History of Egypt

The history of Egypt is the longest continuous history, as a unified state, of any country in the world. The Nile valley forms a natural geographic and economic unit, bounded to the east and west by deserts, to the north by the sea and to the south by the Cataracts of the Nile. The need to have a single authority to manage the waters of the Nile led to the creation of the world's first state in Egypt in about 3000 BC. Egypt's peculiar geography made it a difficult country to attack, which is why Pharaonic Egypt was for so long an independent and self-contained state. The Nubians and Hyksos were among the earliest foreign rulers of Egypt, but the ancient Egyptians regained control of their country soon after their invasions. The Neo-Assyrian Empire also controlled Egypt for a while before native Egyptians regained control.

Once Egypt did succumb to foreign rule, however, it proved unable to escape from it, and for 2,400 years, Egypt was governed by a series of foreign powers: the Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Rashidun, Umayyads, Abbasids, Ottomans, French, and British. At certain periods during these 2,400 years, Egypt was independently governed under the Ptolemies, Ikhshidids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, Mamluks and Muhammad Ali. The founders and rulers of these governments, however, were not native to Egypt.

When Gamal Abdel Nasser (President of Egypt) (1954–1970) remarked that he was the first native Egyptian to exercise sovereign power in the country since Pharaoh Nectanebo II, deposed by the Persians in 343 BC, he was exaggerating only slightly.

In this encyclopedia, Egyptian history has been divided into eight periods:

*History of ancient Egypt: 3100 BC to 525 BC
*History of Achaemenid Egypt: 525 BC to 332 BC
*History of Ptolemaic Egypt: 332 BC to 30 BC
*History of Roman Egypt: 30 BC to AD 639
*History of Arab Egypt: 639 to 1517
*History of Ottoman Egypt: 1517 to 1805
*History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty: 1805 to 1882
*History of modern Egypt: since 1882

Upper Paleolithic: 30,000 - 10,000 BC

Ancient Egypt [ [http://automaticfreeweb.com/index.cfm?s=ancientegyptweb&act=3&text=219 Upper Paleolithic: 30,000 - 10,000 BC ] ] was one of the places in Africa where Civilization began. The Upper Paleolithic region of Egypt happens to be one of the locations where archeologists have found ancient tools and technologies, but there are many other places in Africa where these things were found, predating 10,000 BC.

Qadan and Sebilian Cultures (Late Paleolithic)

Twenty some archaeological sites in upper Nubia evidence a grain-grinding Neolithic culture called the Qadan culture, which practiced wild grain harvesting along the Nile during the beginning of the Sahaba Daru Nile phase, when desiccation in the Sahara caused residents of the Libyan oases to retreat into the Nile valley.Grimal, Nicolas. "A History of Ancient Egypt." p.21. Librairie Arthéme Fayard, 1998]

ee also

*Aegyptus
*Ancient Egypt
*Egyptian mythology
*Egyptians
*History of Africa
*History of the Middle East
*Pharaoh
*History of Ancient Egypt
*Coptic history

External links

* [http://www.aldokkan.com/ Ancient Egyptian Civilization - Aldokkan]
* [http://www.mysteries-in-stone.co.uk Ancient Egyptian History] - A comprehensive & concise educational website focusing on the basic and the advanced in all aspects of Ancient Egypt
* [http://st-takla.org/Egypt-1.html Egypt.. the past and the present]
* [http://vlib.iue.it/history/chronological/ancient_egypt.html WWW-VL: History: Ancient Egypt]