Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, the Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Egypt was an early and important centre of Christianity, later adopting Islam from the seventh century onwards. Cairo became the capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in the tenth century, and of the provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century. Egypt then became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, before its local ruler Muhammad Ali established modern Egypt as an autonomous Khedivate in 1867.
The first Fatimid invasion of Egypt occurred in 914–915, soon after the establishment of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya in 909. The Fatimids launched an expedition east, against the Abbasid Caliphate, under the Berber General Habasa ibn Yusuf. Habasa succeeded in subduing the cities on the Libyan coast between Ifriqiya and Egypt, and captured Alexandria. The Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah, then arrived to take over the campaign. Attempts to conquer the Egyptian capital, Fustat, were beaten back by the Abbasid troops in the province. A risky affair even at the outset, the arrival of Abbasid reinforcements from Syria and Iraq under Mu'nis al-Muzaffar doomed the invasion to failure, and al-Qa'im and the remnants of his army abandoned Alexandria and returned to Ifriqiya in May 915. The failure did not prevent the Fatimids from launching another unsuccessful attempt to capture Egypt four years later. It was not until 969 that the Fatimids conquered Egypt and made it the centre of their empire. (Full article...)
Image 8Female nationalists demonstrating in Cairo, 1919 (from Egypt)
Image 9Green irrigated land along the Nile amidst the desert and in the delta (from Egypt)
Image 10A figure wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt, most probably Amenemhat II or Senwosret II. It functioned as a divine guardian for the imiut; the divine kilt suggests that the statuette was not merely a representation of the living ruler. (from Ancient Egypt)
Image 15A tomb relief depicts workers plowing the fields, harvesting the crops, and threshing the grain under the direction of an overseer, painting in the tomb of Nakht. (from Ancient Egypt)
Image 16Painted limestone relief of a noble member of Ancient Egyptian society during the New Kingdom (from Ancient Egypt)
Image 51Rectangular fishpond with ducks and lotus planted round with date palms and fruit trees, Tomb of Nebamun, Thebes, 18th Dynasty (from Ancient Egypt)
... that Moain Sadeq led excavations at Tell es-Sakan in the Gaza Strip, the oldest-known ancient Egyptian fortification to be excavated?
... that the discovery of a coffin belonging to Ahhotep I, which had been reused to bury a high priest, ignited a debate among scholars over the true number of Egyptian queens named Ahhotep?
Isma'il Pasha (Arabic: إسماعيل باشاIsmā‘īlBāshā; 12 January 1830 – 2 March 1895), also known as 'Ismail the Magnificent, was the Khedive of Egypt and ruler of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain and France. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanization, and the expansion of the country's boundaries in Africa.
His philosophy can be glimpsed in a statement that he made in 1879: "My country is no longer only in Africa; we are now part of Europe, too. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions". (Full article...)
The cuisine of ancient Egypt covers a span of over three thousand years, but still retained many consistent traits until well into Greco-Roman times. The staples of both poor and wealthy Egyptians were bread and beer, often accompanied by green-shooted onions, other vegetables, and to a lesser extent meat, game and fish. (Full article...)
... that 995 graffiti from the Greco-Roman period(pictured) can be seen in the tomb of Ramesses VI, left by pilgrims. They include "I visited and I did not like anything except the sarcophagus!", "I admired!" and "I cannot read the hieroglyphs!"
... that the Abu Haggag Mosque, formerly a church, is integrated into the Luxor Temple, making it the oldest building in the world continuously in use?
This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.
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