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636 CE: Arab conquest
starts. Egypt is under their total
control by 642. Arabic language
and Islam are introduced.
969: The Fatimids, a
Shi'i dynasty with Tunisia as
base, conquers Egypt. Cairo is
founded as their new capital.
1171: The Fatimids are sacked,
when Saladin unites the country
with Syria. The Ayyubid dynasty is
established, and Egypt returns to
Sunni Islam.
1250: A revolt among the war
captives, known as Mamlukes, starts and
has as a final outcome the overthrow of
the Ayyubids.
1517: Sultan Selim 1 of
the Ottoman Empire takes control
over Cairo. From now on, Egypt is
reduced to a province inside the Ottoman
Empire.
1798: The arrival of Napoleon,
and his French army. Napoleon takes
control over strategic places in Egypt.
The most important results of the French
arrival, is that contact with the
Western world is restored for Egypt, as
well as that the modern science of
Egyptology starts.
1801: The French are expelled,
but the memory of them impregnates the
way of thinking among the ruling elite
of Egypt.
1805: Albanian Muhammad Ali
Pasha becomes viceroy of Egypt, with the
recognition of the Ottoman sultan.
1811: The Mamlukes are driven out
of power.
1820: Campaigns against Northern
Sudan starts.
1831: After disagreement with the
sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Ibrahim,
son of Muhammad Ali, conquers Syria.
1838: Syria lost.
1841: War with the Ottomans.
Muhammad Ali defeats the Ottomans, and
he becomes the hereditary ruler of
Egypt. Muhammad started programs to
reform and modernize Egypt.
1869: The Suez Canal is
opened, after construction help from
French companies.
1875: With the declining economy
of Egypt, the new ruler, Khedive Ismail
Pasha, sold most of Egypt's shares in
the Suez Canal to Britain.
1876: Egypt is put under control
from a joint Anglo-French debt
commission.
1881: A nationalist revolt
starts.
1882: The nationalist revolt is
suppressed by the British, who takes
control over the country, but not in the
shape of colony or protectorate.
1883 Lord Cromer becomes, as the
British administrator, the effective
ruler of the country.
1914: With the start of World War
1, Egypt is turned into a British
protectorate, and Egypt was used as a
British base during the war in the
actions towards the Ottoman Empire.
1922: The Protectorate is ended.
Egypt becomes a monarchy, with Fuad as
king.
1937: Faruk becomes king.
The British troops leave the country,
except from area around the Suez
Canal.
1940-45: Egypt becomes the allied
to Britain during the World War 2.
1952: The army forces Faruk to
abdicate.
1953: Egypt becomes a republic,
and general Muhammad Naguib becomes the
first president.
1954: Colonel Gamal Abdel
Nasser forces Naguib out of office,
and he himself becomes new president.
1956: After Western countries
withdraws an offer to finance the
building of a new Aswan dam, Egypt
nationalizes the Suez Canal. Britain,
France, and Israel invade Egypt
as a response. The invading forces are
soon forced to leave after pressure from
USA, Soviet Union and the UN.
1958: The United Arab Republic, a
union with Syria, is formed.
1961: United Arab Republic is
dissolved after disagreement with the
Syrians. Egypt continues to use to name
for its own country.
1967 June 5-10: The Six
day- war against Israel which
destroys the Egyptian air force, but
even more the pride and confidence of
the Egyptians. The war is a result of
the closing of the Gulf of Aqaba
to Israeli ships. Sinai is
occupied, and the Suez Canal, now full
of mines, is closed.
1970 September 28: Nasser
dies.
October 15: Vice-president
Anwar as-Sadat becomes the new
president, after a referendum where he
gains 90% of the ballots. There are no
opposing candidates.
1972: 20,000 Soviet military
personnel are ordered to leave by Sadat.
— Violent clashes between police and
Egyptian students. These disturbances
continued into 1973.
1973 October 6: Attack
on Israeli-occupied territory, from
Egypt and Syria. With the aid of USA,
manages Israel to hold back, but loses a
strip of Sinai along the Suez Canal, and
half way down the Western coast of
Sinai.
1974: Reestablishment of
diplomatic relations between USA and
Egypt
1975 June 5: Reopening of
the Suez Canal, after 8 years of being
closed.
September: Agreements with
Israel on disengagement of military
forces.
1976: Sadat breaks a friendship
treaty with the Soviet Union from 1971.
1977 November 19: After
invitation from the Israeli prime
minister Menachem Begin 8
days earlier, Sadat visits Jerusalem.
He speaks in the Knesset,
the national assembly, where he signals
what needs to be done to reach peace:
Israeli withdrawal and the establishment
of Palestinian state.
1978 September 17: A peace
treaty is signed in Camp David, the
country house of the American president,
by Israel's prime minister Menachem
Begin and the president of Egypt, Anwar
as-Sadat. Within 2 1/2 years, Israel
shall withdraw from all territories
occupied by them in 1967, except Gaza
Strip, which was not originally
Egyptian. Another agreement is signed
parallel to the first. This concerns the
occupied territories, the West Bank and
Gaza, where an autonomous administration
is to be settled for 5 years. In the
same period, no new Jewish
settlements can be put up.
1979: Egypt is kicked out of the
Arab League of Nations, as a
reaction to the peace agreement with
Israel.
1980 January: Diplomatic
relations with Israel are established.
1981 October 6: Sadat is
shot by 3 soldiers of the Egyptian Army.
The hitherto unknown organization of
Liberation of Egypt claims
responsibility.
— October 13:
Vice-president Hosni Mubarak is elected
to new president by the national
assembly. Mubarak states that he will
follow up Sadat's politics.
1982: Israel withdraws from all
of Sinai, except Taba.
1984: Egypt reenter the Islamic
Conference organization.
1989: Israel withdraws from Taba
on Sinai. Egypt reenters the Arab
League.
1991: Egypt participates as the
third largest party in the allied
actions towards Iraq, after
Iraq's invasion of Kuwait the
year before.
1999 February:
International grants and loans to Egypt
are cut from US$2.5 billion in 1998 to
US$1.5 billion for 1999. This as a
reflection of less need of foreign aid,
due to increase in foreign investments. |
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