Egypt History, The Great Pyramids, the Nile... It's All So Interesting!

In Egypt history, at about the time that the great Pyramids were built, the capital of ancient Egypt was Memphis - south of the Giza Plateau.

The core foundations of the city of Cairo (Cairo is Egypt - mother to 16 million Egyptians) were laid in AD 969 by the Fatimid dynasty. There had been earlier settlements, like the Roman fortress of Babylon and the early Islamic city of Fustat. Fustat became one of the wealthiest cities of the new Muslim world, its wealth drawn from Egypt's excessively rich soil and taxes imposed on the heavy Nile traffic. Much of the city remains today: the great Fatimid mosque and university of Al-Azhar is still Egypt's main centre of Islamic study. Cairo swelled and burst its walls, spreading north, developing a port area, Bulaq, to the west, and growing south to the island of Rhoda. But at its heart it remained a medieval city for 900 years. Cairo only started to change significantly in the mid 19th century - when Ismael, grandson of Mohammed Ali reigned.

Egypt history is forever linked to the Nile. Back in ancient times the Savanna lands of the Sahara began to dry up, forcing the region's nomadic people to slowly migrate to the river. It's fertile banks gave birth to the world's first nation-state. This started some of the most important achievements in human history, since Egypt was the place where writing was invented. The narrow banks of the Nile were known as kemet (the Black Land) after the rich silt.

The Nile River has inspired and controlled the religious, economic, social and political life of the Egyptians. The kingdoms then developed into two important states - Upper Egypt was comprised of the long thin valley, from Aswan to the Delta (now Cairo). Lower Egypt consisted of the flat marshy Delta. This was done in around 3100 B C and was known as the Dynastic Period. More than 30 royal dynasties ruled over some 3000 years, divided into Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.

The 5000 years from the time of Menes can be divided roughly into 7 periods

Pharaonic Egypt 3100 - 332 BC

Alexander and the Ptolemaic Era 332 - 30 BC

Roman Rule 30 BC - AD 638

Arab conquest 640 - 1517

Ottoman Turkish Rule 1517 - 1882

British Occupation 1882 - 1952

Independent Egypt 1952 onwards

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