Timeline Egypt
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ABZU: http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/DEPT/RA/ABZU/ABZU_REGINDX_EGYPT.HTML
USDS: http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/bgnotes/nea/egypt9503.html
USDS: http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/business/com_guides/1999/nea/99egypt.html
USLC: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/egtoc.html
Egypt is about 3 times the size of New Mexico.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
The god Sia was invoked to protect the genitals of the dead.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, Z1 p.8)
145Mil BC-65Mil
BC Researchers in 2009 said fossils from this period,
unearthed in what later became the Sahara desert, revealed a
once-swampy world divided up among a half-dozen species of unusual and
perhaps intelligent crocodiles. They lived during the Cretaceous
period, when the continents were closer together and the world warmer
and wetter. They were given snappy names, such as: BoarCroc, RatCroc,
DogCroc, DuckCroc and PancakeCroc.
(Reuters, 11/19/09)
94Mil BC In 2001 fossils of a large sauropod were
discovered in Egypt near the remote Bahariya oasis. A Univ. of
Pennsylvania team named it Paralititan stromeri (tidal giant of
Stromer) after a German scientist who had studied the area.
(SFC, 6/1/01, p.A1)
40Mil BC The whale species Basilosaurus (king lizard)
isis was discovered in 1904. Paleontologists found bones of this
creature in the 1830s in Louisiana. Fossils were found by U of Mich.
paleontologist P.D. Gingerich in Egypt in 1989. With tiny hind limbs
too weak to support its body on land, Gingerich believes it spent its
entire life in the ocean. It reached about 40 feet.
(LSA., p. 36)(PacDis, Winter/’96, p.15,16)
40Mil BC In 2005 the successful excavation of an
unusually complete and well-preserved skeleton of the 40
million-year-old fossil whale Basilosaurus isis was completed in Egypt.
The 18 meter (50 feet) skeleton was found in Wadi Hitan in the Western
Sahara of Egypt. The first Basilosaurus fossil was found in 1905 but no
full skeleton has been discovered until now.
(MT, 4/05)
80000BC In 1983 an international expedition of
American, Polish and Egyptian anthropologists in the Aswan region
unexpectedly came upon the skeleton of a prehistoric man thought to be
about 80,000 years old, the oldest human skeleton ever found in Egypt.
Early modern humans were present in the Levant between 130,000-80,000
BP.
(http://tinyurl.com/2l2rmz)(www.athenapub.com/8shea1.htm)
5200BC-4500BC In 2008 Egypt’s supreme council of
antiquities said a team of US archaeologists had discovered the ruins
of a city dating back to this period of the first farmers in the Fayyum
oasis.
(AFP, 1/29/08)
c5100BC A slate plaque from pre-dynastic Egypt was
carved with scenes of battlefield carnage on one side and leaf munching
antelope on the other. It was part of an exhibit at the Guggenheim.
(NYT, 6/7/96, p.B9)
c5000BC A complex of slabs and stones in southern
Egypt that may date this far back was found during field work that
ended in 1997. The site included 10 slabs, some 9 feet tall, 30
rock-lined ovals, 9 burial sites for cows, and a "calendar circle" of
stones. They were thought to have been constructed by cattle-herders
and used for astronomical observations.
(SFC, 4/2/98, p.A6)
5000BC In 2008 archeologists reported the discovery
of a farming village in Egypt’s Faiyum Oasis, 50 miles south of Cairo,
that dated to about this time. Residents grew wheat and barley, and
raised sheep, goats and pigs.
(SFC, 2/13/08, p.A11)
5000BC-3500BC The predynastic period of Egypt.
(R4,1998)
4241BC The Egyptian calendar was established.
(WSJ, 1/5/05, p.B1)
3600BC In 2005 a team working for five years in the
area of Kom El-Ahmar, Egypt, known in antiquity as Hierakonpolis,
excavated a complex thought to belong to a ruler of the ancient city
who reigned around this time. Archaeologists unearthed seven corpses
believed to date to the era, as well as an intact figure of a cow's
head carved from flint.
(AP, 4/22/05)
3600BC-3500BC An Egyptian cemetery of working class
inhabitants at Hierankopolis of this time showed evidence of
mummification.
(AM, 9/01, p.13)
3500BC-3100BC In Egypt the "Knife of Gebel-el-Arak"
was made with an ivory handle carved with hunting and battle scenes. It
is now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
3300BC-3200BC In 1998 clay tablets were reported from this date
from the tomb of an Egyptian king named Scorpion. The tablets had
writing that recorded linen and oil deliveries as a tithe to the king.
The tomb was in a cemetery at Gebel Tjauti in Suhag province, some 250
miles south of Cairo. Egyptologists John Coleman Darnell and wife
Deborah discovered the tableau in 1995.
(SFC, 12/15/98, p.C5)(SFC, 4/16/02, p.A4)
3250BC King Scorpion ruled Upper (southern) Egypt.
Evidence of wine was found in his tomb and scientists believed it was
produced in Jordan and transported by donkey and boat to Egypt.
(AM, 5/01, p.54)(SFC, 10/27/05, p.A2)
c3100BC In the protodynastic period of Egypt
"Scorpion" ruled and was followed by Narmer. In 2002 Jan Assmann
authored "The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the
Pharaohs.
(R4,1998)(SSFC, 4/28/02, p.M4)
3100BC Menes, the legendary first pharaoh of Egypt,
ruled upper Egypt from Nekhen before he conquered lower Egypt and moved
his capital to Memphis.
(NG, May 1985, p.586)
c3100BC The upper and lower kingdoms were united to
form the 1st Dynasty of Egypt. The fertile Nile Valley and prevailing
environmental conditions led to the formation of villages along the
river—Upper Egypt in the south and Lower Egypt in the north. These
villages grew into 'kingdoms' centered around Naqadah (later
Hierakonopolis) in the south and Behdet (later Buto) in the delta.
According to tradition, the upper and lower kingdoms were united into
one centralized government by King Menes around 3100BC. However, modern
scholars are unsure whether King Menes was actually several kings,
including Narmer and Aha. Menes' reign lasted a substantial 62 years
before being killed by a hippopotamus (again according to
tradition). The 1st dynasty lasted until about 2890BC.
(HNQ, 11/2/00)
3100BC-2770BC The Archaic Period of Egypt. Narmer
united Egypt and hieroglyphic writing developed.
(eawc, p.1)
3100BC-2700BC In Egypt the limestone "Stele of the
Serpent King" has a bas-relief of a falcon in profile above a nearly
abstract curving stroke of a snake. It is now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
c3050BC-2890BC In Egypt Hor-Aha ruled and was
followed by Djer, Djet, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet, and Qa'a. These rulers
comprised the 1st dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/egyptdynasties.html)
3000BC The Egyptians used reed brushes on papyrus to
write hieroglyphics.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)(K.I.-365D.p.31)
2980BC Egypt’s tomb of King Den, dated to about this
time, was later found to show evidence of mummification.
(AM, 9/01, p.13)
2890BC-2686 This is the period of Egypt’s 2nd
Dynasty. Hotepsekhemwy ruled and was followed by Raneb, Nynetjer,
Weneg, Seth-Peribsen and Khasekhemwy.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2772BC In Egypt the 365 day calendar was introduced.
(eawc, p.1)
2686BC-2181BC This is the period of Egypt’s 3rd
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2686BC-2668BC Sanakhte, the older brother of Djoser,
founded Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2686BC-2181BC Chairs in the early dynasties of Egypt
stood on what looked like animals' legs. Low reliefs of Egypt’s Old
Kingdom, now in the French Louvre, enumerate an ideal meal to be taken
to a tomb.
(SFC, 5/11/96, p.E-4)(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2668BC-2649BC Djoser (Dzoser, Zoser) was the 2nd
ruler of Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty. The first step pyramid was designed for
Dzoser by Imhotep.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2650BC-2180BC Egyptian wall paintings included
information on beer production. In 2004 Japan’s Kirin Brewery produced
a beer dubbed “The Old Kingdom Beer.”
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A1)
2649BC-2643BC Sekhemkhet was the 3rd ruler of Egypt’s
3rd Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2643BC-2637BC Khaba was the 4th ruler of Egypt’s 3rd
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2637BC-2613BC Huni was the 5th ruler of Egypt’s 3rd
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2620BC-2500BC A polychrome stele of Egyptian Princess
Nefertiabet depicts her dining in a one-shoulder leopard-skin gown. It
is now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2620BC-2500BC An Egyptian painted limestone statue of
a "Seated Scribe" dates to this period. It is now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2601BC In Egypt Nik’ure, the son of a pharaoh, died
and left what was later recognized as the oldest Last Will and
Testament. "Being of sound mind and body…" He left his wealth to his
wife, 3 children and to another woman.
(SFEC, 8/6/00, Z1 p.2)
c2600BC Tombs of the priest Kai were built about this
time in Egypt. In 1999 they were found in a cemetery west of Cheop's
pyramid.
(SFC, 5/27/99, p.A18)
2613BC-2589BC Snefru (Snofru), son of Huni, was the
1st king of Egypt’s 4th Dynasty. Snefru’s scribes left a description of
40 ships bearing timber arriving to Egypt from Byblos. On Mar 9,1925,
the Egyptian Ministry of Public Works announced the discovery of the
5,000-year-old tomb of King Sneferu.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.156)(HN,
3/9/98)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2589BC-2566BC Khufu (Cheops), son of Snefru and Queen
Hetepheres, ruled as the 2nd king of Egypt’s 4th dynasty. Khufu built
the Great Pyramid. It rose about 100 feet. Two more were built for his
2 wives, Henutsen and Meryetes. Laborers reportedly went on strike to
get a daily ration of garlic.
(eawc, p.1)(SFC, 1/3/98,
p.A8)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2566BC-2558BC Djedefre (Radjedef) succeeded his
father Khufu and ruled as the 3rd king of Egypt’s 4th Dynasty
(2528BC-2520BC).
(R4,1998)(Arch, 7/02,
p.9)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2558BC-2532BC Khafre ruled as the 4th king of Egypt’s
4th dynasty. His pyramid is the 2nd largest on Egypt’s Giza Plateau.
The Sphinx was built under his rule. In 1996 a 4,500 year-old perfectly
intact alabaster statue of Pharaoh Khaefre was part of a 1996 show on
loan from Cairo at St. Petersburg, Florida. In 2002 Christine
Zivie-Coche authored "Sphinx: History of a Monument."
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)(WSJ, 1/10/03,
p.W7)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2550BC In 2006 a scientist proposed that beginning
about this time Egyptians started to use cast concrete in their
pyramids. His evidence was taken from samples of the Khufu pyramid. The
proposal was controversial in that concrete was later used to restore
pyramids.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A12)
2532BC-2504BC Menkaure ruled, son of Khafre, as the
5th king in Egypt’s 4th dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2504BC-2500BC Shepseskaf, son of Menkaure, ruled as
the 6th king in Egypt’s 4th dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2500BC A 330-foot-tall Egyptian pyramid was erected
about this time and came to be known as the ‘Bent’ pyramid, located
outside the village of Dahshur. In 2009 travelers were given access to
its inner chambers.
