Ancient Egypt depicts the unification of the Two Lands. head of an early Egyptian king,
The Petrie Museum. Modern scholars have considered the stone bust to depict an
Early Dynastic or
Old Kingdom pharaoh.
Ancient Egypt saw a succession of thirty
dynasties spanning three millennia. During this period,
Egyptian culture underwent significant development in terms of
religion,
arts,
language, and customs. Egypt fell under
Hyksos rule in the Middle
Bronze Age. The native nobility managed to expel the conquerors by the
Late Bronze Age, thereby initiating the
New Kingdom. During this period, the Egyptian civilization rose to the status of an empire under Pharaoh
Thutmose III of the
18th Dynasty. It remained a super-regional power throughout the
Amarna Period as well as during the
19th and
20th dynasties (the
Ramesside Period), lasting into the Early
Iron Age. , dating from the 18th to 16th century BC. The
Bronze Age collapse that had afflicted the Mesopotamian empires reached Egypt with some delay, and it was only in the 11th century BC that the Empire declined, falling into the comparative obscurity of the
Third Intermediate Period of Egypt. The
25th Dynasty of
Nubian rulers was again briefly replaced by native nobility in the 7th century BC, and in 525 BC, Egypt fell under
Persian rule. Egypt fell under Greek control after
Alexander the Great's conquest in 332 BC. The
Late Period of ancient Egypt is taken to end with his death in 323 BC. The
Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt from 305 BC to 30 BC and introduced
Hellenic culture to Egyptians. 4,000
Celtic mercenaries under
Ptolemy II had even attempted an ambitious but doomed coup d'état around the year 270 BC. Throughout the Pharaonic epoch (viz., from 2920 BC to 525 BC in
conventional Egyptian chronology),
divine kingship was the glue which held Egyptian society together. It was especially pronounced in the
Old Kingdom and
Middle Kingdom and continued until the
Roman conquest. The societal structure created by this system of government remained virtually unchanged up to modern times. The role of the king was considerably weakened after the
20th Dynasty. The king in his role as Son of Ra was entrusted to maintain
Ma'at, the principle of truth, justice, and order, and to enhance the country's agricultural economy by ensuring regular
Nile floods. Ascendancy to the Egyptian throne reflected the myth of Horus who assumed kingship after he buried his murdered father
Osiris. The king of Egypt, as a living personification of Horus, could claim the throne after burying his predecessor, who was typically his father. When the role of the king waned, the country became more susceptible to foreign influence and invasion. The attention paid to the dead, and the veneration with which they were held, were one of the hallmarks of
ancient Egyptian society. Egyptians built tombs for their dead that were meant to last for eternity. This was most prominently expressed by the
Great Pyramids. The ancient
Egyptian word for tomb '''' means
House of Eternity. The Egyptians also celebrated life, as is shown by tomb reliefs and inscriptions, papyri and other sources depicting Egyptians farming, conducting trade expeditions, hunting, holding festivals, attending parties and receptions with their pet dogs, cats and monkeys, dancing and singing, enjoying food and drink, and playing games. The ancient Egyptians were also known for their engaging sense of humor, much like their modern descendants. , Middle Kingdom (Egyptian Museum, main floor, room 22, JE44951) Another important continuity during this period is the Egyptian attitude toward foreigners—those they considered not fortunate enough to be part of the community of
rmṯ or "the people" (i.e., Egyptians.) This attitude was facilitated by the Egyptians' more frequent contact with other peoples during the New Kingdom when Egypt expanded to an empire that also encompassed
Nubia through
Jebel Barkal and parts of the
Levant. The Egyptian sense of superiority was given religious validation, as foreigners in the land of
Ta-Meri (Egypt) were anathema to the maintenance of Maat—a view most clearly expressed by the
admonitions of Ipuwer in reaction to the chaotic events of the
Second Intermediate Period. Foreigners in Egyptian texts were described in derogatory terms, e.g., 'wretched Asiatics' (Semites), 'vile Kushites' (Nubians), and 'Ionian dogs' (Greeks). Egyptian beliefs remained unchallenged when Egypt fell to the Hyksos,
Assyrians,
Libyans, Persians and Greeks—their rulers assumed the role of the Egyptian Pharaoh and were often depicted praying to Egyptian gods. The ancient Egyptians used a solar calendar that divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, with five extra days added. The calendar revolved around the annual
Nile Inundation (
akh.t), the first of three seasons into which the year was divided. The other two were Winter and Summer, each lasting for four months. The modern Egyptian
fellahin calculate the agricultural seasons, with the months still bearing their ancient names, in much the same manner. The importance of the Nile in Egyptian life, ancient and modern, cannot be overemphasized. The rich
alluvium carried by the Nile inundation was the basis of Egypt's formation as a society and a state. Regular inundations were a cause for celebration; low waters often meant famine and starvation. The ancient Egyptians personified the river flood as the god
Hapi and dedicated a
Hymn to the Nile to celebrate it.
