Five Thousand Years of Civilization

Five Thousand Years of Civilization

Pharaonic Egypt

The recorded history of Nile Valley civilization begins more than 5,000 years ago, with the Palette of Narmer, a stone tablet that dates from 3100 BC. The tablet states that Narmer, also known as Menes, is the first pharaoh to unite the kingdoms of Upper (Southern) and Lower (Northern) Egypt. To commemorate the unification, he established his new capital at Memphis, just south of present-day Cairo, where the Nile meets its delta. In the centuries that followed, Narmer's successors developed hieroglyphics and experimented with burial mounds built from mud brick. As it happened, these mastabas proved to be the precedent for the pyramids.

For the next 3,000 years, 30 pharaonic dynasties would rule ancient Egypt, with a few intermediate periods of foreign rule. The dynastic era has been divided into three periods: the Old Kingdom (2575-2134 BC), the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC), and the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC).

The Old Kingdom generally had strong central governments and efficient bureaucracy, and technological innovations allowed Egypt to reach new political, economic, and artistic heights. First among these rulers was Djoser, who, in an effort to consolidate his authority, was the first pharaoh to proclaim himself the gods' representative on Earth. He and his advisor Imhotep (often regarded as history's first architect) designed and built the impressive stone funerary complex at Saqqara that includes the Step Pyramid, considered the oldest structure on Earth. Later dynasties constructed the Great Pyramids at Giza, which were the world's largest buildings until the 19th century. Although their successors continued to build pyramids, none rivaled those at the Giza plateau, and a slow decline to the chaos of the First Intermediate Period ensued.

A return to stability and prosperity began the Middle Kingdom. Records show that in this era Egypt established diplomatic and commercial relations with the people of Libya, Sinai, Nubia, and Punt (present-day Somalia). It was during this period that Thebes (now Luxor) was founded, and the great temples to Amun, Egypt's principle deity, began to rise at Karnak—it would become the largest temple in the world. A series of bad harvests caused the disunity that allowed the West Asian Hyksos tribes to sweep across the desert and occupy the Nile Valley.

Thutmose I (1504-1492 BC) successfully extricated the foreign presence from Egypt, expanded its borders, and initiated the New Kingdom, considered the high point of pharaonic history. He also began building the elaborate tombs in the Valley of the Kings, west of Thebes. His daughter, Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC), developed the monumental west-bank temple at Deir al-Bahri, which was cut out of the face of the mountain. Her stepson, Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC)—she reigned as his regent—made Egypt the regional superpower and Thebes the world's richest city.

Eighty years later, a king named Akhenaten (1353-1335 BC) lost interest in all this conquered territory. Instead, he established a new city, Ahketaten (present-day Tell al-Amarna), where he and his wife, Nefertiti, could worship their one god, the Aten. Consequently he ignored the old temples, causing much antagonism among the powerful priesthoods. When he died, the country reverted to polytheism, his name was removed from official records, and his city was razed to the ground. He was succeeded by the child Tutankhaten (1333-1323 BC), who was quickly convinced to change his name to Tutankhamun. This young pharaoh became famous posthumously for being so insignificant a ruler that grave robbers forgot about his tomb. In 1922, Howard Carter's team discovered his burial site.

Pharaoh Seti I (1306-1290 BC) was able to reconquer the lands lost during the reign of Akhenaten. He also built many temples, including the colossal Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. His son Ramesses II (1290-1224 BC) reigned for 80 years, siring more than 170 children and building temples from Nubia all the way to the Delta. His successors eventually lost administrative control of the country—in part to the priesthood of Amun at Karnak—leaving Egypt weak and ripe for the picking.

After centuries of incursions, Libyans finally took the Delta in 945 BC. Nubians took Upper Egypt in 747 BC. In 667 BC, Assyrians conquered Memphis and sacked Thebes. And Persians defeated the last independent native dynasty in 525 BC, holding onto the Nile Valley until Alexander the Great chased them out in 332 BC.

The Greco-Roman Period

Alexander the Great established his capital, at Alexandria, and appointed Ptolemy Soter, one of his Macedonian generals, as governor. With the leader's death, the governor established the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332-30 BC). During this time Alexandria became the preeminent Hellenic city, the site of both the famous Pharos Lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, and the Great Library, where Euclid, father of geometry, came to study. This era saw Hellenic and pharaonic cultures syncretized and their religious practices intermixed. The infamous Cleopatra (51-30 BC) was from this period, but she proved no match for the aggressive Romans and was the last of the Ptolomies.

With the Roman occupation (30 BC-AD 337), Egypt was relegated to provincial status, useful to the empire only as a source for marble and grains. In AD 61, St. Mark arrived in Alexandria, and within 200 years Egypt had a significant Christian community, which was considered a threat to the divinity of the Roman emperor. This prompted a massive wave of persecution that began during the reign of Diocletian (284-304 AD). Responsibility for Egypt passed to the eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople in AD 337. Like their Byzantine rulers, Egyptians were by this time largely Christian. In fact, Egypt may have been the first country with a majority Christian population. Constantinople, however, was too preoccupied to concern itself with Egypt. Thus, being heavily taxed and under constant threat from marauding neighbors, Egyptians, quite naturally, welcomed the Arab conquest.

