Egypt profile – Timeline
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A chronology of key events:
circa seven thousand BC – Settlement of Nile Valley starts.
circa three thousand BC – Kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt unite. Successive dynasties witness flourishing trade, prosperity and the development of excellent cultural traditions. Writing, including hieroglyphics, is used as an instrument of state. Construction of the pyramids – around Two,500 BC – is a formidable engineering achievement.
Wonder of the world
Egypt’s pyramids served as tombs for its earliest kings
669 BC – Assyrians from Mesopotamia conquer and rule Egypt.
332 BC – Alexander the Good, of ancient Macedonia, conquers Egypt, founds Alexandria. A Macedonian dynasty rules until thirty one BC.
31 BC – Egypt comes under Roman rule; Queen Cleopatra commits suicide after Octavian’s army defeats her compels.
33 AD – Christianity comes to Egypt, and by 4th century has largely displaced Egyptian religion.
642 – Arab conquest of Egypt.
Famous boy king
Death mask of Tutankhamun, the boy king who died in one thousand three hundred twenty three BC
969 – Cairo established as capital.
1250-1517 – Mameluke (marionette soldier) rule, characterised by fine prosperity and well-ordered civic institutions.
1517 – Egypt absorbed into the Turkish Ottoman empire.
1798 – Napoleon Bonaparte’s coerces invade but are repelled by the British and the Turks in 1801.
1805 – Ottoman Albanian commander Muhammad Ali establishes dynasty that rules until 1952, albeit nominally part of the Ottoman Empire.
1859-69 – Suez Colon built, but it and other infrastructure projects near-bankrupt Egypt and lead to gradual British takeover.
1882 – British troops defeat Egyptian army and take control of country.
1914 – Egypt formally becomes a British protectorate.
1922 – Fuad I becomes King and Egypt gains independence, albeit British influence remains significant until mid-1950s.
Nasser
President Gamal Abdel Nasser became a hero of the Arab world after nationalising the Suez Hallway
1928 – Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hassan al-Banna, who was killed in 1949. Campaigns to reorient Egypt and entire Muslim Middle East away from Western influence.
1948 – Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Syria attack the fresh state of Israel. Egyptian army’s poor spectacle increases unpopularity of King Farouk.
1949 – Committee of the Free Officers’ Movement formed to overthrow corrupt monarchy.
1952 January – At least twenty people are killed in anti-British riots in Cairo.
1952 July – Coup by the Free Officers’ Movement. Farouk abdicates in favour of his infant son Ahmed Fuad II.
Rise of Nasser
1953 June – Coup leader Muhammad Najib becomes president as Egypt is proclaimed a republic.
Suez intervention
France and Britain failed to retake the Suez Tunnel by military force
1954 – Fellow coup leader Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes prime minister and in one thousand nine hundred fifty six president, ruling unchallenged until his death in 1970.
1954 – Evacuation Treaty signed. British compels, who began a gradual withdrawal under one thousand nine hundred thirty six treaty ultimately leave Egypt.1955 – Prime Minister Nasser reorients Egypt away from West towards neutrality, buys arms from Communist Czechoslovakia to re-equip army after Western powers turn down to do so on terms acceptable to Egypt.
1956 January – Egypt and Britain relinquish control over Sudan, established at end of 19th century.
1956 July – President Nasser nationalises the Suez Cavern to fund the Aswan High Dam, after Britain and US withdraw financing.
1956 October-November – Invasion of Egypt by Britain, France and Israel over nationalisation of Suez Cave fails through US opposition, greatly enhancing President Nasser’s standing at home and abroad.
1958 – President Nasser steps up campaign to promote pan-Arab unity, most visible signs of which were brief United Arab Republic unitary state including Syria (1958-61). He also supports friendly elements in Lebanese and North Yemen conflicts to little avail.
1961-66 – President Nasser adopts socialist policies, including nationalisation of industry and an ambitious welfare programme, combined with repression of Muslim Brotherhood and leftist opponents, in an unsuccessful attempt to boost the economy and the popularity of his government.
1967 May – Egypt expels UN buffer compels from Sinai and closes the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships, then sign defence pact with Jordan. Israel interprets this as prep for war.
1967 June – Israeli pre-emptive attack defeats Egypt, Jordan and Syria, leaving it in control of Sinai up to the Suez Colon and Egyptian-occupied Gaza.Emergency Law largely suspends civil rights. Remains in force with brief break in early 1980s until 2012.
1970 September – Nasser dies, having never recovered his leading role among Arab states after the one thousand nine hundred sixty seven defeat, and is succeeded by Vice-President, Anwar al-Sadat.