km.t, the Black Land, was as
Herodotus observed, "the gift of the river."
Graeco-Roman period ,
Roman Egypt.
c. AD 125 − AD 150 When Alexander died, a story began to circulate that
Nectanebo II was Alexander's father. This made Alexander in the eyes of the Egyptians a legitimate heir to the native pharaohs. The new Ptolemaic rulers, however, exploited Egypt for their own benefit and a great social divide was created between Egyptians and Greeks. The local priesthood continued to wield power as they had during the Dynastic age. Egyptians continued to practice their religion undisturbed and largely maintained their own separate communities from their foreign conquerors. The language of administration became
Greek, but the mass of the Egyptian population was
Egyptian-speaking and concentrated in the countryside, while most Greeks lived in Alexandria and only few had any knowledge of Egyptian. The Ptolemaic rulers all retained their Greek names and titles, but projected a public image of being Egyptian pharaohs. Much of this period's vernacular literature was composed in the
demotic phase and script of the Egyptian language. It was focused on earlier stages of Egyptian history when Egyptians were independent and ruled by great native pharaohs such as
Ramesses II. Prophetic writings circulated among Egyptians promising expulsion of the Greeks, and frequent revolts by the Egyptians took place throughout the Ptolemaic period. A revival in animal cults, the hallmark of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods, is said to have come about to fill a spiritual void as Egyptians became increasingly disillusioned and weary due to successive waves of foreign invasions. The Egyptians waged rebellions against the Ptolemies, often caused by an unwanted foreign rule, and were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its annexation by Rome. The most significant was the
Great Revolt of Egypt (205–186 BC), which established an autonomous state ruled by native pharaohs in Upper Egypt. Egyptian leaders seized control of
Thebes and much of Upper Egypt by 205 BC, severely weakening Ptolemaic control over Egypt. The Ptolemaic forces were defeated by the
Roman Empire in the
Battle of Actium (30 BC), marking the
Conquest of Egypt. Nevertheless,
Hellenistic culture continued to thrive in Egypt well after the
Muslim conquest. The native Egyptian/Coptic culture continued to exist as well (the Coptic language itself was Egypt's most widely spoken language until at least the 10th century). When the
Romans annexed Egypt in 30 BC, the social structure created by the Greeks was largely retained, though the power of the Egyptian priesthood diminished. The Roman emperors lived abroad and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship as the Ptolemies had. The art of
mummy portraiture flourished, but Egypt became further stratified with Romans at the apex of the social pyramid, Greeks and
Jews occupied the middle stratum, while Egyptians, who constituted the vast majority, were at the bottom. Egyptians paid a poll tax at full rate, Greeks paid at half-rate and Roman citizens were exempt. Egyptians waged rebellions against foreign Roman Roman rule, the
Revolt of Thebes (c. 30–29 BC), took place immediately following the war. The region near the southern border maintained a unique position, acting as a bridge to Nubia, with local elites sometimes exerting control over the
Eastern Desert. Egyptians waged the
Bucolic War (172–175), it was a major Egyptian
military conflict against
Roman rule in Egypt, led by
Isidorus, and the Roman Empire led by Emperor
Marcus Aurelius. It erupted due to Egyptian resentment of
foreign occupation, heavy taxes, and economic hardship. The initial Egyptian victories against the Romans nearly resulted in Egypt's independence from the Roman rule. Upper Egypt, was frequently governed by Egyptians who managed local affairs with limited interference from the central
