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184-572: Egypt was ruled by many dynasties from the start of Islamic control in 639 until the early 16th century. The Umayyad period lasted from 658 to 750. The Abbasid period which came after was much more focused on taxes and centralizing power. In 868, the Tulunids , ruled by Ahmad ibn Tulun , expanded Egypt's territory into the Levant. He would rule until his death in 884. After years of turmoil under Ahmad ibn Tulun's successor, many citizens defected back to

368-529: A Byzantine army at the battle of Heliopolis . Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria , which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on November 8, 641. Alexandria was regained for the Byzantine Empire in 645 but was retaken by Amr in 646. In 654 an invasion fleet sent by Constans II was repulsed. From that time no serious effort was made by the Byzantines to regain possession of

552-622: A compound from " Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως " Aegaeou huptiōs , meaning " Below the Aegean ". " Miṣr " ( Arabic pronunciation: [misˤɾ] ; " مِصر ") is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while " Maṣr " ( Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mɑsˤɾ] ; مَصر ) is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic . The current name of Egypt, Misr/Misir/Misru, stems from

736-435: A metropolitan area with a population of over 20 million. On 17 November 1997, 62 people, mostly tourists, were massacred near Luxor . In late February 2005, Mubarak announced a reform of the presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls for the first time since the 1952 movement . However, the new law placed restrictions on the candidates, and led to Mubarak's easy re-election victory. Voter turnout

920-738: A middle power worldwide. It is a developing country . Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement , the Arab League , the African Union , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation , World Youth Forum , and a member of BRICS . The English name "Egypt" is derived from the Ancient Greek " Aígyptos " (" Αἴγυπτος "), via Middle French "Egypte" and Latin " Aegyptus ". It

1104-516: A semi-presidential republic led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since he was elected in 2014, has been described by a number of watchdogs as authoritarian and responsible for perpetuating the country's poor human rights record . Islam is the official religion and Arabic is official language. Egypt is considered to be a regional power in the Middle East, North Africa and the Muslim world , and

1288-611: A cash-crop monoculture before the end of the century, concentrating land ownership and shifting production towards international markets. Muhammad Ali annexed Northern Sudan (1820–1824), Syria (1833), and parts of Arabia and Anatolia ; but in 1841 the European powers, fearful lest he topple the Ottoman Empire itself, forced him to return most of his conquests to the Ottomans. His military ambition required him to modernise

1472-540: A clear majority of the seats for Egypt's Mostaqbal Watan ( Nation's Future ) Party, which strongly supports president El-Sisi. The party even increased its majority, partly because of new electoral rules. Divan A divan or diwan ( Persian : دیوان , dīvān ; from Sumerian dub , clay tablet ) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states , or its chief official (see dewan ). The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental council of

1656-618: A deputy to Egypt to govern for him. In 828 another Egyptian revolt broke out, and in 831 the Copts joined with native Muslims against the government. Eventually the power loss of the Abbasids in Baghdad led for general upon general to take over rule of Egypt, yet being under Abbasid allegiance, the Tulunid dynasty (868–905) and Ikhshidid dynasty (935–969) were among the most successful to defy

1840-671: A dispute then arose with his Syrian allies for the possession of Egypt. Shawar, being unable to cope with the Syrians, demanded help of the Frankish king of Jerusalem Amalric I , who hastened to his aid with a large force, which united with Shawar's and besieged Shirkuh in Bilbeis for three months; at the end of this time, owing to the successes of Nureddin in Syria, the Franks granted Shirkuh

2024-449: A distinct district, reflecting both its role as the country's shield against Byzantine attacks, and as the major naval base. It was considered a frontier fortress ( ribat ) under a military governor and was heavily garrisoned, with a quarter of the province's garrison serving there in semi-annual rotation. Next to the wāli , there was also the commander of the police ( ṣāḥib al-shurṭa ), responsible for internal security and for commanding

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2208-554: A free passage with his troops back to Syria, on condition of Egypt being evacuated (October 1164). Two years later Shirkuh , a Kurdish general known as "the Lion", persuaded Nureddin to put him at the head of another expedition to Egypt, which left Syria in January 1167; a Frankish army hastened to Shawar's aid. At the battle of Babain (April 11, 1167) the allies were defeated by the forces commanded by Shirkuh and his nephew Saladin , who

2392-539: A measure which helped to provoke the Crusades , but was only part of a general scheme for converting all Christians and Jews in his dominions to his own opinions by force. A more reputable expedient with the same end in view was the construction of a great library in Cairo, with ample provision for students; this was modelled on a similar institution at Baghdad. For unknown reasons al-Hakim disappeared in 1021. In 1049

2576-507: A military unit to be reckoned with. The resentment for the military way of life eventually faded from the men and a new ideology took hold, one of nationalism and pride. It was with the help of this newly reborn martial unit that Muhammad Ali imposed his rule over Egypt. The policy that Mohammad Ali Pasha followed during his reign explains partly why the numeracy in Egypt compared to other North-African and Middle-Eastern countries increased only at

2760-430: A new dynasty, usually leaving behind infants who were then overthrown. The Bahri dynasty (1250–1382) would go through 25 sultans in its 132-year period. Many died or were killed shortly after being in power; very few lived more than a few years into their rule as sultan. The first of these was Aybak , who married Shajar al-Durr (the widow of al-Salih Ayyub ) and quickly began a war with the region of present-day Syria. He

2944-533: A new era in Egypt's history: hitherto a passive province of an empire, under Ibn Tulun it would re-emerge as an independent political centre. Ibn Tulun would use the country's wealth to extend his rule into the Levant, in a pattern followed by later Egypt-based regimes, from the Ikhshidids to the Mamluk Sultanate . The first years of Ibn Tulun's governorship were dominated by his power struggle with

3128-646: A number of companies under the command of a junior officer or Bey . The Janissaries quickly became the dominant force in Ottoman Libya. As a self-governing military guild answerable only to their own laws and protected by a Divan (in this context, a council of senior officers who advised the Pasha), the Janissaries soon reduced the Pasha to a largely ceremonial role. The Divan-ı Hümayun or Sublime Porte

3312-578: A plague in 689, and the period of 750–763, when the seat of the governor moved to Askar , the capital and residence of the administration. After the conquest, the country was initially divided in two provinces, Upper Egypt ( al-sa'id ) and Lower Egypt with the Nile Delta ( asfal al-ard ). In 643/4, however, Caliph Uthman appointed a single governor ( wāli ) with jurisdiction over all of Egypt, resident at Fustat. The governor would in turn nominate deputies for Upper and Lower Egypt. Alexandria remained

3496-618: A remarkably small rate, as investment in further education only took place in the military and industrial sector. Muhammad Ali was succeeded briefly by his son Ibrahim (in September 1848), then by a grandson Abbas I (in November 1848), then by Said (in 1854), and Isma'il (in 1863) who encouraged science and agriculture and banned slavery in Egypt. Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty remained nominally an Ottoman province. It

3680-522: A report alleging that Egypt had become an international centre for torture, where other nations send suspects for interrogation, often as part of the War on Terror . Egypt's foreign ministry quickly issued a rebuttal to this report. Constitutional changes voted on 19 March 2007 prohibited parties from using religion as a basis for political activity, allowed the drafting of a new anti-terrorism law, authorised broad police powers of arrest and surveillance, and gave

3864-460: A share of the local revenue, the members of the jund then virtually closed off the register to new entries. It was only after the losses of the Second Fitna that the registers were updated, and occasionally, governors would add soldiers en masse to the lists as a means to garner political support. In return for a very small tribute of money (0.5% Jizya Tax on some free men) and food for

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4048-510: A sign of his power, he established a new palace city to the northeast of Fustat, called al-Qata'i , in 870. The project was a conscious emulation of, and rival to, the Abbasid capital Samarra, with quarters assigned to the regiments of his army, a hippodrome, hospital, and palaces. The new city's centrepiece was the Mosque of Ibn Tulun . Ibn Tulun continued to emulate the familiar Samarra model in

4232-792: A sovereign union known as the United Arab Republic . The union was short-lived, ending in 1961 when Syria seceded. During most of its existence, the United Arab Republic was also in a loose confederation with North Yemen (or the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen), known as the United Arab States . In the early 1960s, Egypt became fully involved in the North Yemen Civil War . Despite several military moves and peace conferences,

4416-468: A state", comes from Turkish divan , from Persian دیوان ( dêvân ). It is first attested in Middle Persian spelled as dpywʾn and dywʾn , itself hearkening back, via Old Persian , Elamite and Akkadian , ultimately to Sumerian dub , clay tablet. The word was borrowed into Armenian as well as divan ; on linguistic grounds this is placed after the 3rd century, which helps establish