(SFC, 3/17/09, p.A2)
c2500BC The tomb of an Egyptian child from about this
time was found to contain toys that included miniature pins and balls
and a wicket, the first evidence of bowling.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)
2500BC By this time the Sahara desert looked much as
it does today.
(ATC, p.109)
2498BC-2491BC Userkaf, grandson of Djedefre, ruled as
the 1st king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. He built a pyramid complex at
Saqqara.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty5.html)
2491BC-2477BC Sahure ruled as the 2nd king of Egypt’s
5th dynasty. He built a pyramid complex at Abusir. He established an
Egyptian navy and sent a fleet to Punt and traded with Palestine.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty5.html)
2477BC-2467BC Neferirkare, brother of Sahure, ruled
as the 3rd king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. In 1893 local farmers
discovered hieratic papyrus at his pyramid complex consisting of some
300 fragments.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty5.html)
2467BC-2460BC Shepseskare ruled in Egypt, according
to the Turin King-list, for 7 years. Some seal impressions dated to his
reign have been found at Abusir.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2460BC-2453BC Neferefre ruled as the 5th king of
Egypt’s 5th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2453BC-2422BC Niusserre (Nyuserre) ruled as the 6th
king of Egypt’s 5th dynasty. In 1893 local farmers discovered hieratic
papyrus at his pyramid complex consisting of some 300 fragments.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2422BC-2414BC Menkauhor ruled as the 7th king of
Egypt’s 5th dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2414BC-2375BC Djedkare ruled at the end of the 6th
dynasty.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/04_06/05.html)
c2400BC In Egypt the bas-reliefs lining the Mastaba
of Akhethetep depict the rural life of a prosperous landowner. The
chapel is in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
2375BC-2345BC Unas ruled at the end of Egypt’s 6th
dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2355BC-2195BC This is the period of Egypt’s 6th
Dynasty.
(AM, 7/05, p.14)
c2350BC Akhethetep, a high ranking official, lived
about this time. His mastaba tomb is located in Saqqara, Egypt.
(AM, 11/04, p.72)
2345BC-2333BC Teti ruled Egypt as the 1st king of the
6th dynasty. In 2008 archeologists discovered a pyramid in Saqqara
dating to about this time. It was said to belong to Queen Sesheshet,
the mother of King Teti.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)(AP, 11/11/08)
2345BC-2181BC In Egypt the "Striding Figure of
Meryrahashtef," a 22.5 inch nude statue of a minor 6th dynasty
official, was made.
(WSJ, 1/16/02, p.A14)(Arch, 9/02, p.61)
2333BC Userkare ruled in the 6th dynasty of Egypt
between Teti and Pepi. He is believed to be a proponent of the group
that killed Teti.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/0602_userkare/history.html)
2332BC-2283BC Pepi I ruled as the 3rd king of the 6th
dynasty. A pyramid of Queen Ankh-sn-Pepi, wife of Pepi I, was
discovered in 2000. The "Pair Statue of Queen Ankh-Nes-Meryre II and
her son Pepi II Seated" was part of an Egyptian show on view at the NY
Met in 1999.
(WSJ, 9/21/99, p.A24)(SFC, 4/3/00,
p.A10)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2283BC-2278BC Merenre I ruled as the 4th king in
Egypt’s 6th dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2278BC-2184BC Pepi II ruled in Egypt as the last king
of the 6th dynasty and the last significant king of the Old Kingdom.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2183BC Merenre II followed Pepi II as ruler of Egypt.
He ruled for just over a year and was murdered. Nitocris, his
sister-wife, took rule.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty6.html)
2183BC-2181BC Nitocris (Nitiqret), the
wife-sister-wife of Merenre, ruled Egypt.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty6.html)
2181-2161 Egypt’s 7th and 8th dynasties ruled
during this period. Wadjkare ruled in Egypt’s 7th dynasty and was
followed by Qakare. Eusebius has a 7th Dynasty that consisted of five
kings of Memphis, who reigned for 75 days and an Eighth Dynasty that
consisted of five kings of Memphis, who reigned for 100 years.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasties7-10.html)
2181-2040 Egypt’s First Intermediate Period. It began
with the collapse of the Old Kingdom due to crop failure and low
revenues due to pyramid building projects. This seemed to coincide with
a period of cooling and drying.
(eawc, p.2)(Econ, 12/20/03,
p.114)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2160BC-2140BC Egypt’s 9th and 10th Dynasties ruled
over this period from the capital at Herakleopolis. Pharaohs included
Meryibre, Merykare, Kaneferre, and Nebkaure.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2134BC-2117BC Intef I (Antef I) ruled in Egypt’s 11th
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2134BC-1991BC Period of Egypt’s 11th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2117BC-2069BC Intef II (Antef II) ruled in Egypt’s
11th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2080BC The beginning of Egypt’s Middle Kingdom. [see
2100BC-1700BC]
(NG, 9/98, p.16)
2069BC-2060BC Intef III (Antef III) ruled in Egypt’s
11th Dynasty for 8 years.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2060BC-2010BC Mentuhotep I (Nebhetepre), son of
Theban Inteff III, ruled for about 39-51 years in Egypt’s 11th Dynasty.
(http://tinyurl.com/9nr3e)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2040BC-1782BC In Egypt the period of the Middle
Kingdom began with its capital at Thebes. It lasted to 1782BC. About
this time "The Plea of the Eloquent Peasant" was written calling for a
benevolent ruler.
(eawc, p.2)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
2010BC-1998BC Mentuhotep II, son of Mentuhotep I,
ruled in the 11th Dynasty of Egypt for about 12 years.
(http://tinyurl.com/b97e3)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
c2000BC An Egyptian painting on an interior tomb wall
depicted 6 men scrubbing, wringing and folding a cloth.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.E3)
2000BC It was later believed that emeralds were first
mined in Egypt about this time.
(WSJ, 2/7/07, p.A12)
2000BC About this time the Egyptians domesticated the
cat in order to catch snakes. Advances in astronomy enabled the
Egyptians to predict the annual flooding of the Nile.
(eawc, p.2)
2000BC-1790BC The wooden statue of chancellor Nakhti
and carved face of governor Hapidjefai date to Egypt’s Middle Kingdom.
They are now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
1997BC-1991BC Mentuhotep III, the last king of the
11th Dynasty of Egypt. He was the son of Imi, a secondary wife of
either Mentuhotep II or III. His name is missing from most king’s lists.
(http://tinyurl.com/e37kx)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1991BC-1962BC Amenemhet I (Amenemhat I) founded
Egypt’s 12th Dynasty of Egypt and ruled for some 30 years. In 2007
Prof. Jahi Issa and Salim Faraji authored “The Origin of the Word Amen:
Ancient Knowledge the Bible Has Never Told,” in which they argued that
the word Amen is derived from a pre-dynastic Egyptian culture found in
the Sudan with roots in the ancient name for pharaoh, Amen, spelled in
some cases as Amun.
(http://www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)(SSFC, 12/2/07,
p.A2)
1991BC-1783BC Egypt, time of the Twelfth Dynasty, the
peak of the Middle Kingdom when the Pharaohs won back some of the power
which the monarchs of the Old kingdom had enjoyed. It ended with the
Middle Kingdom in 1786BC. During the period power was somewhat
distributed through the social classes. Religion shifted from a
wealth-based system to one based on proper conduct.
(eawc,
p.3)(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1980BC-1971BC Sesostris I (Senusret I) became
co-regent with Amenenhet I.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1971BC-1929BC Sesostris I (Senusret I) ruled during
Egypt’s 12th dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1929BC-1926BC Amenemhet II ruled in the 12th Dynasty
of Egypt as co-regent with his father Sesostris I.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1926BC-1892BC Amenemhet II held sole rule during
Egypt’s 12th Dynasty.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1900BC-1500BC During this period a Semitic group of
nomads migrated from Sumer to Canaan and then on to Egypt. They were
led by a caravan trader, the Patriarch Abraham, who became the father
of the nation of Israel. Ishmael was a son of Abraham had by Hagar.
Isaac was a son of Abraham by Sarah. Hebrews trace their lineage
through Isaac, Arabs through Ishmael.
(eawc, p.3)(NW, 11/02, p.55)
c1898BC-1866BC In Egypt the Sphinx of Tanis was made.
It was later moved to Paris.
(WSJ, 10/7/98, p.A20)
1897BC-1878BC Sesostris II (Senusret II), son of
Amenenhet II, ruled as co-regent in Egypt’s 12th Dynasty.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
c1890BC Sinuhe, a professional soldier of high rank
in Egypt, serving in the army of Amenemhat II was faced with a change
in political power and left Egypt. He fled to Byblos, where he was
befriended by a local ruler named Ammienshi, who governed the land of
Retenu. He later returned to Egypt, now ruled by Senusret.
(L.C.-W.P.p.21-32)
1878BC-1841BC Senusret III (Sesostris III) ruled as
Egypt’s 5th king in the 12th Dynasty. He built a funerary complex to
link himself with Osiris, lord of Abydos. Khakaure was Senwosret’s
throne name.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1842BC-1797BC Amenemhet III ruled as Egypt’s 6th in
the 12th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
c1800BC In Egypt walls of limestone were marked with
alphabetic inscriptions in the Wadi el-Hol (Gulch of Terror). In 1993
the graffiti markings were discovered by Egyptologist John Coleman
Darnell and his wife Deborah and later traced to Semitic people,
possibly mercenary soldier scribes or Canaanite workers, living in the
area.
(SFEC, 11/14/99, p.A6)(SFC, 11/23/99, p.B10)
1798BC-1786BC Amenemhet IV ruled in the 12th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1785BC-1782BC Queen Sobeknefru (Nefrusobek) ruled in
the 12th Dynasty of Egypt.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1782BC-1779BC Wegaf ruled at the beginning of Egypt’s
13th Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1782BC-1650BC Egypt’s XIII Dynasty was marked by a
period of decay, loss of unity, and many short-lived rival Pharaohs.
This lasted through the Sixteenth Dynasty. Over 70 kings are listed in
this dynasty and their dates are not well known.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/13.html)
1782BC-1570BC Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period.
Also dated from 1640-1540.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/13.html)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
c1760BC Hor ruled in the early part of Egypt’s 13th
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1750BC-1540BC The Hyksos from Syria and Palestine
occupied Egypt and introduced the horse and chariot. Taking advantage
of the unsettled state of Egypt, Asiatic invaders from Palestine
entered Egypt and set themselves up as kings, even adopting Pharaonic
titles and customs. The Jewish historian Josephus claims to quote the
words of an Egyptian chronicler, Manetho, in describing this period of
foreign rule. The Hyksos, whoever they were, had a 'blitz-weapon' - the
horse drawn chariot which they had copied from the horse-rearing
Mitanni of northern Mesopotamia. And the Mitanni in turn got the horse
from Persia, together with the art of riding it. In 2005 Arthur
Cotterrell authored “Chariot,” a history of the chariot.