Byzantine administration. The southern border, a vital border, was managed by Egyptian military commanders or elite families who developed their local forces to protect the area and exploit the
eastern desert. The region's economy was increasingly dominated by large monastic estates and local landowners, rather than state-run enterprises. A cultural de-hellenization was established in Upper Egypt, while Greek remained the language of the bureaucracy, southern Egypt saw a resurgence in the use of the
Egyptian language and maintaining the
Egyptian identity that was not influenced by Byzantine Greek culture. Other revolts broke out against the Roman Empire, including those of the 2nd century AD that led to the
Bucolic War (172 AD), in which the Egyptians achieved a crushing victory over the Romans in a decisive battle. They nearly captured
Alexandria, which briefly made Egypt semi-independent before the war finally ended in 185 AD. The
Alexandrian Revolts (215 AD) took place when Egyptians revolted and major riots occurred causing major unrest. Later, Egyptian revolts in (292–293 AD) followed by other revolts (297–298 AD) resulted in the
Siege of Alexandria. The Roman emperor
Caracalla advocated the expulsion of all ethnic Egyptians from the city of Alexandria, saying "genuine Egyptians can easily be recognized among the linen-weavers by their speech." This attitude lasted until AD 212 followed by the
Alexandrian Revolts (215). when Roman citizenship was finally granted to all the inhabitants of Egypt, though ethnic divisions remained largely entrenched. The Romans, like the Ptolemies, treated Egypt like their own private property, a land exploited for the benefit of a small foreign elite. The Egyptian peasants, pressed for maximum production to meet Roman quotas, suffered and fled to the desert. The cult of
Isis, like those of
Osiris and
Serapis, had been popular in Egypt and throughout the
Roman Empire at the coming of Christianity, and continued to be the main competitor with Christianity in its early years. The main temple of Isis remained a major center of worship in Egypt until the reign of the
Byzantine emperor
Justinian I in the 6th century, when it was finally closed down. Egyptians, disaffected and weary after a series of foreign occupations, identified the story of the mother-goddess Isis protecting her child
Horus with that of the
Virgin Mary and her son
Jesus escaping the emperor
Herod. In the 4th and 5th centuries, groups of Egyptian communities, rose in revolt against attempts to suppress the
cult of Isis and to forcefully convert their
temples into
churches. This period saw major tension between the Byzantine-led church and the Egyptians. Despite major military efforts from the Byzantines, Egyptian rebels continued to cause unrest. Consequently, many sites believed to have been the resting places of the
Holy Family during their sojourn in Egypt became sacred to the Egyptians. The visit of the Holy Family later circulated among Egyptian Christians as fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1). The feast of the coming of the Lord of Egypt on 1 June became an important part of Christian Egyptian tradition. According to tradition, Christianity was brought to Egypt by
Saint Mark the Evangelist in the early 40s of the 1st century, under the reign of the Roman emperor
Nero. The earliest converts were Jews residing in
Alexandria, a city which had by then become a center of culture and learning in the entire Mediterranean
oikoumene. period, AD 1249–50. Images depict
Jesus in the
Garden of Gethsemane, the kiss of
Judas, the arrest of Christ, his appearance before
Caiaphas, Peter's denial at cockcrow, Christ before
Pilate, and the baptism of Jesus in the
Jordan River. St. Mark is said to have founded the Holy Apostolic See of Alexandria and to have become its first
Patriarch. Within 50 years of St. Mark's arrival in Alexandria, a fragment of
