.
By the time the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, Egypt owed millions of dollars in debt to Britain. To guard against civil unrest and protect its interest in the canal, Britain declared Egypt a British protectorate and sent occupational forces in 1883. The British finally granted independence to Egypt in 1922 but retained control of the canal until 1936.
More recently, Egypt’s “middle ground” position—as one of the only Arab League countries to have diplomatic relations with Israel and good relations with the U.S.—has allowed Egypt to take a larger role in the Middle East as ally and moderator.
In January 2011, mass demonstrations and civil resistance to the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak began in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Within a month, it became clear that Mubarak's regime had lost control when a curfew order was ignored, and the Egyptian army declined to enforce the curfew decree. Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, 2011—today Egypt is moving towards a new constitution and democratic elections.