(eawc, p.3)(WSJ, 6/17/05, p.W6)(L.C.-W.P.p.55-56)
c1747BC Khendjer, a Hyksos king, ruled in northern
Egypt.
(R4,1998)(http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/history12-17.htm)
c1745BC Sobekhotep II ruled in the 13th Dynasty of
Egypt.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1741BC-1730BC Neferhotep I ruled in the 13th Dynasty
of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1730BC-1720BC Sobekhotep IV ruled in the 13th Dynasty
of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
c1720BC The Hyksos in northern Egypt dominated the
Delta and founded their capital Avaris (Tanis).
(http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/history12-17.htm)
1720BC-1715BC Sobekhotep V ruled in the 13th Dynasty
of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1704BC-1690BC Ay ruled in Egypt’s 13th Dynasty. He
was succeeded by Neferhotep II and Nehesy in the 14th Dynasty.
(R4,1998)(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/11_13/12.html)
1696BC-1686BC Neferhotep, the 22nd king of the 13th
Dynasty, ruled Egypt. He was the son of a temple priest in Abydos. In
2005 archeologists unearthed a statue of him. His name means "beautiful
and good."
(AP, 6/5/05)
1674BC Sheshi, a Hyksos ruler, conquered Memphis
(Egypt). Shesi ruled at the beginning of the 15th Dynasty and was
succeeded by Yakubher, Khyan, Apepi I, Apepi II, Anather in the 16th
Dynasty, Yakobaam, Sobekemsaf II in the 17th Dynasty, and Intef VII.
The Hyksos invaded Egypt in horse-drawn chariots.
(WH, 1994,
p.13)(http://nefertiti.iwebland.com/history12-17.htm)
1663BC-1555BC The period of Egypt’s 15th
Dynasty. In Egypt the 15th, 16th and 17th dynasties ruled
simultaneously.
(http://tinyurl.com/cgmpy)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)(http://tinyurl.com/avkno)
c1650 Egypt’s 14th Dynasty kings
ruled mostly from the Western Nile Delta. Their dates are not well
known and they may have been contemporary with the 13th Dynasty.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/14_17/14.html)
1640BC-1540BC Egypt’s 2nd Intermediate Period.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/14_17/index.html)
c1633BC Tao I ruled in Egypt’s 17th Dynasty. In Egypt
the 15th, 16th and 17th dynasties ruled simultaneously.
(http://tinyurl.com/avkno)
1600BC In Egypt a revolution against Hyksos rule
began in the south and spread throughout the country.
(eawc, p.3)
1575BC-1532BC Ipepi (Apophis) ruled as a Hyksos 17th
Dynasty king of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/14_17/15.html)
1574BC Tao II ruled in the 17th Dynasty of Egypt.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1573BC-1570BC Kamose ruled as a Hyksos 17th Dynasty
king of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/18_20/index.html)
1570BC-1546BC Ahmose, Pharaoh of Egypt, ruled in
Egypt’s 17th Dynasty. His sister-wife was Queen
Ahmosep-Nefertary. During his reign he defeated the Hyksos led by
Apophis. Ahmose engaged the Hyksos at their city of Avaris, and the
city of Sharuhen for three years.
(L.C.-W.P.p.64)(AM, 7/01,
p.52)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1570BC-1070BC Egypt’s New Kingdom Period. Thebes
(which encompassed the site known today as Luxor) was the chief city of
Egypt. Pharaohs began to abandon royal pyramids in favor of hidden
tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. A bust of the Royal scribe
Meniou was made in limestone during Egypt’s New Kingdom. It is now in
the French Louvre.
(AM, 7/01, p.58)(WSJ, 1/29/98,
p.A16)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1570BC-1070BC Egyptian wall paintings included
information on beer production. In 2004 Japan’s Kirin Brewery produced
a beer dubbed “The New Kingdom Beer.”
(WSJ, 10/14/04, p.A1)
1551BC-1524BC Amenhotep I (Ahmenophis), son of Amasis
I (Ahmose), ruled at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt.
Inscriptions indicate that he engaged the Nubians in the land of Kush.
Some of the southern foes were evidently cave-dwellers (troglodytes),
since the inscription goes on to say that 'His majesty captured the
Nubian Troglodyte in the midst of his army.
(NG, 9/98,
p.17)(L.C.-W.P.p.66)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1550BC During the beginning in Egypt’s 18th Dynasty
the Opet Festival celebrated the Theban triad of the sun and creator
Amun, his consort Mut, and their son Khonsu.
(Arch, 7/02, p.36)
1550BC-1295BC During Egypt’s 18th
Dynasty private people began building small pointy pyramids above their
tombs.
(Arch, 9/02, p.56)
1532BC-1522BC Khamudi (Aseth) ruled as a Hyksos 15th
Dynasty king of Egypt.
(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/14_17/15.html)
1524BC-1518BC Tuthmosis I (Thutmose I) ruled at the
beginning of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1518BC-1504BC In Egypt Tuthmosis II ruled in the 18th
Dynasty. Hatshepsut was married to her sickly half-brother when she was
about 12.
(ON, 10/99,
p.7)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1504BC-1450BC Tuthmosis III, a son of one of the
lesser wives of Tuthmosis I, ruled in the 18th Dynasty. In the 15th
cent. BCE Thutmose III led his army from Egypt to Megiddo and
outflanked the chariots of the Canaanite forces that had revolted
against him. [see 1471BC]
(WSJ, 4/17/97,
p.A20)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
c1500BC Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and
established a calendar with Egyptian features but based on a seven day
week. The later 8-day Sukkot festival commemorates the fall harvest and
the wandering of the Hebrews in the Sinai desert after the Exodus. In
1998 Jonathan Kirsch authored "Moses: A Life." Miriam was the sister of
Moses and led the celebration following the crossing of the Red Sea.
[see 1280BC]
(K.I.-365D, p.58)(SFEC,10/19/97, p.A26)(SFEC,
12/13/98, BR p.5)(WSJ, 4/7/00, p.W17)
c1500BC Egyptian tombs show paintings of apparently
Cretan messengers and merchants, called by the name Keftiu,
bearing Cretan goods: and in addition we find the actual tangible goods
themselves, deposited with the Egyptian dead.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.17)
c1500BC A boy named Djehuti-Irdis (13) died in
Thebes. In 2000 a biopsy confirmed that he died of pneumonia.
(SFC, 1/3/01, p.A13)
1500BC In 2009 Spain's scientific research agency
(CSIC) announced that a tomb decorated with 3,500-year-old paintings
was discovered in Luxor by Jose Manuel Galan, a Spanish Egyptologist.
The person was in the service of the 18th dynasty Queen Hatshepsut, the
most powerful female pharaoh and who ruled for 21 years from 1479 to
1458 BC.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
1500BC-1000BC Nubia was colonized by Egypt.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)
1479 Thotmosis II died. He was
succeeded by Queen Hatshepsut and his step-son Thotmosis III. Queen
Hatshepsut, the only woman to have reigned as a pharaoh, ruled Egypt as
18th Dynasty regent for Thutmose III. Her name translates as "The
Foremost of Noble Ladies." In 1996 Joyce Tyldesley authored
"Hatshepsut, The Female Pharaoh."
(AFP, 4/21/06)(ON, 10/99, p.8)(AP,
6/5/05)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1479BC-1425BC Thotmosis III ruled as pharaoh of
Egypt. His initial reign was under the guidance of his mother, Queen
Hatsheppsut.
(AFP, 4/21/06)
1471BC Tuthmosis III of Egypt built rafts on
the Lebanese coast, put them on wagons, and transported them to the
Euphrates in order to cross the river and defeat the King of Mitanni.
This was his eighth campaign in the thirty-third year of his reign.
This was well over 250 miles. He died in the fifty-fourth year of his
reign. An inscription at Napata in Nubia tells us about this.
(L.C.-W.P.p.87-89)
c1470BC The 97-foot obelisk at Karnak, Egypt, was
erected as part of a sun dial and cast its shadow on a temple of the
sun god Amun Ra.
(AM, 3/04, p.42)
1458BC In Egypt Queen Hatshepsut, mother of Tuthmosis
III, died. Tuthmosis III, in his early thirties, declared war on the
Prince of the Syrian city of Kadesh, who had organized a confederacy in
Palestine and Syria. Tuthmosis defeated the Syrians following an 8
month siege of Megiddo. In 2007 Egyptian archaeologists said the mummy
of an obese woman, who likely suffered from diabetes and liver cancer,
has been identified as that of Queen Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful
female pharaoh. Hatshepsut, who ruled Egypt in the 15th century B.C.,
was known for dressing like a man and wearing a false beard. But when
her rule ended, all traces of her mysteriously disappeared, including
her mummy. Discovered in 1903 in the Valley of the Kings, the mummy was
left on site until 2007, when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for
testing.
(ON, 3/01, p.11)(AFP, 4/21/06)(AP, 6/27/07)
1427BC-1419BC Amenhotep II (Amenophis II), son of
Tuthmose III, ruled in the 18th Dynasty. In the same Giza stele
which describes his prowess with a 33-foot oar, there is an account of
his skill as a archer. There is no doubt that he did conquer the
Asiatic powers of Djahi, Retenu, Mitanni, and 'God's Land'.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amenhotep_II)(L.C.-W.P.p.91-92)
1425BC Tuthmosis III died. During the last two years
of his reign he became a coregent again, with his son, Amenhotep II,
who would succeed him. When he died he was buried in the Valley of the
Kings as were the rest of the kings from this period in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III)
1419BC-1386BC Tutmosis IV, son of Amenhotep II, ruled
in Egypt’s 18th Dynasty with his son as co-regent.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
c1400BC The Temple of Hatshepsut was built in Luxor.
(SFC,11/20/97, p.B2)
1400BC The tomb of Kha Mirit from this time was later
put on display in the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy.
(SSFC, 1/22/06, p.E6)
1386BC-1349BC Amenhotep III (Amenophis III), son of
Tuthmose IV, ruled Egypt. His reign marked the culmination of the 18th
Dynasty.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1350BC-1336BC Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) ruled during
the 18th Dynasty Amarna Period of Egypt. He became concerned about
abuses in the Osiris cult. He posited a new monotheistic religion
dedicated to the worship of the sun. His wife was Nefertiti,
daughter-in-law of Amenophis III and Queen Tiye. He moved the capital
from Thebes to El-Amarna. After his death the capital was moved back to
Thebes, and his successor, a young boy named Smenkhkare reigned for
three years. The city of Amarna later vanished.
(NG, 9/98, p.17)(WSJ, 7/17/00,
p.A33)(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1350BC The 1st recorded smallpox epidemic took place
during an Egyptian-Hittite war. Hittite warriors caught the disease
from Egyptian prisoners. The king and heir were fatally infected and
the empire fell apart.