Sadat
President Anwar al-Sadat signed a peace deal with Israel
1971 – The Aswan High Dam is ended, with Soviet funding, and has a fat influence on irrigation, agriculture and industry in Egypt.
1972 – President Sadat expels Soviet advisers and reorients Egypt towards the West, while launching an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to open the economy to market compels and foreign investment.
1973 October – Egypt and Syria go to war with Israel to reclaim land lost in 1967. Egypt starts negotiations for the come back of Sinai after the war.
1975 June – The Suez Colon is re-opened for very first time since one thousand nine hundred sixty seven war.
1977 January – “Bread riots” in major cities against end to subsidies on basic foodstuffs under agreement with World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
1977 October – President Sadat visits Israel, beginning process that leads to one thousand nine hundred seventy nine peace treaty, comeback of occupied Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt’s suspension from Arab League until 1989. Egypt becomes major beneficiary of US financial aid.
1981 October – President Sadat assassinated by Islamist extremists month after clampdown on private press and opposition groups in wake of anti-government riots. Succeeded by Vice-President Hosni Mubarak.
Capital
Rapidly-growing Cairo is expanding into the desert
- Population (2006 estimates): 6.7m (city), 17.3m (urban area)
1981 – President Mubarak reimposes State of Emergency, restricting political activity, freedom of expression and assembly.
1986 – Amy deployed in Cairo to crush mutiny by Central Security paramilitary police.
1991 – Egypt joins allied coalition to expel Iraqi troops from Kuwait, and benefited from major multilateral loans and debt ease in come back, permitting government to launch another attempt at liberalising economy.
1992-97 – Gama’a al-Islamiyya Islamic Group commences five-year campaign of attacks on government and tourist targets, culminating in killing of sixty two people at Luxor historic site in 1997.
Muslim Brotherhood
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt’s oldest, largest Islamist organisation
2005 May – Referendum backs constitutional amendment permitting numerous candidates at presidential elections, after months of opposition protests.
2005 July – Scores of people are killed in bomb attacks in the Crimson Sea resort of Sharm al-Sheikh as Islamists resume terror attacks.
2005 December – Parliamentary polls end with clashes inbetween police and supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, who win record 20% of seats by standing as independents.
2006 April – Bomb attacks in the Crimson Sea resort of Dahab kill more than twenty people.
2006 November – Egypt is one of at least six Arab countries developing domestic nuclear programmes to diversify energy sources, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports.
Lawless peninsula
Cairo is facing growing Islamist militancy in the northern Sinai
2008 April – Military courts sentence twenty five leading Muslim Brotherhood members to jail terms in crackdown targeting the organisation’s funding. More than eight hundred arrested over a month. Brotherhood boycotted municipal elections after only twenty candidates permitted to stand.
2009 February – Leading opposition figure Ayman Nour liberated after serving three years of five-year sentence on forgery charges that he said were politically motivated.
2009 August – Twenty-six members of an alleged cell of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah go on trial in Cairo on charges of plotting attacks in Egypt and helping to send weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
Tahrir uprising
Demonstrators packed Tahrir Square urging President Mubarak to abandon
Fall of Mubarak
2010 February – Former UN nuclear chief Mohammed ElBaradei comes back to Egypt and, together with opposition figures and activists, forms a coalition for political switch.
2010 June – Muslim Brotherhood fails to win any seats in elections to the Shura consultative upper house of parliament; alleges vote was rigged.
2010 November – Parliamentary polls, followed by protests against alleged vote rigging. Muslim Brotherhood fails to win a single seat, however it held a fifth of the places in the last parliament.
Mubarak’s rise and fall
President ruled for three decades before being swept aside by a popular uprising
2011 January – Anti-government demonstrations, evidently encouraged by Tunisian street protests which prompted unexpected departure of President Ben Ali.
2011 February – President Mubarak steps down and forearms power to the army council. Goes on trial in August, charged with ordering the killing of demonstrators.
2011 April-August – Protests proceed in Cairo’s Tahrir Square over slow tempo of political switch. Islamist groups come to the fore. Army ultimately disperses protestors in August.
Very first post-Mubarak poll
Islamist Mohammed Morsi won the very first free presidential election in decades
2011 November – Violence in Cairo’s Tahrir square as security coerces clash with protesters accusing the military of attempting to keep their grip on power.
2011 December – National unity government headed by fresh Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri takes office.