New Testament writings appeared in
Oxyrhynchus (Bahnasa), which suggests that Christianity already began to spread south of Alexandria at an early date. By the mid-third century, a sizable number of Egyptians were persecuted by the Romans on account of having adopted the new Christian faith, beginning with the Edict of
Decius. Christianity was tolerated in the Roman Empire until AD 284, when the Emperor
Diocletian persecuted and put to death a great number of Christian Egyptians. This event became a watershed in the history of Egyptian Christianity, marking the beginning of a distinct Egyptian or
Coptic Church. It became known as the 'Era of the Martyrs' and is commemorated in the
Coptic calendar in which dating of the years began with the start of Diocletian's reign. When Egyptians were persecuted by Diocletian, many retreated to the desert to seek relief. The practice precipitated the rise of
monasticism, for which the Egyptians, namely
St. Antony,
St. Bakhum,
St. Shenouda and
St. Amun, are credited as pioneers. By the end of the 4th century, it is estimated that the mass of the Egyptians had either embraced Christianity or were nominally Christian. One of the defining moments in the history of the Church in Egypt is a controversy that ensued over the nature of Jesus, which culminated in the final split of the Coptic Church from both the Byzantine and Roman Catholic Churches. The
Council of Chalcedon convened in AD 451, signaling the Byzantine Empire's determination to assert its hegemony over Egypt. When it declared that Jesus was of two natures embodied in his person, the Egyptian reaction was swift, rejecting the decrees of the council as incompatible with the
Miaphysite doctrine of Coptic Orthodoxy. The Copts' upholding of the Miaphysite doctrine against the pro-Chalcedonian Greek
Melkites had both theological and national implications. As
Coptologist Jill Kamil notes, the position taken by the Egyptians "paved [the way] for the Coptic church to establish itself as a separate entity...No longer even spiritually linked with Constantinople, theologians began to write more in Coptic and less in Greek.
Coptic art developed its own national character, and the Copts stood united against the imperial power."
Medieval Egypt (AD 796–859) in Cairo's
City of the Dead Before the
Muslim conquest of Egypt, the Byzantine Emperor
Heraclius was able to reclaim the country after a brief
Persian invasion in AD 616, and subsequently appointed
Cyrus of Alexandria, a Chalcedonian, as Patriarch. Cyrus was determined to convert the Egyptian Miaphysites by any means. He expelled Coptic monks and bishops from their monasteries and sees. Many died in the chaos, and the resentment of the Egyptians against their Byzantine conquerors reached a peak. Meanwhile, the new religion of
Islam was making headway in
Arabia, culminating in the
Muslim conquests that took place following
Muhammad's death. In AD 639, the Arab general
'Amr ibn al-'As marched into Egypt, facing off with the Byzantines in the
Battle of Heliopolis that ended with the Byzantines' defeat. The relationship between the Greek Melkites and the Egyptian Copts had grown so bitter that most Egyptians did not put up heavy resistance against the Arabs. The new Muslim rulers moved the capital to
Fustat and, through the 7th century, retained the existing Byzantine administrative structure with
Greek as its language. Native Egyptians filled administrative ranks and continued to worship freely so long as they paid the
jizya poll tax, in addition to a
land tax that all Egyptians irrespective of religion also had to pay. The authority of the Miaphysite doctrine of the Coptic Church was for the first time nationally recognized. According to
al-Ya'qubi, repeated revolts by Egyptian Christians against the Muslim Arabs took place in the 8th and 9th centuries under the reign of the
Umayyads and