(SFC, 10/19/01, p.A17)(NW, 10/14/02, p.46)
1345BC Tutankhamen (King Tut), Egypt’s boy king, was
born. His wet nurse was named Maia.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)(USAT, 1/20/04, p.6D)
1345BC The Ebers Papyrus indicated the medical use of
willow bark. It contained salicylic acid, an ingredient of modern
aspirin.
(SSFC, 10/24/04, p.M6)
c1340BC A bust of Nefertiti was made that later ended
up in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin.
(SFC, 7/7/96, T5)
1336BC-1334BC The period of the 18th Dynasty under
Smenkhkare.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1334BC-1325BC Tutankhamen (10), son of Akhenaten, was
Pharaoh of Egypt. Aye became regent while Tut was growing up and
effectively ruled the country.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)
c1330BC The capital of Amarna was abandoned. In 2004
it was reported that black plague bacteria was found in the remains of
fossilized fleas from Amarna.
(AM, 7/04, p.12)
1330BC A memorial to the servant who suckled
Tutankhamen was reported found by French archeologists in 1997 at the
Saqqara necropolis 13 miles south of Cairo. Hieroglyphics and a relief
that showed a woman with breast and nipple exposed pay tribute to Maya,
"who fed the body of a god."
(SFC,12/897, p.A18)
1323BC Tutankhamen died about this time at age 19. It
was later suspected that the young prince was killed on his way to
Egypt under the orders of Ay or Horemhab. Howard Carter discovered the
tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. In 2005 a CT scan indicated that Tut was
not murdered by a blow to the head, nor was his chest crushed in an
accident. His death remained a mystery. In 2005 a researcher reported
evidence that analysis of wine jugs found in his tomb indicated that
the wine was red. In 2007 his face was made public for the first time.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)(SFC, 10/27/05, p.A2)(AP,
11/4/07)
1323BC-1321BC King Ay succeeded Tutankhamun. In 1931
a ring was found by Percy Newberry in a Cairo antiquities shop that
bore an inscription indicating that Aye and Ankhesenaten were married.
(SFC, 1/25/97,
p.A7)(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/18_20/18.html)
1321BC Aye died after three years on Egypt’s throne
and the walls of his tomb showed another woman, Tiy, as his wife.
(SFC, 1/25/97, p.A7)
1321BC-1295BC A soldier named Horemhab succeeded King
Ay. Some regard him as the last Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty while
others think he was the founder of the 19th. Horemhab is thought to
have prevented the dynastic marriage of Ankhesnamun, the widow of
Tutankhamun, to prince Zananza, son of the Hittite king,
Suppilliliumas. Documents discovered at the Hittite capital of
Boghaz-Koy in Turkey prove beyond doubt that the young queen was
writing to Suppililiumas imploring him to send her one of his sons so
that she might make him King of Egypt.
(L.C.-W.P.p.107-110)(NG, May 1985,
p.598)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
1295BC-1294BC Ramesses I, the son of a military
commander named Seti, began Egypt’s 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
1294BC-1279BC Sethi I (Seti I), son of Rammeses I and
the father of Rammeses II, ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. He
restored the ancient gods of Egypt, such as Amun-Re, Ptah, Seth, and
Osiris. At Abydos he built a splendid temple to Osiris. Sethi claims to
have inflicted a victory against the Hittite king, Mursillis II, the
successor to Suppililiumas, at the towns of Yenoam and Bethshael. Seti
overran Palestine, made peace with the Hittites in Syria, opened mines
and quarries, and enlarged the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak. His tomb
was discovered in 1817.
(NG, 9/98, p.17,19)(AM, 7/01,
p.56)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty18e.html)
1292 Horemheb, the last pharaoh of
Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, died about this time and was buried in the Valley
of the Kings.
(Arch, 9/02,
p.61)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horemheb)
1292BC An Egyptian scribe documented that a couple of
construction worker twins went off a beer binge. They left their wives
at home to chase available women and didn't show up for work. Their
brother-in-law was the chief engineer on the job and did not fire them.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)
1280BC Ramesses II, about this time, built a fortress
temple named Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham (the rest house of the mother of
vultures).
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.133)
1280BC-1200BC Moses lived about this time. We cannot
be certain when Moses lived except that it was obviously before the
Jews settled in Palestine, when they were still wanderers. The general
opinion seems to be that it was at some time within the period of
Ramesses and his son. The father-in-law of Moses was a Midianite. Moses
reportedly died at Mount Nebo.
(L.C.-W.P.p.123)(MT, Spg. '97, p.11)(WSJ, 5/11/00,
p.A24)
1279BC-1213BC Ramesses II (the Great) ruled during
Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. Seti I named him co-ruler early in his life. His
capital city was Qantir, 75 miles north of Cairo. A detailed map of the
city was created in 1998. His colossal statue, removed from Memphis,
now greets the visitor when he leaves Cairo's main railway station.
There are huge statues of Ramesses in the Luxor temple... and most
gigantic of all, the seated colossi at Abu Simbel. He enlarged the
Karnak temple on a scale which makes human beings... look and feel like
ants. The tomb of Queen Nefertari, wife of Ramses II, Pharaoh of the
19th dynasty, was discovered in 1904.
(L.C.-W.P.p.104,113)(V. Sun, 11/3/95,
p.A-20)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19.html)
c1274BC Battle of Kadesh, in the fifth year of
his reign Ramesses moved to meet and destroy the forces of the Hittite
king, Muwatallis, grandson of Suppililiumas. Here some 70,000BC-100,000
armed men clashed in fury... The battle lasted two days... and was
decisive in that the Hittite advanced no further. The Hittites fought
off the invading Egyptians. This reflected the power gained from
trading metals abundant in Turkey. Ramesses left his mark on a cliff
face by the Nahr al Kalb (Dog River) when he marched north from Egypt
to battle the Hittites.
(L.C.-W.P.p.116-119)(eawc, p.5)(NG, Aug., 1974,
p.157)
1270BC At Abu Simbel, Egypt, Ramses II constructed
The Great Temple in his own honor and the Small Temple in honor of his
wife Nefertari. Engulfed by sand over the centuries, the temples lay
hidden until discovered by a Swiss traveler in 1813. The temples are
moved under a 4 year UNESCO project when in 1964 the rising
waters behind the Aswan High Dam threaten to drown them.
(NG, May 1985, p.591)
c1250BC-1200BC Under the direction of Moses the
Hebrew people returned to Canaan from Egypt after wandering for several
years in the Sinai desert and began the conquest of Canaan. The
conquest took some hundred years and after victory they parceled the
land of Canaan into tribal territories under a government known as an
amphictyony.
(eawc, p.5)
1213BC Ramesses II (the Great) Pharaoh during Egypt’s
19th Dynasty, died. In 1976 his mummy was shipped to Paris, where it
was treated with radiation and chemicals for protection against
bacteriological damage.
(NG, 9/98,
p.16,22,32)(www.ancient-egypt.org/history/18_20/19.html)
1213BC-1203BC Maremptah (Merenptah), the 13th
son of Rammeses, ruled during Egypt’s 19th Dynasty. He is mainly
attested to by three great inscriptions, including 80 lines on a wall
in the Temple of Amun at Karnak, a large stele with 35 readable lines
from Athribis in the Delta and the great Victory Stele from his ruined
mortuary temple at Thebes, with 28 lines.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1203BC-1200BC Amenmesse (Ammenemes) about this time
led Egypt as the 5th ruler of the 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1200BC-1194BC The period of the 19th Dynasty under
Seti II.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1194BC-1188BC The period of the 19th Dynasty under
Siptah.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19a.html)
1187BC-1185BC Queen Tawosret (Taweseret) ruled during
Egypt’s 19th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty19b.html)
1186BC-1184BC The period of the 20th Dynasty under
Sethnakhte (Setnakht).
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1184BC-1153BC The period of the 20th Dynasty under
Ramses III. After Ramessu III ascended the throne of Egypt, he fought
back two major attacks from the northern countries. Ramses III defended
his kingdom from foreign invasion in three separate wars, reorganized
Egyptian society into classes based on occupation and built a funerary
temple based on the Ramesseum. Ramses, son of Setnakht, twice defended
Egypt against invasions from Libyan tribes and in his 8th year from a
coalition of migrants referred to in records as the "Sea Peoples." The
great Battle against the Sea Peoples was captured in a magnificent
picture which Ramesses III caused to be sculpted on the walls of his
great temple at Medinet Habu in Thebes.
(L.C.-W.P.p.104,126)(R.M.-P.H.C.p.21)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
c1182BC Ramessu III beat back a more formidable
attack by northern countries. An inscription describing this war was
engraved on the second pylon of the temple of Medinet Habu. The
inscription describes how the northerners were disturbed, and proceeded
to move eastward and southward, swamping in turn the land of the
Hittites, Carchemish, Arvad, Cyprus, Syria, and other places of the
same region. The Hittites and North Syrians had been so crippled by
them that Ramessu took the opportunity to extend the frontier of
Egyptian territory northward... the twofold ravaging of Syria left it
weakened and opened the door for the colonization of its coast-lands by
the beaten remnant of the invading army.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.23)
c1179BC Ramessu III beat back a Libyan invasion in
his fifth year, this invasion was accompanied by war galleys from the
northern countries.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.22)
c1176BC "Peoples of the sea" arrived to the Lebanese
coast (c1200-1182). They came probably from the Aegean. They toppled
the Hittites, destroyed Ugarit on the Syrian coast and swept south to
Egypt where Ramesses III stopped them.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)
1175BC Rameses III built his temple palace at Medinet
Habu.
(eawc, p.5)
1153BC Ramesses III of Egypt died, and was succeeded
by a series of weak ghost-kings.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1153BC-1147BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses IV, son of Ramesses III.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1147BC-1143BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses V, son of Ramesses IV and Queen Ta-Opet. His mummy
indicates that he died of smallpox at about age 35.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1143BC-1136BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses VI.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1136BC-1129BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses VII.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1129BC-1126BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses VIII.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1126BC-1108BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses IX.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1108BC-1099BC The period of Egypt’s 20th Dynasty
under Ramses X. During his reign workers went on strike for wages not
paid.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1094BC-1064BC The period of Egypt under Ramses XI. He
was the last king of the 20th Dynasty and the New Kingdom. Upon his
death Hrihor and Smendes divided Egypt between themselves. Hrihor, the
high priest of Amon ultimately usurped the sovereignty and become
founder of the Twenty-first Dynasty. In Lower Egypt, the Tanite noble
Nesubenebded, in Greek Smendes controlled the Delta.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.29)(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1085BC After 1085 BC, Egypt split between a northern
21st dynasty claiming national recognition reigning from Tanis and a
line of Theban generals and high priests of Amun who actually
controlled the south from Thebes. Relations between the two authorities
were peaceful. The Tanites were driven from power by Libyan warriors
who established their own 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty20.html)
1080BC-945BC High priests ruled Egypt from the
capital of Thebes.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1075BC Wenamun, a priest of Amun, moved from Egypt to
Byblos during the rule of Ramesses XI. This was recorded in the
Golenischeff papyrus found in 1891CE at El Khibeh in Upper Egypt. It is
the personal report of the adventures of an Egyptian messenger to
Lebanon. Zakar-Baal was governor of Byblos.