4600-475: A status symbol in Mamluk culture. Some of the libraries discovered show evidence of the remnants of thousands of books. The end of the period was brought about due to famine, military tensions, disease, and high taxation. The Mamluk sultans were drawn from the freed slaves who formed the court and went on to become slaveowners themselves, they went on to office the army. The sultans were unable to effectively form

4784-573: A street of Cairo, it is said, with the connivance of the Caliph, who immediately began the plunder of his house, where fabulous treasures were said to be amassed. The vizier's offices were given to al-Mamn. His external policy was not more fortunate than that of his predecessor, as he lost Tyre to the Crusaders, and a fleet equipped by him was defeated by the Venetians . In 1153 Ascalon was lost ,

4968-469: A time of relative tranquility in Egypt as well as in Syria, a rather unusual occurrence for the period. Nevertheless, Khumarawayh's extravagant spending exhausted the fisc, and by the time of his assassination in 896, the Tulunid treasury was empty. Following Khumarawayh's death, internal strife sapped Tulunid power. Khumarawayh's son Jaysh was a drunkard who executed his uncle, Mudar ibn Ahmad ibn Tulun; he

5152-538: Is almost unknown, except that their treasury was located in their capital of Nishapur . Ya'qub al-Saffar (r. 867–879), the founder of the Saffarid dynasty who supplanted the Tahirids, is known to have had a bureau of the army ( dīwān al-ʿarḍ ) for keeping the lists and supervising the payment of the troops, at his capital Zarang . Under his successor Amr ibn al-Layth (r. 879–901) there were two further treasuries,

5336-419: Is reflected in early Greek Linear B tablets as "a-ku-pi-ti-yo". The adjective "aigýpti-"/"aigýptios" was borrowed into Coptic as " gyptios ", and from there into Arabic as " qubṭī ", back formed into " قبط " (" qubṭ "), whence English " Copt ". Prominent Ancient Greek historian and Geographer , Strabo , provided a folk etymology stating that " Αἴγυπτος " (Aigýptios) had originally evolved as

5520-566: Is the Akkadian "mi-iṣ-ru" ("miṣru") related to miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru , meaning "border" or "frontier". The Neo-Assyrian Empire used the derived term [REDACTED] , Mu-ṣur . There is evidence of rock carvings along the Nile terraces and in desert oases. In the 10th millennium BCE , a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers was replaced by a grain -grinding culture. Climate changes or overgrazing around 8000 BCE began to desiccate

5704-466: The jund (army). The main pillar of the early Muslim rule and control in the country was the military force, or jund , staffed by the Arab settlers. These were initially the men who had followed Amr and participated in the conquest. The followers of Amr were mostly drawn from Yamani ( south Arabian ) tribes, rather than the northern Arab ( Qays i) tribes, who were scarcely represented in the province; it

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5888-690: The 1948 Arab–Israeli War . During the 1967 war, an Emergency Law was enacted, and remained in effect until 2012, with the exception of an 18-month break in 1980/81. Under this law, police powers were extended, constitutional rights suspended and censorship legalised. At the time of the fall of the Egyptian monarchy in the early 1950s, less than half a million Egyptians were considered upper class and rich, four million middle class and 17 million lower class and poor. Fewer than half of all primary-school-age children attended school, most of them being boys. Nasser's policies changed this. Land reform and distribution,

6072-597: The Ancient Semitic name for it. The term originally connoted " Civilization " or " Metropolis ". Classical Arabic Miṣr (Egyptian Arabic Maṣr ) is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew Miṣráyīm (מִצְרַיִם / מִצְרָיִם), meaning "the two straits", a reference to the predynastic separation of Upper and Lower Egypt . Also mentioned in several Semitic languages as Mesru , Misir and Masar . The oldest attestation of this name for Egypt

6256-611: The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty was concluded and British troops withdrew from Egypt, except for the Suez Canal. The treaty did not resolve the question of Sudan , which, under the terms of the existing Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement of 1899, stated that Sudan should be jointly governed by Egypt and Britain, but with real power remaining in British hands. Britain used Egypt as a base for Allied operations throughout

6440-687: The Arab League , but it was supported by most Egyptians. Sadat was assassinated by an Islamic extremist in October 1981. Hosni Mubarak came to power after the assassination of Sadat in a referendum in which he was the only candidate. He became another leader to dominate the Egyptian history . Hosni Mubarak reaffirmed Egypt's relationship with Israel yet eased the tensions with Egypt's Arab neighbours. Domestically, Mubarak faced serious problems. Mass poverty and unemployment led rural families to stream into cities like Cairo where they ended up in crowded slums, barely managing to survive. On 25 February 1986 ,

6624-581: The Byzantine emperor , and even burned a fleet which was being built for the Byzantine war, led to some persecution. Al-Aziz attempted without success to enter into friendly relations with the Buwayhid ruler of Baghdad, and tried to gain possession of Aleppo , as the key to Iraq , but this was prevented by the intervention of the Byzantines. His North African possessions were maintained and extended, but

6808-628: The Camp David Accords , which recognised Israel in exchange for its withdrawal from the occupied Sinai. After the Arab Spring , which led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution and overthrow of Hosni Mubarak , the country faced a protracted period of political unrest ; this included the election in 2012 of a brief, short-lived Muslim Brotherhood -aligned Islamist government spearheaded by Mohamed Morsi , and its subsequent overthrow after mass protests in 2013 . The current government,

6992-691: The Egyptian population , economy, and political system experienced significant destruction as a result of the Black Death pandemic whose waves continued to destroy Egypt up to the early 16th century. In 1377 a revolt in Syria spread to Egypt, and the government was taken over by the Circassians Berekeh and Barkuk . Barkuk was proclaimed sultan in 1382, ending the Bahri dynasty. He was expelled in 1389, but recaptured Cairo in 1390, setting up

7176-585: The Mediterranean Sea to the north , the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast , the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south , and Libya to the west . The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia . Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt , while Alexandria , the second-largest city, is an important industrial and tourist hub at

7360-667: The Mediterranean coast . At approximately 110 million inhabitants, Egypt is the 14th-most populated country in the world , and the third-most populated in Africa. 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

7544-706: The Ottoman Turks , Egyptian Mamluks who had ruled Egypt for centuries, and Albanian mercenaries in the service of the Ottomans. After the French were expelled, power was seized in 1805 by Muhammad Ali Pasha , an Albanian military commander of the Ottoman army in Egypt. Muhammad Ali massacred the Mamluks and established a dynasty that was to rule Egypt until the revolution of 1952. The introduction in 1820 of long-staple cotton transformed its agriculture into

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7728-457: The Ptolemaic line was Cleopatra VII , who committed suicide following the burial of her lover Mark Antony , after Octavian had captured Alexandria and her mercenary forces had fled. The Ptolemies faced rebellions of native Egyptians and were involved in foreign and civil wars that led to the decline of the kingdom and its annexation by Rome. Christianity was brought to Egypt by Saint Mark

7912-631: The Ptolemaic dynasty . The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to Cyrene to the west, and south to the frontier with Nubia. Alexandria became the capital city and a centre of Greek culture and trade. To gain recognition by the native Egyptian populace, they named themselves as the successors to the Pharaohs. The later Ptolemies took on Egyptian traditions, had themselves portrayed on public monuments in Egyptian style and dress, and participated in Egyptian religious life. The last ruler from

8096-736: The Seljuk Malik Shah , and Damascus was permanently lost to the Fatimids. This period is otherwise memorable for the rise of the Hashshashin , or Assassins. During the Crusades , al-Mustafa maintained himself in Alexandria, and helped the Crusaders by rescuing Jerusalem from the Ortokids , thereby facilitating its conquest by the Crusaders in 1099. He endeavoured to retrieve his error by himself advancing into Palestine, but he

8280-624: The Sixth Crusade , in order to gain his help against Damascus. Najm al-Din became sultan in 1240. His reign saw the recapture of Jerusalem in 1244, and the introduction of a larger force of Mameluks into the army. Much of his time was spent in campaigns in Syria, where he allied with the Khwarezmians against the Crusaders and Ayyubids. In 1249 he faced an invasion by Louis IX of France (the Seventh Crusade ), and Damietta

8464-632: The Third Dynasty pyramid of Djoser and the Fourth Dynasty Giza pyramids . The First Intermediate Period ushered in a time of political upheaval for about 150 years. Stronger Nile floods and stabilisation of government, however, brought back renewed prosperity for the country in the Middle Kingdom c.  2040 BCE, reaching a peak during the reign of Pharaoh Amenemhat III . A second period of disunity heralded

