The Nile's fertile banks - the source of economic, social, political and religious life - gave birth to the world's first nation state and a powerful civilization that invented writing and erected the first stone monuments. Around 5000 years ago, the independent riverfront states were unified under Narmer, giving rise to the first dynasty of pharaohs.

The pharaohs were considered divine and they ruled over a highly stratified society. The first pyramid was built in the 27th century BC; over the next 500 years the monuments grew increasingly grand. Monarchical power was at its greatest during the 4th dynasty, when Khufu, Khafre and Mycerinus built the Pyramids of Giza.

Through the 6th and 7th dynasties power was diffused and small principalities began to appear. A second capital at Heracleopolis (near present-day Beni Suef) was established and Egypt plunged into civil war.

An independent kingdom was established at Thebes (present-day Luxor) and, under Montuhotep II, Egypt again came under the control of a single pharaoh. From 1550 to 1069 BC, the New Kingdom bloomed under rulers such as Tuthmosis I, the first pharaoh to be entombed in the Valley of the Kings; his daughter Hatshepsut, one of Egypt's few female pharaohs, and Tuthmosis III, Egypt's greatest conqueror.

Amenhotep IV renounced the teachings of the priesthood, took on the title of Akhenaten in honor of Aten, the disc of the rising sun, and established a new capital called Akhetaten devoted solely to the new god. Soon thereafter, Egypt was ruled by generals: Ramses I, II and III, and Seti I. They built massive monuments and temples, but following their reigns, the empire was in disarray, allowing the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great to arrive in 331 BC and establish a new capital.

Under Ptolemy I, Alexandria became a great city. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt for 300 years, but their reign was plagued by great rivalries amongst the nobles. Meanwhile, an expanded Roman Empire began taking an interest in Egypt. Between 51 and 48 BC, Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra VIII, and Julius Caesar sent his rival, Pompey, from Rome to watch over them. Ptolemy had Pompey killed and banished Cleopatra. Caesar came along, threw Ptolemy into the Nile, appointed another of Cleopatra's brothers, Ptolemy XIV, as joint leader, and became Cleopatra's lover.

In 47 BC Cleopatra gave birth to Caesar's son and two years later had her brother killed. When Caesar was assassinated the following year, Marc Anthony - one of the new ruling triumvirate - came to Egypt and fell in love with Cleopatra. An unhappy Roman senate sent Octavian to deal with Marc Anthony 10 years later. Following the defeat of their naval forces at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide, after which Egypt became part of the Roman Empire.

When the empire fell apart Nubians, North Africans and Persians invaded, although Egypt remained relatively stable until AD 640 when the Arabs arrived, bringing Islam. They established Fustat (on the site of present-day Cairo) as the seat of an unstable government until the Fatimids took power, building the prosperous city of Al-Quahira ( Cairo).

Western European Christians seized much of the weakening empire in the Crusades of the 11th century, but in 1187 the Syrian-based Seljuks sent an army into Egypt and Salah ad-Din (Saladin) fortified Cairo and expelled the Crusaders from Jerusalem. Salah ad-Din enlisted Mamluks (Turkish mercenaries), but they ended up overthrowing his dynasty and ruled for two and a half centuries, before Egypt fell to the Turks in 1517. Since most of the Mamluks were of Turkish descent, the Turkish Ottoman sultans, based in Constantinople, largely left the Mamluks alone, as long as they paid their taxes. This state of affairs continued until Napoleon invaded in 1798, only to be ousted by the British in 1801; they were in turn expelled by Mohammed Ali, a lieutenant in the Albanian contingent of the Ottoman army. Said Pasha, Ali's grandson, opened the Suez Canal in 1869.

Crippling national debt enabled British and French controllers to install themselves in 1879, and the British terminated the suzerainty that Turkey had over Egypt. During WWI Egypt aligned itself with the Allies, and shortly afterwards the British allowed the formation of a national political party - the Wafd. King Fouad I was elected head of the constitutional monarchy and for the next 30 years the British, the monarchists and the Wafdists jockeyed for power. The Arab League was founded after WWII by seven Arab countries, including Egypt, but the war had left Egypt in a shambles, and its defeat in Israel's 1948 War of Independence saw the chaos escalate. In 1952, a group of dissident military officers, led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, orchestrated a bloodless coup. The British and French were loathed to relinquish control, so they invaded. The USA and the Soviet Union joined the United Nations-deployed peacekeepers and insisted that the invaders should leave. Nasser became a hero, particularly among Arabs.

Nasser attempted to unite Egypt, Syria, Yemen and later Iraq in the late 1950s, emphasizing Arab unity and demonizing Israel. Following months of heightening tension between Egypt and Israel, the Jewish state attacked on June 5 th 1967, starting the Six Day War. Israel destroyed the Egyptian air force, captured Sinai and closed the Suez Canal.

Anwar Sadat, Nasser's vice president, took over from Nasser when he died in 1970, and set about improving relations with the West. On October 6 th 1973, the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Egypt launched a surprise attack on the Israeli occupiers of Sinai. Its army initially beat back the much better armed Israelis; although these initial gains were later reversed, the ceasefire agreement favored Egyptian interests. In 1977, Sadat began making peace with Israel, leading to the 1978 Camp David Agreement. Israel agreed to withdraw from Sinai, and Egypt officially recognized Israel. Many in the Arab world felt Sadat had betrayed them, and he was assassinated on October 6 th, 1981.

Hosni Mubarak, Sadat's vice president, was sworn in and has been the country's leader ever since. Mubarak has surprised many with his deft political footwork in the troubled region, improving relations with Israel and other Arab states.

President Hosni Mubarak was elected to serve his fourth term as Egyptian president in 1999. In late 2000, Egypt signed a billion dollar deal with Lebanon and Syria to develop a pipeline to those two countries transporting Egyptian gas.