2012 January – Islamist parties emerge as victors of drawn-out parliamentary elections.
2012 May – Military leaders announce the end of the state of emergency in place since Anwar al-Sadat’s assassination in 1981.
Morsi presidency
2012 June – Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Morsi narrowly wins presidential election.
Court sentences ex-President Mubarak to life in prison for complicity in the killing of protesters during the two thousand eleven uprising.
2012 August – Fresh prime minister Hisham Qandil appoints a cabinet predominated by figures from the outgoing government, technocrats and Islamists, but excluding secular and liberal compels.
Islamist fighters attack an army outpost in Sinai, killing sixteen soldiers, and climb on a brief incursion into Israel, beginning fresh insurgency.
Short-lived presidency
The army toppled Islamist Mohammed Morsi after a year in power, and crushed his supporters’ protests
President Morsi dismisses Defence Minister Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Annan and strips military of say in legislation and drafting the fresh constitution.
2012 November – President Morsi issues a decree unclothing the judiciary of the right to challenge his decisions, but rescinds it in the face of popular protests.
2012 December – Islamist-dominated constituent assembly approves draft constitution that boosts the role of Islam and restricts freedom of speech and assembly. Public approve it in a referendum, prompting extensive protest by secular opposition leaders, Christians and women’s groups.
Government paralysis weakens the currency and delays a $Four.8bn (£3bn) IMF loan.
2013 January – More than fifty people are killed during days of violent street protests. Army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi warns that political strife is pushing the state to the brink of collapse.
2013 June – President Morsi appoints Islamist allies as regional leaders in thirteen of Egypt’s twenty seven governorships, including member of a former Islamist armed group linked to a massacre of tourists in Luxor in 1997. Protests force Luxor governor out.
Islamists ousted
2013 July – Army overthrows President Morsi amid mass demonstrations calling on him to abandon.
2013 August – Hundreds killed as security coerces storm pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo.
Some forty Coptic churches are demolished in wave of attacks.
2013 October – US suspends large part of $1.3bn (£810m) in aid.
Copts
Most of Egypts’ Christian minority belong to the Coptic Church.
2013 December – Government proclaims Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group after a bomb blast in Mansoura kills 12.
2014 January – Fresh constitution bans parties based on religion.
2014 May – Former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi wins presidential election.
2014 June – International outcry as three al-Jazeera journalists are jailed after being found guilty of spreading false news and supporting the banned Muslim Brotherhood. They are liberated in February 2015.
2014 November – Sinai-based armed group Ansar Beit al-Maqdis pledges allegiance to extreme Islamic State movement, which controls parts of Syria and Iraq. Renames itself Sinai Province.
2015 February – Egyptian aircraft bomb Islamic State positions in eastern Libya after extremist group released movie evidently demonstrating killing of twenty one Egyptian Coptic Christians. Egypt seeks UN mandate to sanction international intervention in Libya.
2015 May – Ousted President Morsi sentenced to death over two thousand eleven mass breakout of Muslim Brotherhood prisoners, along with more than one hundred others. He was sentenced to twenty years in prison in April over arrest and torment of protesters during his 2012-2013 rule.
2015 June – Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat and three members of the public killed in suspected Islamist car bombing in Cairo.
2015 July – Islamic State launches wave of attacks in North Sinai.
2015 October – Islamic State claims responsibility for destruction of Russian airliner in Sinai, in which all squad and two hundred twenty four tourist passengers were killed.
2016 January – Islamic State carries out attack at Giza tourist site and is suspected of attack on tourists in Hurghada.
2016 April – Egypt announces that it will arm over to Saudi Arabia two strategic Crimson Sea islands, sparking public outrage and unrest.
2016 May – EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo crashes into the Mediterranean Sea.
2016 November – IMF approves a three-year $12bn loan to Egypt designed to help the country out of its deep economic crisis.
2016 November – Egypt’s appeals court overturns the death sentence of former president Mohamed Morsi and orders a retrial in connection with a mass prison break in 2011.
2016 December – A bomb attack on a Cairo church kills 25. The blast is claimed by Islamic State militants who menace more attacks on Christians.
2017 February – Dozens of Coptic Christian families flee northern Sinai after a number of killings by suspected Islamist militants.
2017 April – State of emergency proclaimed after suicide bombers kill dozens at two churches where worshippers feast Palm Sunday.
2017 May – Egyptian military carries out a series of airstrikes against alleged jihadist training camps in Libya, after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for ambushing and killing Christians on a bus in Minya province.
2017 June – Egypt joins Saudi-led campaign to isolate Qatar, accusing it of promoting terrorism.