Abbasids. The greatest was one in which disaffected Muslim Egyptians joined their Christian compatriots around AD 830 in an unsuccessful attempt to repel the Arabs. The form of Islam that eventually took hold in Egypt was
Sunni, though very early in this period Egyptians began to blend their new faith with indigenous beliefs and practices that had survived through Coptic Christianity. Just as Egyptians had been pioneers in early
monasticism so they were in the development of the mystical form of Islam,
Sufism. Various Sufi
orders were founded in the 8th century and flourished until the present day. One of the earliest Egyptian Sufis was
Dhul-Nun al-Misri (i.e., Dhul-Nun the Egyptian). He was born in
Akhmim in AD 796 and achieved political and social leadership over the Egyptian people. Egyptian resistance to the Arab rule was culminated in the
Bashmurian revolts, a series of revolts in the
Bashmur region in the north of the
Nile Delta against the
Umayyad Caliphate and
Abbasid Caliphate in the eighth and ninth centuries. Exactly how many revolts took place cannot be determined, but the major military conflicts took place in 749, 767 and 831–832. Dhul-Nun was regarded as the Patron Saint of the Physicians and is credited with having introduced the concept of
Gnosis into Islam, as well as of being able to decipher a number of hieroglyphic characters due to his knowledge of
Coptic. He was keenly interested in ancient Egyptian sciences, and claimed to have received his knowledge of alchemy from Egyptian sources. , founded in AD 970 by the Fatimids , built in the 11th century over the ruins of a pharaonic temple. The ancient Opet festival associated with this temple is mirrored in the present day festival of Abu-l Haggag celebrated similarly by boat processions through the streets of
Luxor. In the years to follow the Arab occupation of Egypt, a social hierarchy was created whereby Egyptians who converted to Islam acquired the status of
mawali or "clients" to the ruling Arab elite, while those who remained Christian became
dhimmis. Though turbulent, often treacherous and brutal in their feuds, and politically and economically inept, the later Mameluks maintained the splendour and artistic traditions of their predecessors. The reign of Kait Bey (1468–1496) was one of high achievement in architecture, showing great refinement of taste in the building of elegant tombs, mosques and palaces. It was a period in which learning flourished. By the 15th century most Egyptians had already been converted to Islam, while Coptic Christians were reduced to a minority. The Mamluks were mainly ethnic
Circassians and
Turks who had been captured as slaves then recruited into the army fighting on behalf of the Islamic empire. Historian James Jankwoski writes:
Ottoman period Egyptians under the
Ottoman Turks from the 16th to the 18th centuries lived within a social hierarchy similar to that of the Mamluks, Arabs, Romans, Greeks and Persians before them. Native Egyptians applied the term
atrak (Turks) indiscriminately to the Ottomans and Mamluks, who were at the top of the social pyramid, while Egyptians, most of whom were farmers, were at the bottom. Frequent revolts by the Egyptian peasantry against the Ottoman-Mamluk
Beys took place throughout the 18th century, particularly in Upper Egypt where the peasants at one point wrested control of the region and declared a separatist government. The only segment of Egyptian society which appears to have retained a degree of power during this period were the Muslim '
ulama or religious scholars, who directed the religious and social affairs of the native Egyptian population and interceded on their behalf when dealing with the Turko-Circassian elite. It is also believed that during the late periods of the Ottoman era of Egypt, native Egyptians were allowed and required to join the army for the first time since the Roman period of Egypt, including Coptic Christians who were civil servants at the time of Mohammed Ali Pasha.