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Luxor)
1969BC-945BC This is the period of Egypt’s 21st
Dynasty. The capital moved from Tanis to Libyan, to Nubia, to Thebes,
to SAIS, and then back to Nubia and Thebes.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
1069BC-664BC A black-bronze statue of the
falcon-faced god Horus, now in the French Louvre, dates to this time.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
1069BC-525BC Egypt’s Third Intermediate Period.
(www.ancientroute.com/IndexPharCh.htm)
1064BC-1038BC Smendes ruled as the 1st king of
Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1034BC-981BC Psusennes I was the 2nd king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
c1000BC A brightly colored papyrus of this time
depicting a Theban housewife's life after death was found by Herbert
Winlock at Thebes in 1912.
(WSJ, 12/27/95, p. A-8)
1000BC Bone lesions in the mummified body of the
priest of Ammon from a tomb of the Egyptian 21st dynasty, have been
recognized as probably caused by tubercle bacilli.
(WP, 1951, p.5)
1000BC About this time Kush became independent from
Egypt.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.167)
993BC-984BC Amenope was the 4th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
984BC-978BC Osochor was the 5th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
978BC-959BC Siamun was the 6th king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
959BC-945BC Psusennes II was the 7th and last king of Egypt’s 21st
Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
948BC-927BC The Egyptian Pharaoh
Shishak (Sheshonq) founded Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty. He destroyed many
Israelite cities, including Rehov, Megiddo and Hazor. Sheshonq I
supported Jeroboam against King Solomon's son, Rehoboam.
(WSJ, 12/31/97, p.A4)(SFC, 4/11/03, p.A9)(Arch,
5/05, p.21)
945BC-712BC Period of Egypt’s twenty-second dynasty.
It is often referred to as the Libyan Bubastite Dynasty. Manetho lists
the kings of this Dynasty as being from Bubastis which is located in
the eastern delta
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
924BC-909BC Osorkon I ruled Egypt
as the 2nd king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
909BC-894BC Takelot I ruled Egypt
as the 3rd king of the 22nd Dynasty. His reign saw the beginning of
another fragmentation into 2 power bases.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
894BC-883BC Shoshenq II ruled
Egypt during the 22nd Dynasty. He is thought to have been co-regent
during the period between Osorkon I and Takelot I.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
883BC-885BC Osorkon II ruled Egypt
as the 5th king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
880BC There was a very high
inundation of the Nile in the 3rd year of the reign of Osorkon II.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
841BC-815BC Takelot II ruled Egypt
as the 6th king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
845BC During the 15th year of the
reign of Egypt’s Takelot II there was warfare in the north and south
and great convulsion broke out in the land.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
835BC-783BC Shoshenq III ruled
Egypt as the 7th king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
800BC The twenty-fifth dynasty, as
noted by Manetho, consisted of three Ethiopic kings. The seat of the
empire was originally at Gebel Barkal, or Napata. They subsequently
conquered the whole of Egypt. The first monarch of this line was called
Sabaco by the Greek writers; the second Sebechos, or Suechos, his son;
the third was Tarkos or Taracus.
(RFH-MDHP, A. Layard, 1853, p.62)
800BC-700BC Bubastis was the
capital of 8th century BC Egypt.
(AM, 7/04, p.12)
783BC-773BC Pami (Pemay) ruled
Egypt as the 8th king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
773BC-735BC Shoshenq IV ruled Kush
as the 9th king of Egypt’s 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
750BC-719BC Piye (Piankhy) ruled
Kush (Nubia). In 722 he extended his rule to Egypt. Kashta, ruler of
Kush, had begun a campaign against Egypt. With the help of his son,
Piankhy, he was successful and Piankhy became pharaoh of Egypt. The
Nubian King Piye conquered the weakened and disunited Egypt and became
the first of several Nubian Pharaohs who ruled a unified Egyptian and
Nubian state for the next century.
(eawc, p.7)(MT, 10/95,
p.10-11)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
740BC-725BC Pedubaste I was a 1st
king of Egypt’s 23rd Dynasty. Egypt’s rule in this period is not very
clear.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
735BC-712BC Osorkon IV ruled Egypt
as the 10th and final king of the 22nd Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
732BC Tiglath-pileser III, an
Assyrian, took Damascus and killed Rezin. He then captured many cities
of northern Israel and took the people to Assyria. The Egyptian troops
had at one time joined forces with Damascus, Israel and some other
states to resist Shalmaneser III at Qarqar.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
725BC-720BC Tefnakhte I, a prince
of western Egypt, ruled as the 1st king of the 24th Dynasty, known as
the Sais Dynasty. He attempted to stop an invasion by organizing other
Northern Kings with him against invaders from the south. This southern
force was comprised of Piankhi’s Nubian forces that wanted to gain
control of all of Egypt. The four northern armies under Tefnakht,
Osorkon IV of Tanis, Peftjauabastet of Hernopolis, Nimlot, and Input of
Leontopolis all enjoyed a relatively easy time in their conquering of
the people down to the south, but Piankhi was actually drawing them
down. When Tefnakht's forces finally reached Memphis they were
massacred and Tefnakht conceded to Piankhi. Tefnakht and the four other
leaders were allowed to remain governors of their territories under the
new Pharaoh Piankhi.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
722BC Hoshea, the king of Israel,
sent messengers to Osorkon in Egypt. He was requesting help against
Assyria’s Shalmaneser V. No help was sent. Samaria was captured and the
Israelites were taken away to Assyria. The Assyrians conquered Israel
and left nothing behind. The Hebrew kingdom of Judah managed to
survive. Descendants of the Israelites not exiled by the Assyrians were
later known as the Samaritans.
(eawc, p.7)(WSJ, 10/13/00,
p.W15)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
722BC Piye (Piankhy) marched north
from Nubia and began his conquest of Egypt where he founded the 25th
Dynasty. He consolidated his rule over Egypt and Kush and became the
1st king of the 25th Dynasty. It has been suggested that he revived
pyramid building for royals in Egypt, a tradition that had gone extinct
for over eight centuries.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)(Arch, 9/02,
p.55)
720BC-715BC Wahkare Bakenranef ruled in Egypt as the
2nd king of the 24th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
712BC-698BC Shebaka of Nubia ruled in Egypt. Some
consider him the 1st king of the 25th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
710BC Hanunu of Gaza was in the
revolt against the king of Assyria which led to the battle of Raphia,
the first struggle between Egypt and Assyria. Hanunu, the king of Gaza,
fled to Sebako (Shebaka), king of Egypt; but returned and, having made
submission, was received with favor.
(R.M.-P.H.C.p.71)
700BC A three foot tall bust of
Pharaoh Shabako was on loan from Cairo at St. Petersburg, Florida.
(WSJ, 1/16/96, p. A-16)
698BC-690BC Shebitku, nephew of Shebaka, ruled in
Egypt as the 2nd king of the 25th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
690BC-664BC The Nubian Pharaoh
Taharka, brother of Shebitku, ruled over the upper Nile Nubian-Egyptian
state. A sculpture of the Cushite king was discovered in the basement
of "God's House Tower," an archeological museum, in England in 2000.
(MT, 10/95, p.10-11)(SFC, 2/16/00,
p.A8)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty21.html)
671BC Esarhaddon [of Assyria]
recorded a victory over lower Egypt at the cliff face of the Nahr al
Kalb (Dog River), between Beirut and Byblos.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.157)
664BC-610BC Psammetichus ruled in
Egypt as the 1st king of the 26th Dynasty. He did not gain control of
Egypt until his 9th year of rule.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
c662BC The Assyrian Empire collapsed and Egypt
enjoyed about a century of independence.
(eawc, p.7)
c660BC Governor Ment (Mentuemhet) served as governor
of Upper Egypt, mayor of Thebes, and 4th prophet of Amun.
(SFC, 5/4/05, p.E5)
657BC-525BC Period of Egypt’s
Dynasty 26.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
655BC Psammetichus, 26th Dynasty
king, gained control of Egypt in his 9th year of rule.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
654BC-657BC Tantamani (Tanwetamani) ruled in Egypt
as last Cushite king and the last of the king of the 25th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty25.html)
640BC In Egypt a burial chamber at
the necropolis of Saqqara dating back to this time was uncovered in
2009. The chamber contained 8 sarcophagi.
(WSJ, 2/12/09, p.A9)
610BC-595BC Nekau II (Necho), son
of Psammetichus I, ruled in Egypt as king of the 26th Dynasty. Under
his rule Palestine became an Egyptian possession.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
609BC The biblical king Josiah of
Judah was slain on Har (Mt.) Megiddo (root of Armageddon) about this
time when he was betrayed by Pharaoh Necho, whom he had approached to
stop from going to war on the side of the Assyrians against the
Babylonians.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.180)(WSJ, 4/17/97,
p.A20)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
606BC In Cairo, Egypt, the Ben
Ezra Synagogue was established.
(WSJ, 3/15/00, p.A1)
595BC-589BC Psammetichus II
(Psamtik II), son of Nacho II, ruled in Egypt as a 26th Dynasty king.
Psamtik II built the temple of Hibis in the al-Khargah oasis, 310 miles
south of Cairo. It was built to worship Amun and contained statues of
Amun's wife, Mut.
(SFC, 7/16/99,
p.D3)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
593BC The Nubians were defeated by
a resurgent Egyptian dynasty after which they moved their capital from
Napata to Meroe.
(Arch, 9/02, p.56)
589BC-570BC Apries, son of Psamtik
II, ruled in Egypt as a 26th Dynasty king.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
574BC-570BC Apries, 26th Dynasty
king Egyptian ruler, conducted campaigns against Cyprus and Phoenicia.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
570BC Feb, General Amasis (Ahmose
II), proclaimed Pharoah of Egypt by his soldiers, defeated Apries and
his Aegean mercenaries and forced his retreat.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
570BC Oct, General Amasis (Ahmose
II) defeated King Apries a 2nd time and took control of a united Egypt.
Apries sought refuge abroad and later turned up at the court of
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
570BC-526BC Amasis (Ahmose II),
proclaimed Pharoah by his soldiers, ruled Egypt as the 5th king of the
26th Dynasty. Amasis consolidated Greek merchants to the area of
Naukratis. This made for easier control, and created a lucrative income
for the crown in the form of taxes. After an attempted invasion by
Chaldaeans he formed an alliance with the Chaldaeans, Croesus of Lydia
and Sparta.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
567BC Apries, former ruler of
Egypt, marched on Egypt at the head of a Babylonian army, but once
again, Amasis defeated him, this time capturing the former king.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
565BC-545BC The island of Cyprus
was under Egyptian control.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.20)
548BC The Greek Temple of Apollo
was destroyed. Amasis, ruler of Egypt, is said to have financed its
rebuilding.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
546BC The Persians destroyed
Egypt’s alliance with the Chaldeans, Lydia and Sparta by first
capturing Lydia then the Chaldaeans.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
539BC Babylon, under Chaldean rule
since 612BC, fell to the Persians. Cyrus the Persian captured Babylon
after the New Babylonian leader, Belshazaar, failed to read "the
handwriting on the wall." The Persian Empire under Cyrus lasted to
331BC, when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Cyrus returned
some of the exiled Jews to Palestine, while other Jews preferred to
stay and establish a 2nd Jewish center, the first being in Jerusalem.