8648-421: The Wafd Party led the Egyptian nationalist movement to a majority at the local Legislative Assembly. When the British exiled Zaghlul and his associates to Malta on 8 March 1919, the country arose in its first modern revolution . The revolt led the UK government to issue a unilateral declaration of Egypt's independence on 22 February 1922. Following independence from the United Kingdom, Sultan Fuad I assumed

8832-414: The Zirid dynasty in the Maghrib returned to the Sunni faith and became subjects of the Caliphate in Baghdad, but at the same time Yemen recognized the Fatimid caliphate. Meanwhile, Baghdad was taken by the Turks, falling to the Seljuk Tughrul Beg in 1059. The Turks also plundered Cairo in 1068, but they were driven out by 1074. During this time, however, Syria was overrun by an invader in league with

9016-475: The dīwān al-barīd in charge of the postal service ; the bureau of expenditure ( dīwān al-nafaqāt ), which most likely indicates the survival of a Byzantine institution; the dīwān al-ṣadaqa was a new foundation with the task of estimating the zakāt and ʿushr levies; the dīwān al-mustaghallāt administered state property in cities; the dīwān al-ṭirāz controlled the government workshops that made official banners, costumes and some furniture. Aside from

9200-517: The dīwān al-jund , the first Umayyad caliph, Mu'awiya (r. 661–680), added the bureau of the land tax ( dīwān al-kharāj ) in Damascus , which became the main dīwān , as well as the bureau of correspondence ( dīwān al-rasāʾil ), which drafted the caliph's letters and official documents, and the bureau of the seal ( dīwān al-khātam ), which checked and kept copies of all correspondence before sealing and dispatching it. A number of more specialist departments were also established, probably by Mu'awiya:

9384-453: The dīwān al-kharāj now included all land taxes ( kharāj , zakāt , and jizya , both in money and in kind), while another department, the dīwān al-ṣadaqa , dealt with assessing the zakāt of cattle. The correspondence of the dīwān al-kharāj was checked by another department, the dīwān al-khātam . As in Umayyad times, miniature copies of the dīwān al-kharāj , the dīwān al-jund and the dīwān al-rasāʾil existed in every province, but by

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9568-455: The dīwān al-sawād , which oversaw the rich lands of lower Iraq, was moved from Baghdad to Shiraz . In addition, a dīwān al-khilāfa was established to oversee the affairs of the Abbasid caliphs, who continued to reside in Baghdad as puppets of the Buyid emirs. The Great Seljuks tended to cherish their nomadic origins, with their sultans leading a peripatetic court to their various capitals. Coupled with their frequent absence on campaign,

9752-548: The elections of June 2014 El-Sisi won with a percentage of 96.1%. On 8 June 2014, Abdel Fatah el-Sisi was officially sworn in as Egypt's new president. Under President el-Sisi, Egypt has implemented a rigorous policy of controlling the border to the Gaza Strip, including the dismantling of tunnels between the Gaza strip and Sinai. In April 2018, El-Sisi was re-elected by a landslide in election with no real opposition. In April 2019, Egypt's parliament extended presidential terms from four to six years. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

9936-407: The jund as they nominally still formed the province's garrison—the ʿaṭāʾ from the local revenue. Al-Mu'tasim discontinued the practice, removing the Arab families from the army registers diwān and ordering that the revenues of Egypt be sent to the central government, which would then pay the ʿaṭāʾ only to the Turkish troops stationed in the province. This was a move towards centralizing power in

10120-432: The mustawfī al-mamālik , a fiscal oversight office ( dīwān al-ishrāf or dīwān al-muʿāmalāt ) under the mushrif al-mamālik , and the army department ( dīwān al-ʿarḍ or dīwān al-jaysh ) under the ʿariḍ (further divided into the recruitment and supply bureau, dīwān al-rawātib , and the salary and land grants bureau, dīwān al-iqṭāʾ ). A number of lesser departments is also attested, although they may not have existed at

10304-407: The māl-e khāṣṣa , and an unnamed bureau under the chief secretary corresponding to a chancery ( dīwān al-rasāʾil or dīwān al-inshāʾ ). The Buyids , who took over Baghdad and the remains of the Abbasid Caliphate in 946, drew partly on the established Abbasid practice, but was adapted to suit the nature of the rather decentralized Buyid "confederation" of autonomous emirates. The Buyid bureaucracy

10488-408: The 1990s an Islamist group, Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya , engaged in an extended campaign of violence, from the murders and attempted murders of prominent writers and intellectuals, to the repeated targeting of tourists and foreigners. Serious damage was done to the largest sector of Egypt's economy—tourism —and in turn to the government, but it also devastated the livelihoods of many of the people on whom

10672-455: The 870s. In part, these movements were an expression of dissatisfaction with and alienation from imperial rule by Baghdad; these sentiments would manifest themselves in the support of many Egyptians for the Fatimids in the 10th century. In 868, Caliph al-Mu'tazz (r. 866–869) gave charge of Egypt to the Turkish general Bakbak . Bakbak in turn sent his stepson Ahmad ibn Tulun as his lieutenant and resident governor. This appointment ushered in

10856-402: The Abbasid Caliph. Muslim rulers remained in control of Egypt for the next six centuries, with Cairo as the seat of the Fatimid Caliphate . With the end of the Ayyubid dynasty , the Mamluks , a Turco - Circassian military caste, took control about 1250. By the late 13th century, Egypt linked the Red Sea, India, Malaya, and East Indies. The mid-14th-century Black Death killed about 40% of

11040-503: The Abbasids and in 904 they would reclaim power from the Tulunids. In 969, Egypt came under the control of the Fatimids . This dynasty would begin to fade after the death of their last ruler in 1171. In 1174, Egypt came under the rule of the Ayyubids , who ruled from Damascus and not from Cairo . This dynasty fought against the Crusader States during the Fifth Crusade . Ayyubid Sultan Najm al-Din recaptured Jerusalem in 1244 . He introduced Mamluk forces into his army in order to hold off

11224-468: The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement was signed: the Agreement stated that Sudan would be jointly governed by the Khedivate of Egypt and the United Kingdom. However, actual control of Sudan was in British hands only. In 1906, the Denshawai incident prompted many neutral Egyptians to join the nationalist movement. In 1914 the Ottoman Empire entered World War I in alliance with the Central Empires; Khedive Abbas II (who had grown increasingly hostile to

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11408-425: The Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BCE. A unified kingdom

11592-409: The Bahri Dynasty and was followed by the Burji Dynasty. The Bahri Dynasty would rule from 1250 to 1382, while the Burji dynasty would last from 1382 to 1517. Cultural contributions of the Mamluk Empire spanned across more than religion. Literature and astronomy were two subjects which the Mamluks valued and participated in heavily. They were a highly literate and educated society. Private libraries were

11776-435: The British in preceding years) decided to support the motherland in war. Following such decision, the British forcibly removed him from power and replaced him with his brother Hussein Kamel . Hussein Kamel declared Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire, assuming the title of Sultan of Egypt . Shortly following independence, Egypt was declared a protectorate of the United Kingdom. After World War I , Saad Zaghlul and

11960-504: The Burji dynasty. The Burji dynasty (1382–1517) proved especially turbulent, with political power-plays resulting in short-lived sultans. During the period, the Mamluks fought Timur Lenk and conquered Cyprus . Plague epidemics continued to ruin Egypt when it spread over the region in 1388–1389, 1397–1398, 1403–1407, 1410–1411, 1415–1419, 1429–1430, 1438–1439, 1444–1449, 1455, 1459–1460, 1468–1469, 1476–1477, 1492, 1498, 1504–1505 and 1513–1514. Constant political bickering contributed to

12144-411: The Byzantines, with whom his generals fought in Syria with varying fortune. Before his death he was acknowledged as Caliph in Mecca and Medina , as well as Syria, Egypt and North Africa as far as Tangier . Under the vizier al-Aziz , there was a large amount of toleration conceded to the other sects of Islam, and to other communities, but the belief that the Christians of Egypt were in league with

12328-474: The Caliph ( dīwān al-riḳāʿ ). Caliph al-Mahdi (r. 775–785) created a parallel dīwān al-zimām (control bureau) for every one of the existing dīwāns , as well as a central control bureau ( zimām al-azimma ). These acted as comptrollers as well as coordinators between the various bureaus, or between individual dīwāns and the vizier. In addition, a dīwān al-maẓālim was created, staffed by judges, to hear complaints against government officials. The remit of

12512-432: The Caliph, in 877/8 Ibn Tulun received responsibility for the entirety of Syria and the frontier districts of Cilicia (the Thughūr ). Ibn Tulun occupied Syria but failed to seize Tarsus in Cilicia, and was forced to return to Egypt due to the abortive revolt of his eldest son, Abbas . Ibn Tulun has Abbas imprisoned, and named his second son, Khumarawayh , as his heir. In 882, Ibn Tulun came close to having Egypt become

