Source: MAPS IN MINUTES™ © RH Publications (1997)

A country in the north-east corner of Africa, bounded by its Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts, Israel in the north-east, Sudan in the south, and Libya in the west.

Physical

It is generally hot and arid—the south experiences some years with no rain at all—and civilization depends on the waters of the Nile, which are regulated by the Aswan Dam. To the west of the Nile valley is a desert of rock, sand, and gravel, with a few oases, and the great Qattara Depression. To the east is a range of hills with limestone and sandstone plateaux, and on the east bank of the Gulf of Suez is the Sinai desert. The fan-shaped Nile delta in the north, where the climate is wetter, is very fertile.

Economy

Egypt’s main exports are of crude oil, petroleum products, and cotton. Other agricultural products include rice, cereals, and fruit and vegetables; industries include textiles, food processing, and tourism. Foreign-exchange earnings from the Suez Canal, from Egyptians working abroad, and from tourism make an important contribution to the economy. The political instability since 2011 has slowed economic growth.

History

Egypt is the site of one of the first civilizations, together with Mesopotamia, of the Old World. Agriculture and metallurgy were both introduced from western Asia and the great fertility of the Nile floodplain allowed the growth of a highly distinctive cultural tradition. Two kingdoms, one in the Delta (Lower Egypt) and one centred upstream round Thebes (Upper Egypt), were in existence during the 4th millennium bc. These were unified by the conquest of Lower Egypt some time shortly before 3000 bc, initiating the Protodynastic period. The shift of the capital to Memphis, near the head of the Delta, in the Old Kingdom (2700–2200 bc) perhaps indicates the importance of sea-borne trade with the Levant. The major pyramids were constructed here on the desert edge overlooking the river. A period of fragmentation (the first of two ‘intermediate’ periods) separated the Old from the Middle Kingdom (c.2050–1750), when some expansion into Palestine took place and the Nubian frontier was fortified. After a period of domination by foreign rulers (the Hyksos), the New Kingdom (1550–1050) marked an age of imperial expansion when Egypt fought the Asiatic powers for control of Palestine. It was punctuated by the Amarna Period when Akhenaten founded a new capital and religion. Egypt suffered from attacks of marauding Sea Peoples in the 12th century bc, but maintained continuity of tradition into the Late Period (c.650–332). However, its independence came to an end with its successive incorporation into Assyrian, Persian, and Hellenistic empires. When the Romans took it, Egypt was virtually self-governing. It was a granary for Rome, and its capital, Alexandria, became the world’s chief commercial centre, when the sea route to India was opened in about 106 ad.

Until 451 Alexandria had been the intellectual centre of the Christian Church. When the Arab armies reached Egypt in 639, they had little difficulty in taking the country. Under Arab rule taxes were lighter, administration remained in local hands, and there was little pressure for conversion to Islam. The new capital of Misr, now Old Cairo, was the military base for the Arab conquest of North Africa. In the 9th century the caliphate gradually weakened, and Ibn Tulun, a Turk, made it independent for a time. In 969 the Fatimids seized the country and built a new capital named al-Qahira, Cairo. Local administration continued with little change, and the country’s prosperity is reflected in the richness of Fatimid art and architecture. The Fatimid dynasty of Saladin came to power in 1171, followed by the Mamelukes, foreign slave rulers under whom Egypt had the most prosperous period in her history (1250–1517). Then, with the rest of North Africa and the Middle East, Egypt fell to Ottoman Turkey, although Mamelukes still maintained much local power. In 1798 Napoleon invaded Egypt in an attempt to restrict British trade with the east, but was driven out by the Turkish and British armies in 1801.

Egypt was restored to the Ottoman empire in 1802 but enjoyed almost total independence under the rule of pashas (descendants of Mehemet Ali) in Cairo. The construction of the Suez Canal in the 1860s made Egypt strategically important and in 1882 the British occupied the country in the wake of a nationalist revolt led by Arabi Pasha. They ruled the country in all but name through the Agent and Consul-General Lord Cromer. Egypt became a British protectorate in 1914 and received nominal independence in 1922 when Britain established a constitutional monarchy, with Sultan Ahmed as King Fuad I. Britain retained control of defence and imperial communications. In 1936 an Anglo-Egyptian treaty of alliance was signed, providing for a British garrison for 20 years, but for a gradual British withdrawal. This was interrupted by World War II. In 1948 Egyptian forces failed to defeat the emerging state of Israel and in 1952 King Farouk was overthrown by a group of army officers, one of whom, Colonel Nasser, emerged as the head of the new republic. Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal in 1956 provoked abortive Anglo-French military intervention and in the same year he embarked on another unsuccessful war against Israel. Helped by Soviet military and economic aid, Nasser dominated the Arab world, although he suffered another heavy defeat at Israeli hands in the Six-Day War of 1967. His successor, Anwar Sadat, continued his confrontationalist policies, but after defeat in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, he turned his back on the Soviet alliance, sought an accommodation with Israel, and strengthened his contacts with the West. This change of policy damaged Egypt’s standing in the Arab world and in 1981 Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists. His successor, President Mubarak, has followed a policy of moderation and reconciliation. Egypt was formally re-admitted to the Arab League in 1989. In 1991 Egypt sent troops to support the US-led alliance in the Gulf War and in return had its debts to the USA reduced. During the 1990s militant Islamic fundamentalists grew increasingly violent. In 2005 Mubarak was re-elected for a fifth term in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential election. However, in 2011 huge popular protests against repression, corruption, and poverty—part of the Arab Spring—led to Mubarak’s resignation. A military government liberalized the constitution, but preserved its own position as the power behind the state. In 2012 Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, was elected President. However his pro-Islamist rule polarized the country and he was deposed in 2013 following more popular protests; military rule was restored. A new constitution was approved in 2014 and the military leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was elected President. He banned the Muslim Brotherhood, imprisoned its leaders, and discouraged opposition. The country suffered an increasing number of Islamist attacks. Sisi was re-elected President in March 2018.