(NG, Aug., 1974, p.174)(eawc, p.8,9)
c539BC Cyrus the Great founded Persia’s Achaemenian
Empire which he expanded into India, Libya and Egypt. Pasargadae was
his first capital. Persepolis was the heart of his empire.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T4)
526BC-525BC Psammetichus III ruled
for a short time as the last king of Egypt’s 26th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty26.html)
525BC Cambyses, king of Persia,
met and defeated the Egyptians in front of their city at Pelusium just
a few weeks after the death of Pharaoh Amasis. This marked the
beginning of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty. Psammetichus III tried to revolt
against Cambyses and was killed.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
525BC-522BC Cambyses II, son of
Cyrus and ruler of Persia, served as the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 27th
Dynasty. Cambyses added to his Persian empire by conquering Egypt.
During his rule an army sent to Siwa Oasis was overcome by sandstorm
and buried. Herodotus said the army numbered 50,000 men. A Jewish
document from 407 BC known as 'The Demotic Chronicle' speaks of the
Cambyses destroying all the temples of the Egyptian gods. Herodotus
informs us that Cambyses II was a monster of cruelty and impiety.
(eawc.edu, p.9)(Arch, 9/00,
p.18)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC Aug, Cambyses II, son of
Cyrus of Persia and the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 27th Dynasty, died from a
dagger wound in Syrian Ecbatana.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC A revolt broke out in Egypt
following the death of Cambyses, but it was put down by a Persian
general named Darius, who succeeded Cambyses.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
522BC Darius the Great (558-486),
son of Hystaspes, succeeded Cambyses as emperor of Persia. He engaged
in many large building programs including a system of roads and
instituted the first postal system.
(WUD, 1994, p.367)(eawc.edu, p.9)(ON, 4/04, p.9)
520BC-486BC Darius, ruler of
Persia, occupied Egypt and is considered the 2nd ruler of the 27th
Dynasty. During his rule a canal from the Nile River to the Red Sea,
probably begun by Necho I in the 7th century BC, was repaired and
completed.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
518BC Darius visited Egypt and put
to death its satrap, Aryandes.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
510BC-490BC In Egypt the temple of
Hibis was rebuilt during the reign of Darius.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.D3)
c500BC In 2004 Egyptian archeologists uncovered the
limestone sarcophagus of Badi-Herkhib, the elder brother of a governor
of Bahariya, who lived around 500 B.C.
(AP, 12/12/04)
486BC Darius, ruler of Persia,
died. His preparations for a 3rd expedition against Greece were delayed
by an insurrection in Egypt. He was succeeded by his son Xerxes (35),
governor of Babylonia.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27.html)
486BC-465BC Xerxes the Great, king
of Persia, ruled Egypt as the 3rd king of the 27th Dynasty. His rule
extended from India to the lands below the Caspian and Black seas, to
the east coast of the Mediterranean including Egypt and Thrace.
Persia’s great cities Sardis, Ninevah, Babylon, and Susa were joined by
the Royal Road. East of Susa was Persopolis, a vast religious monument.
To the north of Persia were the Scythians.
(V.D.-H.K.p.49)(eawc,
p.11)(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
465BC Xerxes the Great, king of
Persia, was assassinated.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
465BC-424BC Artaxerxes, son of
Xerxes I, ruled Persia in the Achaemenis dynasty and Egypt as the 4th
king of the 27th Dynasty. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah remember him
warmly because he authorized their revival of Judaism. Esther, a
Jewish woman living in Babylon, was chosen for her beauty to be his new
queen. She later discovered a plot by the king’s vizier to slaughter
all Jews. She informed the king and saved her people. This is
remembered in the Jewish holiday of Purim.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)(WSJ, 4/10/09,
p.W13)(http://tinyurl.com/d2gayf)
460BC Herodotus turned back in
frustration at the first cataract at Aswan. He stated: "Of the source
of the Nile no one can give any account."
(NG, May 1985, p.629)
455BC Artaxerxes, ruler of Persia,
put down a revolt in Egypt.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
424BC-404BC Darius II, son of
Artaxerxes, ruled Persia and Egypt.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
410BC Darius II, ruler of Persia,
quelled a revolt in Media but lost control of Egypt. He secured much
influence in Greece in the Peloponnesian War through the diplomacy of
Pharnabazus, Tissaphernes, and Cyrus the Younger.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
405BC Persian rule of Egypt ended.
(eawc, p.9)
404BC-399BC Amyrtaios, believed to
be a Libyan, ruled Egypt following the death of Darius II from Sais as
the 1st and only ruler of the 28th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty27a.html)
399BC-393BC Nepherites served as
the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 29th Dynasty. During his rule he entered into
an alliance with Sparta against the Persians. A gift ship to Sparta was
lost at Rhodes, which had defected to the Persians.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
393BC-380BC Hakoris served as the
2nd or 3rd ruler of Egypt’s 29th Dynasty. There is some confusion
because a king named Psammuthis ruled in 393BC. During Hakoris’ reign
there was a 3 year war with Persia.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
380BC Nepherites II, son of
Hakoris, served as the 4th and final ruler of Egypt’s 29th Dynasty. He
reigned for only 4 months before being overthrown.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
380BC In Egypt a giant stone was
set at the Nile’s exit into the Mediterranean by order of Pharaoh
Nektanebo I. A smaller stela noted the name of the city as Herakleoin.
The city was submerged by an earthquake around 800CE. In 2001 the
stones were pulled from the sea.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.A9)
380BC-362BC Nectanebo served as
the 1st ruler of Egypt’s 30th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
373BC The Persian army moved to
attack Egypt. They abandoned the effort when the Nile flooded over the
Delta.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
365BC-360BC Teos, son of
Nectanebo, served as the 2nd ruler of Egypt’s 30th Dynasty. He failed
in an attempted attack on Persia and was deserted by the Egyptians and
Greek mercenaries. He fled to Persia where Artaxerxes II gave him
refuge.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
360BC-343BC Nectanebo II served as
the 3rd and final ruler of Egypt’s 30th Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
343BC Artaxerxes III of Persia led
a successful campaign against Egypt and Nectanebo II fled to Ethiopia.
Artaxerxes appointed Pherendares as satrap of Egypt and returned to
Babylon laden with treasures.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
343BC-332BC In Egypt the Persians
ruled for a 2nd time.
(eawc, p.13)
343BC-338BC Artaxerxes III
(Ochus), king of Persia, served as 1st ruler of Egypt’s 31st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
338BC Artaxerxes III (Ochus), king
of Persia, was murdered by his own commander Bagoas.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
338BC Arses, the youngest son of
Ochus, succeeded his father as king of Persia. He served as the 2nd
ruler of Egypt’s 31st Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
336BC Arses, king of Persia and
ruler of Egypt’s 31st Dynasty, was murdered by his commander Bagoas.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
332BC Alexander entered Egypt and
founded Alexandria. A fishing village at the site was called Rhakotis.
In 2007 archeologists found evidence of urban settlement at Alexandria
dating back to about 1,000 BC.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)(AP, 7/26/07)
331BC Alexander left Egypt and
left Cleomenes of Naukratis in charge. This position was later claimed
by Ptolemy. When Alexander died, Ptolemy's generals divided the kingdom.
(www.crystalinks.com/dynasty29.html)
330BC Alexandria became the
capital of Egypt.
(SSFC, 5/9/04, p.A17)
323BC Jun 10, Alexander died In
Persia at Babylon at the age of 32. His general, Ptolemy, took
possession of Egypt. Apelles was a painter in Alexander's court. He had
been commissioned by Alexander to paint a portrait of Campaspe,
Alexander's concubine. Apelles fell in love with Campaspe and Alexander
granted her to him in marriage. In 1984 Curtius Quintas Rufus authored
"the History of Alexander." In 1991 Peter Green authored "Alexander of
Macedon, A Historical Biography."
(V.D.-H.K.p.62)(BS, 5/3/98, p.12E)(WSJ, 2/11/00,
p.W6)(ON, 1/01, p.11)(WBO)
323BC-285BC Ptolemy I Soter, son
of Lagus and commander under Alexander, ruled Egypt as the first king
of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. Under his rule the library of Alexandria was
commissioned.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)(http://tinyurl.com/bodry)
323BC-30BC The Ptolemy and his descendants ruled over
Egypt. This era came to be known as the Ptolemaic period. At the
ancient library of Alexandria Callimachus of Cyrene was the first to
catalog writings alphabetically.
(Enc. of Africa,1976, p.167)(SFC, 11/4/96,
p.A11)(SFEC, 11/10/96, Parade p.13)
c300BC In 2005 a well-preserved and colorful mummy
from the 30th pharaonic dynasty was unveiled at Egypt’s Saqqara pyramid
complex.
(SFC, 5/4/05, p.A1)
c300BC-200BC Scientists of the Univ. of Calif.
Berkeley expedition of 1899 uncovered hundreds of crocodile mummies
encased and stuffed with papyrus covered with writings from the ruins
of the city of Tebtunis. The site dated from the 3rd century BCE when
Ptolemy the Great ruled Egypt.
(SFC, 12/4/96, p.A4)
290BC Ptolemy I of Egypt
authorized the construction of the Pharos Lighthouse in Alexandria. It
became one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
(www.unmuseum.org/pharos.htm)
285BC-246BC Ptolemy II (b.c309BC,
Philadelphus) of Macedonia served as the 2nd king of Egypt’s Ptolemaic
Dynasty. During his reign (285-247) he founded the Cyprian port of
Famagusta and built a canal to link the Nile to the gulf of Suez.
(NG, 8/04,
Geographica)(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
279BC The Pharos at Alexandria was
constructed. The lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was
toppled by an earthquake in 1303CE. It was rediscovered by
archeologists in the waters off Alexandria in 1996.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, Par p.20)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)(WSJ,
10/10/01, p.B1)
246BC Jan 9, Ptolemy II
Philadelphus, 2nd king of Egypt’s Ptolemaic Dynasty, died.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
246BC-222BC Ptolemy III Euergeter
served as Egypt’s 3rd ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. In 2010
archeologists discovered a temple, thought to belong to Queen Berenice,
wife of King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C.
Archeologists believed that the temple might have been dedicated to the
ancient cat-goddess Bastet.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)(AP, 1/19/10)
222BC-205BC Ptolemy IV Philopater
served as Egypt’s 4th ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
205BC-180BC Ptolemy V Epiphanes
served as Egypt’s 5th ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. He became ruler
at age 5 following the death of his father. He married Cleopatra I and
died at age 29 while putting down insurgents in the Delta. His wife
became regent for their young son.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
c200BC The Egyptian priest Hor cared for the ibis
galleries. His writings explained that hundreds of people were involved
in the animal mummification business at Saqqara.