12696-462: The Caliph. Nureddin loyally aided his deputy in dealing with Crusader invasions of Egypt, and he ordered Saladin to substitute the name of the Abbasid caliph for the Fatimid in public worship. The last Fatimid caliph died soon after in September, 1171. Saladin, a general known as "the Lion", was confirmed as Nureddin's deputy in Egypt, and on the death of Nureddin on April 12, 1174, he took the title sultan . During his reign Damascus, rather than Cairo,

12880-415: The Council of Regency, led by Prince Muhammad Abdel Moneim was formed. The council, however, held only nominal authority and the real power was actually in the hands of the Revolutionary Command Council , led by Naguib and Nasser. Popular expectations for immediate reforms led to the workers' riots in Kafr Dawar on 12 August 1952. Following a brief experiment with civilian rule, the Free Officers abrogated

13064-405: The Egyptian Auxiliary Police were observed helping the guerrillas. In response, on 25 January, General George Erskine sent out British tanks and infantry to surround the auxiliary police station in Ismailia. The police commander called the Interior Minister, Fouad Serageddin , Nahas's right-hand man, to ask if he should surrender or fight. Serageddin ordered the police to fight "to the last man and

13248-722: The Eighteenth Dynasty, marking the rise of Egypt as an international power that expanded during its greatest extension to an empire as far south as Tombos in Nubia , and included parts of the Levant in the east. This period is noted for some of the most well known Pharaohs , including Hatshepsut , Thutmose III , Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti , Tutankhamun and Ramesses II . The first historically attested expression of monotheism came during this period as Atenism . Frequent contacts with other nations brought new ideas to

13432-630: The Evangelist in the 1st century. Diocletian 's reign (284–305 CE) marked the transition from the Roman to the Byzantine era in Egypt, when a great number of Egyptian Christians were persecuted. The New Testament had by then been translated into Egyptian. After the Council of Chalcedon in CE 451, a distinct Egyptian Coptic Church was firmly established. The Byzantines were able to regain control of

13616-759: The Italian army invaded Egypt. The Egyptian army did no fighting. In June 1940 the King dismissed Prime Minister Aly Maher, who got on poorly with the British. A new coalition Government was formed with the Independent Hassan Pasha Sabri as prime minister. Following a ministerial crisis in February 1942, the ambassador Sir Miles Lampson , pressed Farouk to have a Wafd or Wafd-coalition government replace Hussein Sirri Pasha 's government. On

13800-498: The Muslim Brotherhood leaders and activists have either been sentenced to death or life imprisonment in a series of mass trials. On 18 January 2014, the interim government instituted a new constitution following a referendum approved by an overwhelming majority of voters (98.1%). 38.6% of registered voters participated in the referendum a higher number than the 33% who voted in a referendum during Morsi's tenure. In

13984-572: The Muslim Brotherhood. Liberal and secular groups walked out of the constituent assembly because they believed that it would impose strict Islamic practices, while Muslim Brotherhood backers threw their support behind Morsi. On 22 November 2012, President Morsi issued a temporary declaration immunising his decrees from challenge and seeking to protect the work of the constituent assembly. The move led to massive protests and violent action throughout Egypt. On 5 December 2012, tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Morsi clashed, in what

14168-682: The New Kingdom. The country was later invaded and conquered by Libyans , Nubians and Assyrians , but native Egyptians eventually drove them out and regained control of their country. In 525 BCE, the Achaemenid Empire , led by Cambyses II , began their conquest of Egypt, eventually capturing the pharaoh Psamtik III at the battle of Pelusium . Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of pharaoh , but ruled Egypt from his home of Susa in Persia (modern Iran), leaving Egypt under

14352-533: The Ottomans. Egypt then entered into the middle period of the Ottoman Empire . Egypt Egypt ( Arabic : مصر Miṣr [mesˁr] , Egyptian Arabic pronunciation: [mɑsˤr] ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt , is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and the Sinai Peninsula in the southwest corner of Asia . It is bordered by

14536-568: The Security Police started rioting, protesting against reports that their term of duty was to be extended from 3 to 4 years. Hotels, nightclubs, restaurants and casinos were attacked in Cairo and there were riots in other cities. A day time curfew was imposed. It took the army 3 days to restore order. 107 people were killed. In the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, terrorist attacks in Egypt became numerous and severe, and began to target Christian Copts , foreign tourists and government officials. In

14720-587: The Shura Council and installed a temporary interim government. On 4 July 2013, 68-year-old Chief Justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt Adly Mansour was sworn in as acting president over the new government following the removal of Morsi. The new Egyptian authorities cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters, jailing thousands and forcefully dispersing pro-Morsi and pro-Brotherhood protests. Many of

14904-611: The Sinai Peninsula border with Israel, and on 23 May he closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping. On 26 May Nasser declared, "The battle will be a general one and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel". This prompted the beginning of the Third Arab Israeli War (Six-Day War) in which Israel attacked Egypt, and occupied Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip , which Egypt had occupied since

15088-1045: The Soviet advisors in 1972. Egypt was renamed as Arab Republic of Egypt in 1971. Sadat launched the Infitah economic reform policy, while clamping down on religious and secular opposition. In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched the Fourth Arab-Israeli War (Yom Kippur War), a surprise attack to regain part of the Sinai territory Israel had captured 6 years earlier. In 1975, Sadat shifted Nasser's economic policies and sought to use his popularity to reduce government regulations and encourage foreign investment through his programme of Infitah. Through this policy, incentives such as reduced taxes and import tariffs attracted some investors, but investments were mainly directed at low risk and profitable ventures like tourism and construction, abandoning Egypt's infant industries. Because of

15272-602: The Suez Canal on 26 July 1956; his hostile approach towards Israel and economic nationalism prompted the beginning of the Second Arab-Israeli War (Suez Crisis), in which Israel (with support from France and the United Kingdom) occupied the Sinai peninsula and the Canal. The war came to an end because of US and USSR diplomatic intervention and the status quo was restored. In 1958, Egypt and Syria formed

15456-417: The Suez Canal. As the British refused to leave their base around the Suez Canal, the Egyptian government cut off the water and refused to allow food into the Suez Canal base, announced a boycott of British goods, forbade Egyptian workers from entering the base and sponsored guerrilla attacks. On 24 January 1952, Egyptian guerrillas staged a fierce attack on the British forces around the Suez Canal, during which

15640-594: The Tulunid state. Far from halting the decline, this event alienated key commanders in Syria and led to the rapid and relatively unopposed reconquest of Syria and Egypt by the Abbasids under Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Katib , who entered Fustat in January 905. With the exception of the Great Mosque of Ibn Tulun, the victorious Abbasid troops pillaged al-Qata'i and razed it to the ground. The Abbasids were able to repulse Fatimid invasions of Egypt in 914–915 and 919–921 . In 935, after repulsing another Fatimid attack,

15824-486: The Tulunids the hereditary governorship over Egypt and Syria for 30 years. The accession of al-Muwaffaq's son al-Mu'tadid as Caliph in 892 marked a new rapprochement, culminating in the marriage of Khumarawayh's daughter to the new Caliph, but also the return of the provinces of Diyar Rabi'a and Diyar Mudar to caliphal control. Domestically, Khumarawayh's reign was one of "luxury and decay" ( Hugh N. Kennedy ), but also

16008-461: The Turkish commander Muhammad ibn Tughj became the de facto ruler of Egypt with the title of al-Ikhshid . After his death in 946, the succession of his son Unujur was peaceful and undisputed, due to the influence of the powerful and talented commander-in-chief, Kafur. One of the many Black African slaves recruited by al-Ikhshid, Kafur remained the paramount minister and virtual ruler of Egypt over

16192-640: The Wafd for the Black Saturday riot, and dismissed Nahas as prime minister the next day. He was replaced by Aly Maher Pasha . On 22–23 July 1952, the Free Officers Movement , led by Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser , launched a coup d'état ( Egyptian Revolution of 1952 ) against the king. Farouk I abdicated the throne to his son Fouad II , who was, at the time, a seven-month-old baby. The Royal Family left Egypt some days later and

16376-592: The War. Anti-monarchy sentiments further increased following the disastrous performance of the Kingdom in the First Arab-Israeli War . The 1950 election saw a landslide victory of the nationalist Wafd Party and the King was forced to appoint Mostafa El-Nahas as new prime minister. In 1951 Egypt unilaterally withdrew from the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 and ordered all remaining British troops to leave

16560-542: The arrival of the first foreign ruling dynasty in Egypt, that of the Semitic Hyksos . The Hyksos invaders took over much of Lower Egypt around 1650 BCE and founded a new capital at Avaris . They were driven out by an Upper Egyptian force led by Ahmose I , who founded the Eighteenth Dynasty and relocated the capital from Memphis to Thebes . The New Kingdom c.  1550–1070 BCE began with