Modern history '' in 1821. Modern Egyptian history is generally believed to begin with the
French expedition in Egypt led by
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. The
French defeated a Mamluk era army at the
Battle of the Pyramids, and soon they were able to seize control of the country. The French occupation was short-lived, ending when
British troops drove out the French in 1801. Its impact on the social and cultural fabric of Egyptian society, however, was tremendous. The Egyptians were deeply hostile to the French, whom they viewed as yet another foreign occupation to be resisted. At the same time, the French expedition introduced Egyptians to the ideals of the
French Revolution which were to have a significant influence on their own self-perception and realization of modern independence. When Napoleon invited the Egyptian
ulama to head a French-supervised government in Egypt, for some, it awakened a sense of nationalism and a patriotic desire for national independence from the
Ottomans. In addition, the French introduced the printing press in Egypt and published its first newspaper. The monumental catalogue of Egypt's ecology, society and economy, ''
Description de l'Égypte'', was written by scholars and scientists who accompanied the French army on their expedition. The withdrawal of French forces from Egypt left a power vacuum that was filled after a period of political turmoil by
Mohammed Ali, an Ottoman officer of
Albanian ethnicity. He rallied support among the Egyptians until he was elected by the native Muslim
ulama as governor of Egypt. Mohammed Ali is credited for having undertaken a massive campaign of public works, including irrigation projects, agricultural reforms and the cultivation of cash crops (notably
cotton,
rice and
sugar-cane), increased industrialization, and a new educational system—the results of which are felt to this day. In order to consolidate his power in Egypt, Mohammed Ali worked to eliminate the Turko-Circassian domination of administrative and army posts. For the first time since the Roman period, native Egyptians filled the junior ranks of the country's army. The army would later conduct military expeditions in the
Levant,
Sudan, and against the
Wahabis in
Arabia. The first Egyptian renaissance intellectual was
Rifa'a el-Tahtawi, who was born in the village of Tahta in upper Egypt. In 1831, Tahtawi undertook a career in journalism, education and translation. Three of his published volumes were works of political and moral
philosophy. In them he introduces his students to
Enlightenment ideas such as
secular authority and political rights and liberty; his ideas regarding how a modern civilized society ought to be and what constituted by extension a civilized or "good Egyptian"; and his ideas on public interest and public good. Tahtawi encouraged his compatriots to invite Europeans to come and teach the modern sciences in Egypt, drawing on the example of Pharaoh
Psamtek I who had enlisted the
Greeks' help in organizing the Egyptian army. Among Mohammed Ali's successors, the most influential was
Isma'il Pasha who became
khedive in 1863. Ismail's reign witnessed the growth of the army, major education reforms, the founding of the
Egyptian Museum and the
Royal Opera House, the rise of an independent political press, a flourishing of the arts, and the inauguration of the
Suez Canal. In 1866, the Assembly of Delegates was founded to serve as an advisory body for the government. Its members were elected from across Egypt, including villages, which meant that native Egyptians came to exert increasing political and economic influence over their country. Several generations of Egyptians exposed to the ideas of
constitutionalism made up the emerging intellectual and political milieu that slowly filled the ranks of the government, the army and institutions which had long been dominated by an aristocracy of Turks, Greeks,
Circassians and
Armenians. Ismail's massive modernization campaign, however, left Egypt indebted to European powers, leading to increased European meddling in local affairs. This led to the formation of secret groups made up of Egyptian notables, ministers, journalists and army officers organized across the country to oppose the increasing European influence. When the British deposed Ismail and installed his son
Tawfik, the now Egyptian-dominated army reacted violently, staging a
revolt led by Minister of War
Ahmed Orabi, who was a rural Egyptian born in a village in
Zagazig, self-styled el-Masri ('the Egyptian'), against the Khedive, the Turko-Circassian elite, and the European stronghold. The revolt was a
military failure and
British forces occupied Egypt in 1882. Technically, Egypt was still part of the
Ottoman Empire with the
Mohammed Ali family ruling the country, though now with British supervision and according to British directives. The Egyptian army was disbanded and a smaller army commanded by British officers was installed in its place.