Islamic and Modern Egypt

In AD 642, 'Amr ibn al-Aas removed the Byzantine presence in Egypt after a brief siege of the fortress of Babylon. Local Christians and Jews, considered "people of the Book" were tolerated and allowed to thrive, provided they paid tax to the Muslim army. Immediately to the northwest of Babylon, Amr built his town of al-Fustat ("the encampment"), which quickly grew to a city of more than 200,000. It remained the commercial capital of Egypt until it was destroyed in 1168.

Ahmad ibn Tulun arrived in Egypt in 868, appointed to be its governor by the Abbasid caliph in Iraq. But within months ibn Tulun shored up his position and declared Egypt independent from the Abbasids. He ordered the construction of al-Qata'i, a new city that was of legendary splendor. His successors were not as capable as he, however, and when the Abbasids reassumed control of Egypt in 905, they had the city razed, sparing only the magnificent Mosque of Ibn Tulun.

The Abbasids in turn quickly surrendered Egypt to the Fatimids, a group of Shiite tribes from North Africa who swept into Egypt in 969. They set up the royal city of al-Qahira, just northwest of al-Qata'i. Later the various towns merged, and the name al-Qahira (Arabic for Cairo) came to represent them all. The early Fatimid rulers al-Mu'iz (969-975) and al-Aziz (975-996) were tolerant, quick to establish good relations with the local Jews, Christians, and Sunni Muslims—a necessary ingredient to economic stability. It was during this time that the famous religious university of al-Azhar was founded. Subsequent caliphs, however, were less accommodating, in particular the possibly deranged al-Hakim (996-1021), whose maltreatment of non-Shiites was extreme.

When the Crusaders attacked Egypt in 1168, the Fatimids requested assistance from an army of the Seljuk Turks, commanded by the Kurd Shirkhu and seconded by his nephew Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (1137-1193), who took over administration of Egypt when his uncle died two years later. This ushered in the 80-year Ayyubid period. After repelling the Europeans from Egypt, Salah al-Din founded a citadel fortress above Cairo and built a series of walls that enclosed all the existing settlements. He also began the tradition of building madrasas (religious schools), to reorient the populace to Sunni Islam after 200 years of Shiite rule. His relatives were to continue ruling Egypt in his stead when he left to battle the Crusaders in Syria, but they didn't do such a good job. By AD 1250, their slaves had usurped power and ushered in an era of Mamluk rule.

There are two Mamluk periods: The Bahari (1250-1382) and the Burgi (1382-1517). Both groups derive their names from the area in which they were garrisoned—the former at the Island of Roda in the Nile (bahr means water, sea, or river in Arabic), the latter camped in a burg (tower) at the Citadel. The term mamluk literally means "owned": The Bahari were Qipchak slaves imported from the Caspian Sea, and the Burgi were Circassian, from present-day Russia. Mamluks were bought, converted to Islam, and educated in the houses of the rich and powerful. They eventually acquired positions of considerable influence. This era was a mixed blessing for Egypt, for while there was considerable infighting and fratricide in the struggle for ultimate power, this was also a time of great economic prosperity, as Egypt was finding itself at the center of the trade routes between Asia and Europe. During this time art and architecture were very heavily funded.

The most significant Bahari Mamluks are Baybars al-Bunduqdari (1250-1277)—the founder of the era, who defeated the Mongols in Palestine, thereby saving Egypt and the rest of North Africa from the fate that befell all of Asia—and al-Nasir Muhammad (1294-1340), whose long reign saw the construction of numerous mosques and other public monuments as well as the redesign and expansion of the Citadel. Qayt Bay (1468-1496)—a great statesman, military commander, and the greatest Mamluk patron of the arts—was a Burgi Malamuk. Qayt Bay extended Mamluk control into the Near East and Arabia and built monuments in Cairo, Alexandria, Damascus, and Mecca. Tumanbay was the last Mamluk ruler, in power for a year before he was hanged above the gates of Cairo on the orders of the conquering Ottoman sultan, Selim the Grim.

The Ottomans ruled Egypt for 300 years through viceroys, who, as long as they provided Istanbul an adequate share of their booty, were given free reign. This Ottoman period in Egypt happened to correspond with the European age of discovery, when seafaring nations began to open shipping lanes that bypassed the Middle East completely. Thus, the province of Egypt came to resemble more and more a feudal backwater. Gone were the days of it being a grand seat of empire.

The Napoleonic invasion of 1798 shook things up considerably. Napoléon's troops did quick battle with the greatly underequipped Ottomans and their Mamluk vassals, which made the Middle Eastern powers realize just how behind the times they were. And as it happened, the academics who accompanied Napoléon renewed European interest in ancient and medieval Egypt. When it came time to fight the British navy, the French were roundly defeated.

Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-1849), the next Ottoman viceroy to Egypt, took the lessons learned from the Napoleonic invasion to heart. The first step in modernizing the country was to consolidate his power. This he did by inviting all the Mamluks to a ceremony at the Citadel. Then as they were departing, Muhammad Ali Pasha had them ambushed and assassinated, removing any remaining threat to his rule in one bold stroke. He then organized all agricultural land, deeding the plots to himself and his family and, with the help of several foreign (mainly French) consultants, began to grow several new crops, including the very lucrative cotton. Muhammad 'Ali Pasha developed the country's infrastructure and transportation systems. He also made conscription in the army mandatory and as a result built an army powerful enough to threaten Istanbul. Instead of challenging the Ottomans, he decided to accept Turkish sovereignty in return for recognition of his family as the hereditary rulers of Egypt.

The effectiveness of the Dynasty of Muhammad Ali was mixed at best. Most noteworthy of Muhammad Ali's heirs was his grandson Ismail, who served as khedive from 1863 to 1879. Ismail made the most serious attempt to continue his grandfather's modernization program by creating new neighborhoods in Cairo and Alexandria, beginning an extensive industrialization process, modernizing transportation, and opening the Suez Canal. In the process, he accumulated extensive debt to European banks, which required that he sell his shares of the Suez Canal to the British. It was at this time that the French and English became heavily involved in Egyptian financial affairs.

Ibrahim's son, Khedive Tawfiq (1879-1892), was a weak ruler unable to control the nationalist general Ahmad Urabi, who in 1882 lead an uprising in protest of Ottoman and European influence. In retaliation, the British bombed Alexandria flat and invaded, beginning the period known as the British Protectorate (1882-1922), during which Egypt was ruled by a British High Commissioner and the khedive was merely a figurehead.

Following World War I and Woodrow Wilson's famous self-determination speech, Egyptian nationalists, lead by Sad Zaghlul, presented a delegation at Versailles to petition the Great Powers for independence. The British arrested Sad Zaghlul and sent him into exile, a move that triggered demonstrations across the country and forced the British to return him to Egypt. As a result, independence was proclaimed in 1922, the khedive was appointed king, elections were announced, and Sad Zaghlul's Wafd (nationalist) party won in a landslide. The British still maintained control of defense, communication, and the Suez Canal Zone, and continued to exert great influence over Egyptian politics.

Dissatisfaction continued after World War II, during which the Wafd party had agreed to support the British in exchange for complete independence. This failed to materialize, however, and a spate of demonstrations and assassinations ensued, culminating on July 26, 1952 —major streets are named for this date—in a bloodless coup by a group of midlevel military officers who called themselves the Free Officers. The officers forced the ineffective king, Faruq I, to abdicate and declared the nation a republic. Within a few months it became clear that the real leader of the group was Jamal Abd al-Nasir (Nasser) who was made president in 1956. Nasser was a charismatic and shrewd nationalist who advocated land reform, nonalignment with the United States and the Soviet Union, pan-Arabism, and as time passed, socialism. In July 1956, Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal Company, expelling British and French experts and causing the wrath of their home countries, who colluded with Israel to attack Egypt in an effort to regain the canal. The Americans and the Russians jointly forced the aggressors to withdraw, and Nasser became an Arab hero.

Nasser became increasingly autocratic. He disbanded all political parties and brooked no internal dissent. He relied increasingly on the Soviets for second-rate assistance and became a victim of his own pan-Arab rhetoric. In the Six Day War of June 1967, after months of Nasser's saber rattling against Israel, the Israelis finally attacked, destroying the entire Egyptian Air Force and capturing the Sinai. With tears in his eyes, Nasser accepted responsibility for the defeat and offered his resignation. In an emotional outpouring of support, Egyptians took to the streets and demanded that he return to office. He died three years later at he age of 52, never having fully recovered from the defeat.

Nasser was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, a man who had been considered a joke during the revolution. But he surprised everyone with a series of bold policy changes. In the October War of 1973, his army caught the Israelis off guard by crossing the Suez Canal and penetrating into the middle of the Sinai before the Israelis could retaliate. Although this wasn't a clear military victory, Sadat had restored Egyptian confidence and gotten the world's attention. He then announced that Egypt would have an open-door economic policy, and imported goods that had disappeared from Egyptian markets for more than a decade were once again available.

Sadat's most striking move, however, was his trip to Jerusalem and the talks that lead to the Camp David Peace Accords of 1978, which brought about a fragile peace with Israel, massive U.S. assistance, and excommunication from the Arab League. It also cost him his life. In October 1981, at parades commemorating the 1973 war, Sadat was shot to death by a low-ranking military officer, disgruntled by the new directions of state policy and by the death of his radical Islamist brother at the hands of Egyptian security forces.

For the past two decades, Egypt has been ruled by Sadat's vice-president, Husni Mubarak. A cautious man, Mubarak has slowly worked Egypt back into the Arab fold without alienating the West by positioning himself as an integral broker to a larger Middle East peace process. He has allowed economic reforms that have begun to seriously dismantle the socialism of earlier years. He has also accepted a larger degree of free speech, partly in the form of opposition parties, provided they are not religiously based or calling for the overthrow of the state.

Rami el-Samahy