(AM, 9/01, p.29)
c196BC The Rosetta Stone, found in 1799, was
inscribed about this time. It affirmed the rule of Ptolemy V (age 13)
in 3 languages.
(WSJ, 6/5/01, p.B1)
c190BC-120BC Hypsicles of Alexanderia, mathematician.
He wrote “On the Ascension of Stars,” in which he was the first to
divide the Zodiac into 360 degrees.
(SSFC, 5/9/04,
p.A17)(www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/TLAstronomy.htm)
180BC-164BC Ptolemy VI Philometor
served as Egypt’s 6th ruler of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. His regent mother
died around 176BC and Ptolemy ruled under the control of his guardians,
Eulaeus and Lenaeus.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
164BC Ptolemy VI Philometor went
to Rome and left Egypt under the rule of his brother Ptolemy VII
Euergetes II Physcon.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
163BC-145BC Ptolemy VI Philometor
was called back to Egypt and agreed to split their rule. Physcon
assumed rule of the western province of Cyrenaica and Philometor ruled
Egypt.
(www.crystalinks.com/ptolemaic.html)
69BC Cleopatra (d.30BC), daughter
of Ptolemy XII, was born. She was queen of Egypt from 51BC-49BC,
48BC-30BC. During her reign she declared earthworms to be sacred and
her subjects were forbidden to kill them.
(WUD, 1994, p.276)(WSJ, 9/9/96, p.A16)(SFC,
10/29/98, p.A13)
51BC-49BC Cleopatra was queen of Egypt from 51BC-49BC
and 48BC-30BC.
(WUD, 1994, p.276)
50BC Jun-50BC Aug, The "Zodiac of
Dendera," a map of the stars of this period, was carved in stone. It is
now in the French Louvre.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
48 BC Sep 28, On landing in Egypt,
Pompey was murdered on the orders of King Ptolemy of Egypt.
(HN, 9/28/98)(MC, 9/28/01)
48BC The library at Alexandria was
ravaged by fire during the fighting between Caesar and Ptolemy XIII.
(WSJ, 6/1/00,
p.A1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria)
31BC Sep 2, The Naval Battle of
Actium in the Ionian Sea, between Roman leader Octavian and the
alliance of Roman Mark Antony and Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Octavian
soundly defeated Antony's fleet which was burned and 5000 of his men
were killed. Cleopatra committed suicide. The rivals battled for
control of the Roman Empire in the naval battle of Actium, where
Cleopatra, seeing Antony's navy being outmaneuvered by Octavian's,
ordered her 60 ships to turn about and flee to safety.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.18)(HNPD, 7/30/98)(MC, 9/2/01)
30BC Aug 30, Cleopatra, the 7th
and most famous queen of ancient Egypt, committed suicide about this
time.
(AP, 8/30/97)
30BC Rome gained control over
Egypt. The wheat fields of Egypt became one of Rome's main sources of
food. Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.168)(SFC, 11/4/96, p.A11)
25BC Strabo, a geographer and
scholar from Alexandria, made the most comprehensive map of the known
world.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A10)
96 Jul 1, Vespasian, a Roman Army
leader, was hailed as a Roman Emperor by the Egyptian legions.
(HN, 7/1/98)
150 Ptolemy of Alexandria
published his theory of epicycles, the idea that the moon, the sun and
the planets moved in circles which were moving in circles which were
moving in circles around the Earth.
(Econ, 2/7/04, p.75)
270 Zenobia of Syria proclaimed
herself "Queen of the East" and attacked Roman colonies adjoining her
and conquered Egypt.
(ON, 7/00, p.1)
272 Roman emperor Aurelian sent an
army to attack Zenobia’s troops in Egypt and was repulsed.
(ON, 7/00, p.1)
300-400 As long ago as the 4th century, an Egyptian
scientist named Papp suggested there should be a science called
heuristics to solve inventive problems.
(www.mazur.net/triz/)
317 Aug 7, Flavius Julius
Constantius II, Emperor of Egypt, Byzantium, Rome (337-61), was born.
(MC, 8/7/02)
340-360 The Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the
Christian Bible, was written in the middle of the fourth century and
contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. For
most of its history it resided at St. Catherine’s Monastery built
(527-565) on Egypt Mt. Sinai. It left the monastery in the 19th century
for Russia, in circumstances that were later disputed.
(Econ, 7/18/09,
p.82)(www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/codex/default.aspx)(Econ, 3/26/05,
p.80)
347 May 14, Pachomius, Egyptian
monastery founder, abbot (Coenobieten), died.
(MC, 5/14/02)
365 Jul 21, An earthquake, whose
epicenter was in Crete, leveled the Egyptian Port of Alexandria as well
as the Roman outpost of Leptis Magna in Libya. Some 50,000 people died.
(www.earthscape.org/r2/jos/vol1-1june1997/pg55.html)(AM, Mar/Apr 97
p.18)
c300-400 Ammon Scholasticus, Greek lawyer, worked in
Panopolis. In 1997 Prof. William H. Willis (d.2000) of Duke Univ.
completed an archive of his papers: "The Archives of Ammon
Scholasticus."
(SFC, 7/19/00, p.B2)
415 Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria
sent a mob of religious police to stop Hypatia, an eccentric pagan
ascetic and scholar. The mob kidnapped her, dragged her to a church,
stripped and tortured her with broken shards of pottery. Her body parts
were then butchered, put on public display and burnt to a crisp. In
2004 Jonathan Kirsch authored "God Against the Gods: The History of the
War Between Monotheism and Polytheism."
(SSFC, 3/21/04, p.M1)
490 Oct 29, Petrus Mongus,
patriarch of Alexandria, died.
(MC, 10/29/01)
527-565 Emperor Justinian built the St. Catherine
monastery in Egypt’s Sinai Desert to house the bones of St. Catherine
of Alexandria, who was tortured to death for converting to
Christianity. The site was thought to be the place where Moses saw the
Miracle of the Burning Bush.
(SFEC, 8/28/98,
p.T6)(http://interoz.com/egypt/Catherines.htm)
600-700 The library at Alexandria disappeared in the
7th century.
(WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A1)
628 Apr 3, In Persia, Kavadh sued
for peace with the Byzantines. He handed back Armenia, Byzantine
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
(HN, 4/3/99)
642 Sep 17, Arabs conquered
Alexandria and destroyed the great library. Omar, the second caliph,
successor of Mohammed, conquered Alexandria, then the capital of world
scholarship.
(V.D.-H.K.p.103)(MC, 9/17/01)
676 Cairo was built by the Arabs
only 1300 years ago. The name comes from the Egyptian "El Qahir," the
name of the planet Mars.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.165)(SFEC, 8/17/97, Z1 p.2)
c800 An earthquake sent the Nile
port cities of Herakleion, Canopus and Menouthis into the Mediterranean
Sea.
(SFC, 6/8/01, p.A1)
828 Venetian merchants stole the
relics of Saint Mark from a Coptic church in Alexandria and brought
them home in triumph.
(Econ, 12/23/06, p.125)
969 Named El Qahira -"the
victorious," Cairo gained power from its position beside the Nile.
(NG, May 1985, p.603)
969 By this time the Fatimids had
conquered most of North Africa and claimed Cairo as their capital. The
Shiites gained control of Egypt.
(ATC, p.91)(SSFC, 2/8/04, p.M2)
975 Al-Azhar University in Egypt
was founded and became the chief center of Arabic literature and Sunni
Islamic learning in the world. As of 2008 it was world's second oldest
surviving degree granting university.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University)
1000-1100 Sicily was in the possession of the Fatimid
caliph of Cairo.
(Econ, 12/20/03, p.68)
1006 May 1, A supernova was
observed by Chinese and Egyptians in constellation Lupus.
(MC, 5/1/02)
1009 In Jerusalem the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre was burned by Muslims under Caliph Hakim of Egypt.
(WSJ, 5/7/01, p.A20)(WSJ, 1/27/07, p.W13)
1029-1094 Al-Mustansir, ruler of most of North
Africa. He was the wealthiest of the Fatimid caliphs and was based in
Cairo.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1070 A famine forced Al-Mustansir
to send the women of Cairo to Baghdad to escape starvation.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1099 Aug 12, At the Battle of
Ascalon 1,000 Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, routed an Egyptian
relief column heading for Jerusalem, which had already fallen to the
Crusaders.
(HN, 8/12/99)
1169 Mar 23, Shirkuh, Kurd
General, vizier of Cairo, Saladin's uncle, died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1174 Nureddin, the ruler of Syria
died. Saladin, the vizier of Egypt, married Nureddin’s widow and
assumed control of both state.
(ON, 6/07, p.5)
1177 Nov 18, Saladin marched north
from Egypt with 26,000 light cavalry intent on capturing the Kingdom of
Jerusalem.
(ON, 6/07,
p.5)(www.historyofwar.org/articles/battles_ramleh.html)
1180 The Kingdom of Jerusalem
under Baldwin IV reached a truce with Egypt under Saladin.
(ON, 6/07, p.6)
1187 Oct 2, Sultan Saladin
captured Jerusalem from Crusaders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1187))
1193 Mar 3, Saladin [Salah
ed-Din]) Yusuf ibn Ayyub (52), Kurdish sultan of Egypt and Syria
(1175-1193), died.
(WUD, 1994 p.1261)(SC, 3/3/02)(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.M6)
1201 Jul 5, An earthquake in Syria
and upper Egypt killed some 1.1 million people.
(www.geohaz.org/member/news/signif.htm)
1204 Dec 13, Maimonides (b.1135),
Spanish-born Jewish scholar, died in Cairo. His books included the
“Mishnah Torah,” the single most important Jewish book after the Bible
and Talmud, and “Guide for the Perplexed.” In 2005 Sherwin B. Nuland
authored “Maimonides.”
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/09540b.htm)(SSFC,
10/23/05, p.M1)
1219 Nov 5, The port of Damietta
(later in the UAR) fell to the Crusaders after a siege.
(HN, 11/5/98)
1219 St. Francis d’Assisi
journeyed to Egypt and met with the sultan to work for peace.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.D2)
1244 Oct 17, The Sixth Crusade
ended when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihilated the
Frankish army at Gaza.
(HN, 10/17/98)
1244 Sheikh Abu el Haggag,
Tunisian born Sufi, died in Luxor, Egypt. His family was from Mecca and
traced its lineage to Mohammed. He founded a Sufi mosque in Luxor and
is buried there. An annual celebration in Luxor, called the Moulid,
celebrates his birthday. Egyptologists believe this event is related to
the ancient Opet Festival from the 18th Dynasty.
(Arch, 7/02, p.36)
1250 May 2, Toeransa, sultan of
Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1250 The Mamelukes, a military
class initially composed of slaves, seized control of the Egyptian
Sultanate and ruled until 1517.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)
1260 Oct 23,Koetoez, Turkish
sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1289 Apr 29, Qala'un, the Sultan
of Egypt, captured Tripoli.