Liberal age (1874–1908), an anti-colonial nationalist famous for coining the phrase, "If I had not been an Egyptian, I would have wished to become one". Egyptian self-government, education, and the continued plight of Egypt's peasant majority deteriorated most significantly under British occupation. Slowly, an organized national movement for independence began to form. In its beginnings, it took the form of an Azhar-led religious reform movement that was more concerned with the social conditions of Egyptian society. It gathered momentum between 1882 and 1906, ultimately leading to a resentment against European occupation. Sheikh
Muhammad Abduh, the son of a Delta farmer who was briefly exiled for his participation in the Orabi revolt and a future Azhar
Mufti, was its most notable advocate. Abduh called for a reform of Egyptian Muslim society and formulated the
modernist interpretations of
Islam that took hold among younger generations of Egyptians. Among these were
Mustafa Kamil and
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the architects of modern Egyptian nationalism. Mustafa Kamil had been a student activist in the 1890s involved in the creation of a secret nationalist society that called for British evacuation from Egypt. He was famous for coining the popular expression, "If I had not been an Egyptian, I would have wished to become one." Egyptian nationalist sentiment reached a high point after the 1906
Dinshaway Incident, when following an altercation between a group of British soldiers and Egyptian farmers, four of the farmers were hanged while others were condemned to public flogging. Dinshaway, a watershed in the history of Egyptian anti-
colonial resistance, galvanized Egyptian opposition against the British, culminating in the founding of the first two political parties in Egypt: the secular, liberal
Umma (the Nation, 1907) headed by
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, and the more radical, pro-Islamic
Watani Party (National Party, 1908) headed by Mustafa Kamil. Lutfi was born to a family of farmers in a village in the Delta province of
Daqahliya in 1872. He was educated at al-Azhar where he attended lectures by Mohammed Abduh. Abduh came to have a profound influence on Lutfi's reformist thinking in later years. In 1907, he founded the Umma Party newspaper, el-Garida, whose statement of purpose read: "El-Garida is a purely Egyptian party which aims to defend Egyptian interests of all kinds." , known for their significant social and political influence in Egypt, 1924 Both the People and National parties came to dominate Egyptian politics until World War I, but the new leaders of the national movement for independence following four arduous years of war (in which Great Britain declared Egypt a British
protectorate) were closer to the secular, liberal principles of
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed and the People's Party. Prominent among these was
Saad Zaghloul who led the new movement through the
Wafd Party. Saad Zaghloul was born in a small Egyptian village, he held several ministerial positions before he was elected to the Legislative Assembly and organized a mass movement demanding an end to the British Protectorate. He garnered such massive popularity among the Egyptian people that he came to be known as 'Father of the Egyptians'. When the British arrested Zaghloul and his associates on 8 March 1919 and exiled them to
Malta, the Egyptian people staged their
first modern revolution. Demonstrations and strikes across Egypt became such a daily occurrence that normal life was brought to a halt. The Wafd Party drafted a
new Constitution in 1923 based on a
parliamentary representative system. Saad Zaghloul became the first popularly elected Prime Minister of Egypt in 1924. Egyptian independence at this stage was provisional, as British forces continued to be physically present on Egyptian soil. In 1936, the
Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was concluded. New forces that came to prominence were the
Muslim Brotherhood and the radical
Young Egypt Party. In 1920,
Banque Misr (Bank of Egypt) was founded by
Talaat Pasha Harb as "an Egyptian bank for Egyptians only", which restricted shareholding to native Egyptians and helped finance various new Egyptian-owned businesses. ,
Queen Farida and their first-born daughter
Princess Ferial, c. 1940 Under the parliamentary monarchy, Egypt reached the peak of its modern intellectual Renaissance that was started by Rifa'a el-Tahtawi nearly a century earlier. Among those who set the intellectual tone of a newly independent Egypt, in addition to
Muhammad Abduh and
Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, were
Qasim Amin,
Muhammad Husayn Haykal,
Taha Hussein,
Abbas el-'Akkad,
Tawfiq el-Hakeem, and
Salama Moussa. They delineated a liberal outlook for their country expressed as a commitment to individual freedom,
secularism, an
evolutionary view of the world and faith in science to bring progress to human society. When Egyptian novelist and
Nobel Prize laureate
