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Egypt....
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The Arabic and official name for
Egypt, is of
Semitic origin, and
possibly means 'a country' or 'a state'. The name "Egypt" came via the
Latin word Aegyptus derived from the ancient Greek word Αίγυπτος Aiguptos,
which in turn is derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase ("Hut ka Ptah"),
the name of a temple of the god Ptah at
Memphis.
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The regularity and richness of the annual
Nile River
flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west,
allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A
unified kingdom was founded circa 3200 BC by King Menes, and a series of
dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native
dynasty, known as the Thirtieth Dynasty, fell to the Persians in 341 BC who
dug the predecessor of the Suez canal and connected the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean. Later, Egypt fell to the
Greeks, Romans,
Byzantines and
Persians again. |
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It was the Muslim Arabs who introduced
Islam and the
Arabic language in the seventh century changing Egypt into a linguistically
"Arab" nation once and for all. Muslim rulers nominated by the
Islamic Caliphate remained in control of Egypt for the next six centuries. A local
military caste, the Mamluks took control about 1250 and continued to govern
even after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517.
Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an
important world transportation hub; however, the country also fell heavily
into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments,
Britain seized control of
Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the
Ottoman Empire
continued until 1914. |
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Partially independent from the
British in 1922, Egypt
acquired full sovereignty following World War II. Between 1924-1936 there
existed a short-lived attempt to model Egypt's constitutional government
after the European style of government; this was called
Egypt's Liberal
Experiment. In 1952 a popularly-supported military coup d'état forced King
Farouk I, a constitutional monarch, to abdicate in support of his son King
Ahmed Fouad II. Finally the Egyptian Republic was declared on 18 June 1953
with Gen. Mohamed Naguib as the first President of the Republic. After
Naguib resigned in 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the
1952 Revolution, assumed power as President and nationalized the
Suez
Canal. Between 1958 and 1961 Egypt and
Syria formed a union known as the United Arab Republic. |
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