16744-471: The backing of the Tulunid elites, succeeded without opposition. Ibn Tulun bequeathed his heir "with a seasoned military, a stable economy, and a coterie of experienced commanders and bureaucrats". Khumarawayh was able to preserve his authority against the Abbasid's attempt to overthrow him at the Battle of Tawahin and even made additional territorial gains, recognized in a treaty with al-Muwaffaq in 886 that gave

16928-524: The battle of Heliopolis. Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria, which surrendered to him by a treaty signed on 8 November 641. Alexandria was regained for the Byzantine Empire in 645 but was retaken by Amr in 646. In 654 an invasion fleet sent by Constans II was repulsed. The Arabs founded the capital of Egypt called Fustat , which was later burned down during the Crusades. Cairo

17112-407: The beginning of the 9th century the practice of ruling Egypt through a governor was resumed under Abdallah ibn Tahir , who decided to reside at Baghdad , sending a deputy to Egypt to govern for him. In 828 another Egyptian revolt broke out, and in 831 the Copts joined with native Muslims against the government. A major change came in 834, when Caliph al-Mu'tasim discontinued the practice of paying

17296-530: The bulk of the swelling middle class in Egypt under Nasser. During the 1960s, the Egyptian economy went from sluggish to the verge of collapse, the society became less free, and Nasser's appeal waned considerably. In 1970, President Nasser died and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat . During his period , Sadat switched Egypt's Cold War allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling

17480-474: The caliph in 2 al-Muizz had been summoned to enter the palace that had been prepared for him, and after leaving a viceroy to take charge of his western possessions he arrived in Alexandria on May 31 973, and proceeded to instruct his new subjects in the particular form of religion ( Shiism ) which his family represented. As this was in origin identical with that professed by the Carmathians, he hoped to gain

17664-415: The capital into a new department, the dīwān al-dār (bureau of the palace) or dīwān al-dār al-kabīr (great bureau of the palace), where " al-dār " probably meant the vizier's palace. At the same time, the various zimām bureaux were combined into a single dīwān al-zimām which re-checked all assessments, payments and receipts against its own records and, according to the 11th-century scholar al-Mawardi ,

17848-505: The central government, there was a local branch of the dīwān al-kharāj , the dīwān al-jund and the dīwān al-rasāʾil in every province. Under Caliph Abd al-Malik ( r.  685–705 ), the practices of the various departments began to be standardized and Arabized: instead of the local languages ( Greek in Syria , Coptic and Greek in Egypt , Persian in the former Sasanian lands) and

18032-561: The centre of Muslim learning. However, the Carmathians of Damascus under Hasan al-Asam advanced through Palestine to Egypt, and in the autumn of 971 Jauhar found himself besieged in his new city. By a timely sortie, preceded by the administration of bribes to various officers in the Carmathian host, Jauhar succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on the besiegers, who were compelled to evacuate Egypt and part of Syria. Meanwhile,

18216-471: The completion of the Muslim conquest of North Africa ; it was he who appointed Musa ibn Nusayr in his post as governor of Ifriqiya . Abd al-Aziz hoped to be succeeded by his son, but when he died, Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (685–695) sent his own son, Abdallah , as governor in a move to reassert control and prevent the country from becoming a hereditary domain. Abd al-Malik ibn Rifa'a al-Fahmi in 715 and his successor Ayyub ibn Sharhabil in 717 were

18400-533: The confiscated properties of the Umayyads after his victory in the Abbasid Revolution . This was probably the antecedent of the later dīwān al-ḍiyāʿ , administering the caliph's personal domains. Similarly, under al-Mansur (r. 754–775) there was a bureau of confiscations ( dīwān al-muṣādara ), as well as a dīwān al-aḥshām , probably in charge of palace service personnel, and a bureau of petitions to

18584-534: The control of a satrapy . The entire Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt , from 525 to 402 BCE, save for Petubastis III , was an entirely Achaemenid-ruled period, with the Achaemenid emperors all being granted the title of pharaoh. A few temporarily successful revolts against the Achaemenids marked the fifth century BCE, but Egypt was never able to permanently overthrow the Achaemenids. The Thirtieth Dynasty

18768-634: The country after a brief Sasanid Persian invasion early in the 7th century amidst the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 during which they established a new short-lived province for ten years known as Sasanian Egypt , until 639–42, when Egypt was invaded and conquered by the Islamic caliphate by the Muslim Arabs. When they defeated the Byzantine armies in Egypt, the Arabs brought Islam to

18952-532: The country for the Umayyads . Amr then served as governor until his death in 664. From 667/8 until 682, the province was governed by another fervent pro-Umayyad partisan, Maslama ibn Mukhallad al-Ansari . During the Second Fitna , Ibn al-Zubayr gained the support of the Kharijites in Egypt and sent a governor of his own, Abd al-Rahman ibn Utba al-Fihri , to the province. The Kharijite-backed Zubayrid regime

19136-568: The country's population. Egypt was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1517, after which it became a province of the Ottoman Empire . The defensive militarisation damaged its civil society and economic institutions. The weakening of the economic system combined with the effects of plague left Egypt vulnerable to foreign invasion. Portuguese traders took over their trade. Between 1687 and 1731, Egypt experienced six famines. The 1784 famine cost it roughly one-sixth of its population. Egypt

19320-467: The country. Following the first surrender of Alexandria, Amr chose a new site to settle his men, near the location of the Byzantine fortress of Babylon . The new settlement received the name of Fustat , after Amr's tent, which had been pitched there when the Arabs besieged the fortress. Fustat quickly became the focal point of Islamic Egypt, and, with the exception of the brief relocation to Helwan during

19504-399: The country. Some time during this period, Egyptians began to blend in their new faith with indigenous beliefs and practices, leading to various Sufi orders that have flourished to this day. These earlier rites had survived the period of Coptic Christianity . In 639 an army was sent in Egypt by the second caliph , Umar , under the command of Amr ibn al-As . They defeated a Roman army at

19688-412: The country: he built industries, a system of canals for irrigation and transport, and reformed the civil service. He constructed a military state with around four percent of the populace serving the army to raise Egypt to a powerful positioning in the Ottoman Empire in a way showing various similarities to the Soviet strategies (without communism) conducted in the 20th century. Muhammad Ali Pasha evolved

19872-539: The crusaders. This decision would be one he regretted. The Ayyubids were overthrown by their bodyguards, known as the Mamluks in 1252 and ruled until 1517, when Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire under the Eyālet-i Mıṣr province . In 639 an army of some 4,000 men were sent against Egypt by the second caliph, Umar , under the command of Amr ibn al-As . This army was joined by another 5,000 men in 640 and defeated

20056-428: The dramatic growth in university education, and government support to national industries greatly improved social mobility and flattened the social curve. From academic year 1953–54 through 1965–66, overall public school enrolments more than doubled. Millions of previously poor Egyptians, through education and jobs in the public sector, joined the middle class. Doctors, engineers, teachers, lawyers, journalists, constituted

20240-524: The east and by the Zanj Rebellion in Iraq itself, and divided due to the rivalry between Caliph al-Mu'tamid (r. 870–892) and his increasingly powerful brother and de facto regent, al-Muwaffaq . Open conflict between Ibn Tulun and al-Muwaffaq broke out in 875/6. The latter tried to oust Ibn Tulun from Egypt, but the expedition sent against him barely reached Syria. In retaliation, with the support of

20424-644: The election of Nasser in 1956. In October 1954, Egypt and the United Kingdom agreed to abolish the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement of 1899 and grant Sudan independence; the agreement came into force on 1 January 1956. Nasser assumed power as president in June 1956 and began dominating the history of modern Egypt . British forces completed their withdrawal from the occupied Suez Canal Zone on 13 June 1956. He nationalised

20608-458: The elimination of subsidies on basic foodstuffs, it led to the 1977 Egyptian Bread Riots . Sadat made a historic visit to Israel in 1977 , which led to the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. In return, Egypt recognised Israel as a legitimate sovereign state. Sadat's initiative sparked enormous controversy in the Arab world and led to Egypt's expulsion from

20792-465: The establishment of an efficient administration, and repairs and expansions to the irrigation system, coupled with a consistently high level of Nile floods , resulted in a major increase in revenue. By the end of his reign, Ibn Tulun had accumulated a reserve of ten million dinars. Ibn Tulun's rise was facilitated by the feebleness of the Abbasid government, threatened by the rise of the Saffarids in

20976-565: The establishment of his administration as well, creating new departments and entrusting them to Samarra-trained officials. His regime was in many ways typical of the " ghulām system" that became one of the two main paradigms of Islamic polities in the 9th and 10th centuries, as the Abbasid Caliphate fragmented and new dynasties emerged. These regimes were based on the power of a regular army composed of slave soldiers or ghilmān , but in turn, according to Hugh N. Kennedy , "the paying of