Naguib Mahfouz died in 2006, many Egyptians felt that perhaps the last of the Greats of Egypt's golden age had died. In his dialogues with close associate and journalist Mohamed Salmawy, published as
Mon Égypte, Mahfouz had this to say:
Republic overthrew the Egyptian monarchy. The bottom row from left to right includes
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the movement's operational leader and Egypt's second president,
Muhammad Naguib, Egypt's first president,
Abdel Hakim Amer and
Anwar Sadat, Egypt's third president. Increased involvement by
King Farouk in parliamentary affairs, government corruption, and the widening gap between the country's rich and poor led to the eventual toppling of the monarchy and the dissolution of the parliament through a ''
coup d'état'' by a group of
army officers in 1952. The Egyptian Republic was declared on 18 June 1953, with General
Muhammad Naguib as the first President of the Republic. After Naguib was forced to resign in 1954 and later put under house arrest by
Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the 1952 movement, mass protests by Egyptians erupted against the forced resignation of what became a popular symbol of the new regime. Nasser assumed
power as president and began a
nationalization process that initially had profound effects on the socioeconomic strata of Egyptian society. According to one historian, "Egypt had, for the first time since 343 BC, been ruled not by a Macedonian Greek, nor a Roman, nor an Arab, nor a Turk, but by an Egyptian." Nasser nationalized the
Suez Canal leading to the 1956
Suez Crisis. Egypt became increasingly involved in regional affairs until three years after the 1967
Six-Day War, in which Egypt lost the
Sinai to
Israel, Nasser died and was succeeded by
Anwar Sadat. Sadat revived an
Egypt Above All orientation, switched Egypt's
Cold War allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet advisors in 1972, and launched the
Infitah economic reform policy. Like his predecessor, he also clamped down on religious and leftist opposition alike. Egyptians fought one last time in the 1973
October War in an attempt to liberate Egyptian territories captured by Israel six years earlier. The October War presented Sadat with a political victory that later allowed him to regain the Sinai. In 1977, Sadat made a historic visit to Israel leading to the signing of the 1978
peace treaty, which was supported by the vast majority of Egyptians, in exchange for the complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. Sadat was
assassinated in
Cairo by members of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1981, and was succeeded by
Hosni Mubarak. Hosni Mubarak was the president from 14 October 1981 to 11 February 2011, when he resigned under pressure of
popular protest. Although power was ostensibly organized under a
multi-party semi-presidential system, in practice it rested almost solely with the president. In late February 2005, for the first time since the 1952 coup d'état, the Egyptian people had an apparent chance to elect a leader from a list of various candidates, most prominently
Ayman Nour. Most Egyptians were skeptical about the process of
democratization and feared that power might ultimately be transferred to the president's first son,
Gamal Mubarak. After the resignation of Hosni Mubarak presidential powers were transferred to the
Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, who relinquished power on 30 June 2012 when Islamist candidate
Mohamed Morsi became the first democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history. After
mass protests, he was deposed by a
military coup a year after he came to power, and subsequently arrested and sentenced to death (later overturned), and died in prison six years later. The Muslim Brotherhood (officially listed as a terrorist group by Egypt after the coup) claimed that his death was due to being "prevented medicine and poor food." Morsi was also charged with leading an outlawed group, detention and torture of anti-government protesters, and committing treason by leaking state secrets. In the 26–28 May
2014 Egyptian presidential election, former General
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi won in a landslide, capturing 97% of the vote according to the government. Some regarded the election as undemocratic claiming that several political opponents were being detained or banned from running, but: "The European Union's Election Observation Mission (EOM) released a preliminary statement on Thursday after voting commenced, stating that 'the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) administered the election professionally and overall in line with the law'." In 2018 el-Sisi was
re-elected with 97% of the vote, in an election denounced by human rights groups as unfair and "farcical". A BBC article mentioned that "Three potential candidates dropped out of the race, while a fourth – a former military chief – was arrested and accused of running for office without permission." ==Languages==