21160-482: The existence of a dīwān al-ḥaram , which supervised the women's quarters of the palace. As the Abbasid Caliphate began to fragment in the mid 9th century, its administrative machinery was copied by the emergent successor dynasties, with the already extant local dīwān branches likely providing the base on which the new administrations were formed. The administrative machinery of the Tahirid governors of Khurasan

21344-469: The first President of the Republic, serving in that capacity for a little under one and a half years. Republic of Egypt (1953–1958) was declared. Naguib was forced to resign in 1954 by Gamal Abdel Nasser  – a Pan-Arabist and the real architect of the 1952 movement – and was later put under house arrest . After Naguib's resignation, the position of president was vacant until

21528-563: The first governors chosen from the jund , rather than members of the Umayyad family or court. Both are reported to have increased pressure on the Copts, and initiated measures of Islamization. The resentment of the Copts against taxation led to a revolt in 725. In 727, to strengthen Arab representation, a colony of 3,000 Arabs was set up near Bilbeis . Meanwhile, the employment of the Arabic language had been steadily gaining ground, and in 706 it

21712-461: The formation of the first nationalist groupings in 1879, with Ahmed ʻUrabi a prominent figure. After increasing tensions and nationalist revolts, the United Kingdom invaded Egypt in 1882, crushing the Egyptian army at the Battle of Tell El Kebir and militarily occupying the country. Following this, the Khedivate became a de facto British protectorate under nominal Ottoman sovereignty. In 1899

21896-633: The group depended for support. During Mubarak's reign, the political scene was dominated by the National Democratic Party , which was created by Sadat in 1978. It passed the 1993 Syndicates Law, 1995 Press Law, and 1999 Nongovernmental Associations Law which hampered freedoms of association and expression by imposing new regulations and draconian penalties on violations. As a result, by the late 1990s parliamentary politics had become virtually irrelevant and alternative avenues for political expression were curtailed as well. Cairo grew into

22080-630: The hands of the central caliphal administration, but also signalled the decline of the old elites, and the passing of power to the officials sent to the province by the Abbasid court, most notably the Turkish soldiers favoured by al-Mu'tasim. At about the same time, for the first time the Muslim population began surpassing the Coptic Christians in numbers, and throughout the 9th century the rural districts were increasingly subject to both Arabization and Islamization. The rapidity of this process, and

22264-437: The holy war against the Byzantine Empire . Under Caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–861), a bureau of servants and pages ( dīwān al-mawālī wa ’l-ghilmān ), possibly an evolution of the dīwān al-aḥshām , existed for the huge number of slaves and other attendants of the palace. In addition, the dīwān al-khātam , now also known as the dīwān al-sirr (bureau of confidential affairs) grew in importance. Miskawayh also mentions

22448-559: The imposition of British and French controllers who sat in the Egyptian cabinet, and, "with the financial power of the bondholders behind them, were the real power in the Government." Other circumstances like epidemic diseases (cattle disease in the 1880s), floods and wars drove the economic downturn and increased Egypt's dependency on foreign debt even further. Local dissatisfaction with the Khedive and with European intrusion led to

22632-523: The inability to resist the Ottomans , this would see the vassalization of Egypt under Ottoman Sultan Selim I . The sultan defeated the Mamluks and captured Cairo on 20 January 1517, transferring the center of power to Istanbul . However, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as the Egyptian ruling class. The Mamluks and the Burji family regained much of their influence, but technically remained vassals of

22816-430: The influx of settlers after the discovery of gold and emerald mines at Aswan , meant that Upper Egypt in particular was only superficially controlled by the local governor. Furthermore, the persistence of internecine strife and turmoil at the heart of the Abbasid state—the so-called " Anarchy at Samarra "—led to the appearance of millennialist revolutionary movements in the province under a series of Alid pretenders in

23000-474: The inhabitants of these districts demands were directly addressed by the governor of Egypt, while the head of the community—ordinarily a Copt but in some cases a Muslim Egyptian —was responsible for compliance with the demand. During the First Fitna , Caliph Ali (r. 656–661) appointed Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governor of Egypt, but Amr led an invasion in summer 658 that defeated Ibn Abi Bakr and secured

23184-524: The last bullet". The resulting battle saw the police station levelled and 43 Egyptian policemen killed together with 3 British soldiers. The Ismailia incident outraged Egypt. The next day, 26 January 1952 was "Black Saturday" , as the anti-British riot was known, that saw much of downtown Cairo which the Khedive Ismail the Magnificent had rebuilt in the style of Paris, burned down. Farouk blamed

23368-554: The last of the crusader cities. The Bahris greatly enhanced the power and prestige of Egypt, building Cairo from a small town into one of the foremost cities in the world. Due to the sacking of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258, Cairo became the central city of the Islamic world . The Mamluks built much of the earliest remaining architecture of Cairo, including many mosques built out of stone using long, imposing lines. Since 1347

23552-445: The last place in Syria which the Fatimids held; its loss was attributed to dissensions between the parties of which the garrison consisted. In April 1154 the Caliph al-Zafir was murdered by his vizier Abbas, according to Usamah , because the Caliph had suggested to his favorite, the vizier's son, to murder his father; and this was followed by a massacre of the brothers of Zafir, followed by the raising of his infant son Abul-Qasim Isa to

23736-481: The mid-9th century each province also maintained a branch of its dīwān al-kharāj in the capital. The treasury department ( bayt al-māl or dīwān al-sāmī ) kept the records of revenue and expenditure, both in money and in kind, with specialized dīwāns for each category of the latter (e.g. cereals, cloth, etc.). Its secretary had to mark all orders of payment to make them valid, and it drew up monthly and yearly balance sheets. The dīwān al-jahbad̲ha , responsible for

23920-455: The military from one that convened under the tradition of the corvée to a great modernised army. He introduced conscription of the male peasantry in 19th century Egypt, and took a novel approach to create his great army, strengthening it with numbers and in skill. Education and training of the new soldiers became mandatory; the new concepts were furthermore enforced by isolation. The men were held in barracks to avoid distraction of their growth as

24104-480: The monarchy and the 1923 constitution and declared Egypt a republic on 18 June 1953. Naguib was proclaimed as president, while Nasser was appointed as the new prime minister. Following the 1952 Revolution by the Free Officers Movement , the rule of Egypt passed to military hands and all political parties were banned. On 18 June 1953, the Egyptian Republic was declared, with General Muhammad Naguib as

24288-482: The new centre of the Caliphate, when al-Mu'tamid tried to flee to his domains. In the event, however, the Caliph was overtaken and brought him back to Samarra (February 883) and under his brother's control. This opened anew the rift between the two rulers: Ibn Tulun organized an assembly of religious jurists at Damascus which denounced al-Muwaffaq a usurper, condemned his maltreatment of the Caliph, declared his place in

24472-606: The news. The Egyptian military then assumed the power to govern. Mohamed Hussein Tantawi , chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces , became the de facto interim head of state . On 13 February 2011, the military dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution. A constitutional referendum was held on 19 March 2011. On 28 November 2011, Egypt held its first parliamentary election since

24656-460: The next 22 years, assuming power in his own right in 966 until his death two years later. Encouraged by his death, in 969 the Fatimids invaded and conquered Egypt , beginning a new era in the country's history. Jawhar as-Siqilli immediately began the building of a new city, Cairo , to furnish quarters for the army which he had brought. A palace for the Caliph and a mosque for the army were immediately constructed, which for many centuries remained

24840-408: The night of 4 February 1942, British troops and tanks surrounded Abdeen Palace in Cairo and Lampson presented Farouk with an ultimatum . Farouk capitulated, and Nahhas formed a government shortly thereafter. Most British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947 (although the British army maintained a military base in the area), but nationalist, anti-British feelings continued to grow after

25024-467: The orders of Yusuf ibn Umar al-Thaqafi , governor of Iraq, in 741/42. Under the Abbasid Caliphate the administration, partly under the increasing influence of Iranian culture, became more elaborate and complex. As part of this process, the dīwāns increased in number and sophistication, reaching their apogee in the 9th–10th centuries. At the same time, the office of vizier ( wazīr )

25208-513: The original Middle Persian (and eventually New Persian ) form was dīvān , not dēvān , despite later legends that traced the origin of the word to the latter form. The variant pronunciation dēvān however did exist, and is the form surviving to this day in Tajiki Persian . In Arabic, the term was first used for the army registers, then generalized to any register, and by metonymy applied to specific government departments. The sense of

25392-818: The pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara . Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralised society. By about 6000 BCE, a Neolithic culture took root in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt . The Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are generally regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt . The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates

25576-419: The period. Indeed, at the turn of the 11th century, there were two ʿariḍs , one for the Turks and one for the Daylamites, hence the department was often called "department of the two armies" ( dīwān al-jayshayn ). A number of junior departments, like the dīwān al-zimām , the dīwān al-ḍiyāʿ , or the dīwān al-barīd were directly inherited from the Abbasid government. Under Adud al-Dawla (r. 978–983), however,

25760-512: The powerful head of the fiscal administration, the Ibn al-Mudabbir . The latter had been appointed as fiscal agent ( ʿāmil ) already since c.  861 , and had rapidly become the most hated man in the country as he doubled the taxes and imposed new ones on Muslims and non-Muslims alike. By 872 Ibn Tulun had achieved Ibn al-Mudabirbir's dismissal and taken over the management of the fisc himself, and had managed to assemble an army of his own, thereby becoming de facto independent of Baghdad. As

25944-546: The president power to dissolve parliament and end judicial election monitoring. In 2009, Dr. Ali El Deen Hilal Dessouki, Media Secretary of the National Democratic Party ( NDP ), described Egypt as a " pharaonic " political system, and democracy as a "long-term goal". Dessouki also stated that "the real center of power in Egypt is the military". On 25 January 2011, widespread protests began against Mubarak's government. On 11 February 2011, Mubarak resigned and fled Cairo. Jubilant celebrations broke out in Cairo's Tahrir Square at

26128-431: The previous regime had been in power. Turnout was high and there were no reports of major irregularities or violence. Mohamed Morsi , who was affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood , was elected president on 24 June 2012. On 30 June 2012, Mohamed Morsi was sworn in as Egypt's president. On 2 August 2012, Egypt's Prime Minister Hisham Qandil announced his 35-member cabinet comprising 28 newcomers, including four from

26312-423: The recognition of the Fatimid caliph in this region was little more than nominal. His successor al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah came to the throne at the age of eleven, being the son of Aziz by a Christian mother. His conduct of affairs was vigorous and successful, and he concluded a peace with the Byzantine emperor. He is perhaps best remembered by his destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (1009),

26496-458: The region, especially the battles in North Africa against Italy and Germany. Its highest priorities were control of the Eastern Mediterranean, and especially keeping the Suez Canal open for merchant ships and for military connections with India and Australia. When the war began in September 1939, Egypt declared martial law and broke off diplomatic relations with Germany. It broke diplomatic relations with Italy in 1940, but never declared war, even when

26680-421: The same time: the office charged with the redress of grievances ( dīwān al-maẓālim ), the state treasury ( bayt al-māl ) and the sultan's private treasury ( bayt al-māl al-khaṣṣ ), confiscations ( dīwān al-muṣādara ), the land tax office ( dīwān al-kharāj ) and the department of religious endowments or waqfs ( dīwān al-awqāf ). A postal department ( dīwān al-barīd ) also existed but fell into disuse. The system

26864-470: The submission of their leader by argument; but this plan was unsuccessful, and there was a fresh invasion from that quarter in the year after his arrival, and the caliph found himself besieged in his capital. The Carmathians were gradually forced to retreat from Egypt and then from Syria by some successful engagements, and by the judicious use of bribes, whereby dissension was sown among their leaders. Al-Muizz also found time to take some active measures against

27048-442: The succession as void, and called for a jihād against him. Al-Muwaffaq was duly denounced in sermons in the mosques across the Tulunid domains, while the Abbasid regent responded in kind with a ritual denunciation of Ibn Tulun. Ibn Tulun then tried once more, again without success, to impose his rule over Tarsus. He fell ill on his return journey to Egypt, and died at Fustat on 10 May 884. At Ibn Tulun's death, Khumarawayh, with

27232-403: The throne. In December 1162, the vizier Shawar took control of Cairo. However, after only nine months he was compelled to flee to Damascus, where he was favorably received by the prince Nureddin , who sent with him to Cairo a force of Kurds under Asad al-din Shirkuh . At the same time Egypt was invaded by the Franks , who raided and did much damage on the coast. Shawar recaptured Cairo but

27416-429: The title of King of Egypt ; despite being nominally independent, the Kingdom was still under British military occupation and the UK still had great influence over the state. The new government drafted and implemented a constitution in 1923 based on a parliamentary system. The nationalist Wafd Party won a landslide victory in the 1923–1924 election and Saad Zaghloul was appointed as the new prime minister. In 1936,

27600-496: The traditional practices of book-keeping, seals and time-keeping, only Arabic and the Islamic calendar were to be used henceforth. The process of Arabization was gradual: in Iraq, the transition was carried out by Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman under the auspices of the governor al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf in 697, in Syria by Sulayman ibn Sa'd al-Khushani in 700, in Egypt under Caliph al-Walid I 's governor Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik in 706, and in Khurasan by Ishaq ibn Tulayq al-Nahshali on

27784-420: The treasury's balance sheets, was eventually branched off from it, while the treasury domains were placed under the dīwān al-ḍiyāʿ , of which there appear at times to have been several. In addition, a department of confiscated property ( dīwān al-musādarīn ) and confiscated estates ( dīwān al-ḍiyāʿ al-maqbūḍa ) existed. Caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902) grouped the branches of the provincial dīwāns present in

27968-401: The troops was the major preoccupation of government". It is therefore in the context of the increased financial requirements that in 879, the supervision of the finances passed to Abu Bakr Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Madhara'i , the founder of the al-Madhara'i bureaucratic dynasty that dominated the fiscal apparatus of Egypt for the next 70 years. The peace and security provided by the Tulunid regime,

28152-408: The troops, the Christian inhabitants of Egypt were excused from military service and left free in the observance of their religion and the administration of their affairs. Conversions of Copts to Islam were initially rare, and the old system of taxation was maintained for the greater part of the first Islamic century. The old division of the country into districts ( nomoi ) was maintained, and to

28336-405: The vizier assumed an even greater prominence, concentrating the direction of civil, military and religious affairs in his own bureau, the "supreme dīwān" ( dīwān al-aʿlā ). The dīwān al-aʿlā was further subdivided into a chancery ( dīwān al-inshāʾ wa’l-ṭughrā , also called dīwān al-rasāʾil ) under the ṭughrāʾī or munshī al-mamālik , an accounting department ( dīwān al-zimām wa’l-istīfāʾ ) under

28520-410: The war sank into a stalemate. In mid May 1967, the Soviet Union issued warnings to Nasser of an impending Israeli attack on Syria. Although the chief of staff Mohamed Fawzi verified them as "baseless", Nasser took three successive steps that made the war virtually inevitable: on 14 May he deployed his troops in Sinai near the border with Israel, on 19 May he expelled the UN peacekeepers stationed in

28704-433: The wars that followed, Al-Adil took power in 1200. He died in 1218 during the siege of Damietta in the Fifth Crusade , and was succeeded by Al-Kamil , who lost Damietta to the Crusaders in 1219. However, he defeated their advance to Cairo by flooding the Nile, and they were forced to evacuate Egypt in 1221. Al-Kamil was later forced to give up various cities in Palestina and Syria to Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor during

28888-469: The western provinces ( dīwān al-maghrib ), and of the Iraq ( dīwān al-sawād ), although under al-Muqtadir (r. 908–932) the dīwān al-dār still existed, with the three territorial departments considered sections of the latter. In 913/4, the vizier Ali ibn Isa established a new department for charitable endowments ( dīwān al-birr ), whose revenue went to the upkeep of holy places, the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina , and on volunteers fighting in

29072-414: The word evolved to "custom house" and "council chamber", then to "long, cushioned seat", such as are found along the walls in Middle-Eastern council chambers. The latter is the sense that entered European languages as divan (furniture) . The modern French, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian words douane , aduana , and dogana , respectively (meaning " customs house "), also come from diwan . The first dīwān

29256-421: Was also allowed to run for a third term in the next election in 2024. Under El-Sisi Egypt is said to have returned to authoritarianism. New constitutional reforms have been implemented, meaning strengthening the role of military and limiting the political opposition. The constitutional changes were accepted in a referendum in April 2019. In December 2020, final results of the parliamentary election confirmed

29440-401: Was also created to coordinate government. The administrative history of the Abbasid dīwāns is complex, since many were short-lived, temporary establishments for specific needs, while at times the sections of larger dīwān might also be termed dīwāns , and often a single individual was placed in charge of more than one department. Caliph al-Saffah (r. 749–754) established a department for

29624-425: Was always a difficult province for the Ottoman Sultans to control, due in part to the continuing power and influence of the Mamluks , the Egyptian military caste who had ruled the country for centuries. Egypt remained semi-autonomous under the Mamluks until it was invaded by the French forces of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798. After the French were defeated by the British, a three-way power struggle ensued between

29808-432: 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 country

29992-409: Was apparently partly copied in provincial centres as well. Following the Ottoman conquest of North Africa, the Maghreb was divided into three provinces, Algiers , Tunis , and Tripoli . After 1565, administrative authority in Tripoli was vested in a Pasha directly appointed by the Sultan in Constantinople. The sultan provided the pasha with a corps of Janissaries , which was in turn divided into

30176-469: Was assassinated in 1257 and was succeeded by Qutuz , who faced a growing danger from the Mongols . Qutuz defeated the army of Hulagu Khan at the Battle of Ain Jalut in the year 1260, allowing him to regain all of Syria except for the Crusader strongholds. On the way back to Egypt after the battle, Qutuz died and was succeeded by another commander, Baybars , who assumed the sultanate and ruled from 1260 to 1277. In 1291, al-Ashraf Khalil captured Acre ,

30360-436: Was created under Caliph Umar ( r.  634–644 CE) in 15 A.H. (636/7 CE) or, more likely, 20 A.H. (641 CE). It comprised the names of the warriors of Medina who participated in the Muslim conquests and their families, and was intended to facilitate the payment of salary ( ʿaṭāʾ , in coin or in rations) to them, according to their service and their relationship to Muhammad . This first army register ( dīwān al-jund )

30544-409: Was defeated at the battle of Ascalon , and compelled to retire to Egypt. Many of the Palestinian possessions of the Fatimids then successively fell into the hands of the Crusaders. In 1118 Egypt was invaded by Baldwin I of Jerusalem , who burned the gates and the mosques of Farama, and advanced to Tinnis , when illness compelled him to retreat. In August 1121 al-Afdal Shahanshah was assassinated in

30728-568: Was deposed after only a few months and replaced by his brother Harun ibn Khumarawayh . Harun too was a weak ruler, and although a revolt by his uncle Rabi'ah in Alexandria was suppressed, the Tulunids were unable to confront the attacks of the Qarmatians who began at the same time. In addition, many commanders defected to the Abbasids, whose power revived under the capable leadership of al-Muwaffaq's son, Caliph al-Mu'tadid (r. 892–902). Finally, in December 904, two other sons of Ibn Tulun, Ali and Shayban , murdered their nephew and assumed control of

30912-421: Was described as the largest violent battle between Islamists and their foes since the country's revolution. Mohamed Morsi offered a "national dialogue" with opposition leaders but refused to cancel the December 2012 constitutional referendum . On 3 July 2013, after a wave of public discontent with autocratic excesses of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood government, the military removed Morsi from office, dissolved

31096-409: Was for many years the council of ministers of the Ottoman Empire . It consisted of the Grand Vizier , who presided, and the other viziers , the kadi'askers , the nisanci , and the defterdars . The Assemblies of the Danubian Principalities under Ottoman rule were also called "divan" ("Divanuri" in Romanian) (see Akkerman Convention , ad hoc Divan ). In Javanese and related languages,

31280-449: Was founded c.  3150 BCE by King Menes , leading to a series of dynasties that ruled Egypt for the next three millennia. Egyptian culture flourished during this long period and remained distinctively Egyptian in its religion , arts , language and customs. The first two ruling dynasties of a unified Egypt set the stage for the Old Kingdom period, c.  2700–2200 BCE, which constructed many pyramids , most notably

31464-443: Was granted the status of an autonomous vassal state or Khedivate (1867–1914) in 1867. The Suez Canal , built in partnership with the French, was completed in 1869. Its construction was financed by European banks. Large sums also went to patronage and corruption. New taxes caused popular discontent. In 1875 Isma'il avoided bankruptcy by selling all Egypt's shares in the canal to the British government. Within three years this led to

31648-413: Was headed by three great departments: the dīwān al-wazīr , charged with finances, the dīwān al-rasāʾil as the state chancery, and the dīwān al-jaysh for the army. The Buyid regime was a military regime, its ruling caste composed of Turkish and Daylamite troops. As a result, the army department was of particular importance, and its head, the ʿariḍ al-jaysh , is frequently mentioned in the sources of

31832-414: Was later built in the year 986 to grow to become the largest and richest city in the Arab caliphate , second only to Baghdad . The Abbasid period was marked by new taxations, and the Copts revolted again in the fourth year of Abbasid rule. At the beginning of the 9th century the practice of ruling Egypt through a governor was resumed under Abdallah ibn Tahir , who decided to reside at Baghdad , sending

32016-424: Was less than 25%. Election observers also alleged government interference in the election process. After the election, Mubarak imprisoned Ayman Nour , the runner-up. Human Rights Watch's 2006 report on Egypt detailed serious human rights violations under Mubarak's rule, including routine torture , arbitrary detentions and trials before military and state security courts. In 2007, Amnesty International released

32200-443: Was lost again. Najm al-Din died soon after this, but his son Turanshah defeated Louis and expelled the Crusaders from Egypt. Turanshah was soon overthrown by the Mameluks, who had become the "kingmakers" since their arrival and now wanted full power for themselves. The Mamluk's violent approach to power brought them great political and economic prosperity and led them to becoming the rulers of Egypt. The Mamluk Egypt period began with

32384-419: Was made prefect of Alexandria, which surrendered to Shirkuh without a struggle. In 1168 Amalric invaded again, but Shirkuh's return caused the Crusaders to withdraw. Shirkuh was appointed vizier but died of indigestion (March 23, 1169), and the Caliph appointed Saladin as successor to Shirkuh; the new vizier professed to hold office as a deputy of Nureddin, whose name was mentioned in public worship after that of

32568-419: Was made the official language of the government. Egyptian Arabic , the modern Arabic accent and dialect of Egypt, began to form. Other revolts of the Copts are recorded for the years 739 and 750, the last year of Umayyad domination. The outbreaks in all cases are attributed to increased taxation. The Abbasid period was marked by new taxations, and the Copts revolted again in the fourth year of Abbasid rule. At

32752-423: Was soon emulated in other provincial capitals like Basra , Kufa and Fustat . Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba , a statesman from the Thaqif tribe who was versed in Persian , is credited with establishing Basra's dīwān during his governorship (636–638), and the dīwān of the Caliphate's other garrison centers followed its organization. With the advent of the Umayyad Caliphate , the number of dīwāns increased. To

32936-443: Was the "guardian of the rights of bayt al-māl [the treasury] and the people". The dīwān al-nafaḳāt played a similar role with regards to expenses by the individual dīwāns , but by the end of the 9th century its role was mostly restricted to the finances of the caliphal palace. Under al-Muktafi (r. 902–908) the dīwān al-dār was broken up into three departments, the bureaux of the eastern provinces ( dīwān al-mashriq ), of

33120-400: Was the last native ruling dynasty during the Pharaonic epoch. It fell to the Achaemenids again in 343 BCE after the last native Pharaoh, King Nectanebo II , was defeated in battle. This Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt , however, did not last long, as the Achaemenids were toppled several decades later by Alexander the Great . The Macedonian Greek general of Alexander, Ptolemy I Soter , founded

33304-483: Was the major city of the empire. Nevertheless, he fortified Cairo, which became the political centre of Egypt. It was in 1183 that Saladin's rule over Egypt and North Syria was consolidated. Much of Saladin's time was spent in Syria, where he fought the Crusader States , and Egypt was largely governed by his deputy Karaksh . Saladin's son Othman succeeded him in Egypt in 1193. He allied with his uncle (Saladin's brother) Al-Adil I against Saladin's other sons, and after

33488-453: Was then occupied by the British Empire along with Sudan and gained independence in 1922 as a monarchy . Following the 1952 revolution , Egypt declared itself a republic . For a brief period between 1958 and 1961 Egypt merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic . Egypt fought several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948 , 1956 , 1967 and 1973 , and occupied the Gaza Strip intermittently until 1967. In 1978, Egypt signed

33672-421: Was they who dominated the country's affairs for the first two centuries of Muslim rule. Initially, they numbered 15,500, but their numbers grew through emigration in the subsequent decades. By the time of Caliph Mu'awiya I (r. 661–680), the number of men registered in the army list ( diwān al-jund ) and entitled an annual pay ( ʿaṭāʾ ) reached 40,000. Jealous of their privileges and status, which entitled them to

33856-416: Was very unpopular with the local Arabs, who called upon the Umayyad caliph Marwan I (r. 684–685) for aid. In December 684, Marwan invaded Egypt and reconquered it with relative ease. Marwan installed his son Abd al-Aziz as governor. Relying on his close ties with the jund , Abd al-Aziz ruled the country for 20 years, enjoying wide autonomy and governing as a de facto viceroy . Abd al-Aziz also supervised

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