(HN, 4/29/98)
1291 May 18, Sultan of Egypt and
his son took the last Christian stronghold of Acre. Egyptian Mamelukes
(Mamluks) occupied Akko (Acre). The crusaders were driven out of
Palestine. Khalil, al-Ashraf Salah ad-Din, the Mamluk King, conquered
Akko and put an end to the Crusader’s rule in the Holy Land.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/Akko.html)(Arch,
7/02, p.19)
1303 In Egypt the Pharos
Lighthouse at Alexandria was toppled by an earthquake.
(SFEC, 4/5/98, Par p.20)
1300-1400 The nose of the Sphinx was lost in the 14th
century.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1487 Lorenzo the Magnificent
ordered a giraffe from Africa and a cardinal’s hat for his 13-year-old
son from Pope Innocent VIII. In return for the hat Lorenzo promised the
hand of his eldest daughter for the Pope’s illegitimate son along with
a nice loan. The giraffe was procured from Sultan Qaitbay, the Ottoman
ruler of Egypt. Pope Innocent promised to get Queen Anne of France to
hand over Djem, the exiled brother of Qaitbay, for use as a pawn.
Lorenzo promised to give the giraffe to Anne. In 2006 the story was
covered by Marina Belozerskaya in her book “The Medici Giraffe.”
(WSJ, 8/19/06, p.P9)
1504 Venetian ambassadors proposed
to Turkey the construction of a Suez Canal.
(TL-MB, p.8)
1516 Aug 24, At the Battle of Marj
Dabik, north of Aleppo, the Turks beat Syria. Suliman I (Selim the
Grim), the Ottoman Sultan, routed the Mamelukes (Egypt) with the
support of artillery capturing Aleppo and Damascus. This opened the way
to 400 years of Ottoman Turkish rule over most of the Arab world.
(PC, 1992, p.169)(Econ, 11/14/09, p.101)
1517 Jan 22, Turks conquered
Cairo. Cairo and Mecca were captured by the Turks and Arabia came under
Turkish rule.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.11)(MC, 1/22/02)
1517 Apr 13, Osman’s army occupied
Cairo. Tuman Bey, the last Mameluke sultan of Egypt, was hanged.
(MC, 4/13/02)
1517 The Mamelukes lost power.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)
1680 Leavened bread was developed
in Egypt.
(SFC, 9/18/99, p.B3)
1680 Hykos tribesmen wore sandals
and successfully overcame barefoot Egyptians.
(SFC, 9/18/99, p.B3)
1769-1849 Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt (1805-1848).
(WUD, 1994, p.892)
1783 Jun 8-1784 Feb, A series of
10 eruptions from the Laki Craters on Iceland changed atmospheric
conditions in most of the Northern Hemisphere. This also generated a
cascade of events that led to record low levels of water in the Nile
River and brought famine to the region. By 1785 a sixth of Egypt’s
population had either perished or fled.
(http://tinyurl.com/y9xemq)(Econ, 12/22/07, p.134)
1798 May 19, A French armada of
335 ships carrying nearly 40,000 men set sail for Alexandria, Egypt,
which Napoleon planned to conquer. In 2008 Paul Strathern authored
“Napoleon in Egypt.”
(WSJ, 11/17/08, p.A17)
1798 Jul 1, Napoleon Bonaparte
took Alexandria, Egypt. In 1962 J.C. Herold authored "Bonaparte in
Egypt." A corps of 150 civilian artists and scientists traveled with
Napoleon’s troops to Egypt. In 2007 Nina Burleigh authored “Mirage:
Napoleon’s Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt.”
(SFC, 9/11/97, p.E3)(HN, 7/1/98)(ON, 12/99,
p.4)(SFC, 12/14/07, p.E3)
1798 Jul 7, Napoleon Bonaparte's
army began its march towards Cairo, Egypt, from Alexandria.
(HN, 7/7/98)
1798 Jul 21, Napoleon Bonaparte
defeated Murad Bey and his Arab Mameluke warriors on the outskirts of
Cairo at the Battle of the Pyramids, thus becoming the master of Egypt.
(WSJ, 11/17/08, p.A17)
1798 Jul 23, Napoleon captured
Alexandria, Egypt.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1798 Aug 1, Admiral Horatio Nelson
routed the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay,
Egypt. Nelson's fleet of 14 ships led the attack on Napoleon's fleet in
Abu Qir Bay, capturing six and destroying seven of the 17 French
vessels. The flagship of Napoleon's fleet, L'Orient, sank in the
battle. It was uncovered by a French team in 1998. More than 1,500
Frenchmen and 200 British soldiers reportedly died in the sea battle.
(AP, 4/19/05)
1799 Feb 10, Napoleon Bonaparte
left Cairo, Egypt, for Syria, at the head of 13,000 men.
(AP, 2/10/99)
1799 May 20, Napoleon Bonaparte
ordered a withdrawal from his siege of St. Jean d'Acre in Egypt. Plague
had run through his besieging French forces, forcing a retreat.
(HN, 5/20/00)
1799 Jul 17, Ottoman forces,
supported by the British, captured Aboukir, Egypt from the French.
(HN, 7/17/99)
1799 May 28, Napoleon ordered the
retreat of all troops back to Egypt from Jaffa. The march lasted 17
days with one week to cross the Sinai.
(ON, 12/99, p.4)
1799 Jul 11, An Anglo-Turkish
armada bombarded Napoleon Bonaparte’s troops in Alexandria Egypt. The
attack was ineffective.
(HN, 7/11/00)
1799 Jul 25, On his way back from
Syria, Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Ottomans at Aboukir, Egypt.
(HN, 7/25/98)
1799 Aug 22, Napoleon slipped
through the British blockade of the Egyptian coast and returned to
France.
(ON, 12/99, p.4)
1799 Pierre Bouchard [Boussart],
an officer in Napoleon‘s army, discovered the Rosetta Stone in the city
of Rosetta [Rashid], Egypt. The Rosetta Stone is a tablet with
hieroglyphic translations into Greek. The stone is black basalt... and
bears three texts: the uppermost is in early Egyptian hieroglyphic; the
middle one in the Neo-Egyptian demotic script often used in writing
papyri; and the lowermost text is Greek. Deciphering the stone, the
work of English physicist Thomas Young and then French archaeologist
Jean-Francois Champollion, led to an understanding of Egyptian
hieroglyphic writing. Champollion published memoirs on the decipherment
in 1822.
(NG, May 1985, R. Caputo, p.584)(RFH-MDHP,
p.182)(HN, 7/19/98)(HNQ, 7/7/00)
1800 Mar 20, French army defeated
Turks at Heliopolis, Turkey, and advanced to Cairo.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1801 Napoleon's army in Egypt
surrendered to Turkish and English forces. The French civilian toll
topped 25 of 150, while the military toll topped 25,000 over the 3-year
expedition.
(ON, 12/99, p.4)(SFC, 12/14/07, p.E3)
1805 Aug 3, Mohammed Ali became
the new ruler of Egypt.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1805-1848 Mehemet Ali (Mohammed Ali) served as the
viceroy of Egypt.
(WUD, 1994, p.892)
1809-1826 Civilians and soldiers who returned home
from Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt (1798-1801) published during this
period in serial form “Description de l’Egypte” (The Description of
Egypt), the most comprehensive view of Egypt to date.
(SFC, 12/14/07, p.E3)(WSJ, 11/17/08, p.A17)
1811 Mar 1, In Egypt the Ottoman
viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha massacred the Mameluke leaders of Egypt for
plotting against him. He had invited them to a banquet at the citadel
of Cairo.
(PCh, 1992, p.373)(SC, 3/1/02)
1811 The Turks dispatched Egyptian
ruler Muhammad Ali to overthrow the Wahhabis and reinstate Ottoman
sovereignty in Arabia.
(NW, 9/30/02, p.33)
1811 The Mamelukes remained a
powerful influence in Egypt until they were massacred or dispersed by
Mehemet Ali.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)
1815 Giovanni Battista Belzoni,
Italian hydraulic engineer and vaudeville entertainer, arrived in Egypt
and began to search for tombs of pharaohs.
(NG, 9/98, p.19)
1815 Britain took action against
pirate sheikhs protected by the Wahabis, later rulers of Saudi Arabia,
because ships of the East India Company were attacked in int’l. waters.
Britain allied with the ruler of Muscat and Oman and Mohamed Ali of
Egypt.
(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)
1816 Mohammed Ali Pasha, Ottoman
ruler over Egypt, sent Fredric Cailliaud, a French goldsmith and
mineralogist, to find the Roman emerald mines of southeastern Egypt.
(AM, 5/01, p.A38)
1817 Nov 22, Fredric Cailliaud
discovered the old Roman emerald mines at Sikait.
(AM, 5/01, p.39)
1817 Giovanni Battista Belzoni
discovered the tomb of Seti I.
(NG, 9/98, p.19)
1825 British traveler and
draftsman James Burton sketched tombs of the New Kingdom pharaohs in
the Valley of the Kings.
(NG, 9/98, p.7)
1826 Apr 23, Missolonghi fell to
Egyptian forces.
(HN, 4/23/99)
1826 Jean-Francois Champollion,
French Egyptologist and decipherer of the Rosetta Stone, began
collecting Egyptian artifacts. He convinced Charles X to purchase the
private collections of the French and English consuls in Egypt.
(WSJ, 1/29/98, p.A16)
1827 Oct 20, British, French and
Russian squadrons entered the harbor at Navarino, Greece, and destroyed
most of the Egyptian fleet there. The Ottomans demanded reparations.
(EWH, 4th ed,
p.770)(www.ipta.demokritos.gr/erl/navarino.html)
1827 John Gardner Wilkinson, one
of the founders of Egyptology, designated the 5th tomb beyond the
entrance to the Valley of the Kings as KV 5. It was later discovered to
be a family tomb, the burial site for many of the sons of Ramses II.
(NG, 9/98, p.8)
1829 May 10, Thomas Young,
physicist, decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphics, died.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1829 The Obelisk of Luxor, a gift
from Egypt, was transported to the Place de la Concorde in Paris.
(WSJ, 10/26/99, p.A24)
1849 In Egypt the reign of Ottoman
viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha ended.
(PCh, 1992, p.373)
1859 Apr 25,
Ground was broken for the Suez Canal.
(AP, 4/25/97)(HN, 4/25/02)
1861 Apr 15, Samuel (41) and
Florence Baker (20) left Cairo to search for explorers John Speke and
James Grant.
(ON, 10/01, p.9)
1866 The Egyptian viceroy was
renamed the Khedive.
(WSJ, 7/10/03, p.D8)
1867 Feb 17, The 1st ship passed
through the Suez Canal.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1867-1875 The Suez Canal Co. issued bonds for some
hundred million francs to keep afloat. The Khedive went bankrupt and
the British under Disraeli snapped up the Khedive's shares for £4
million.
(WSJ, 7/10/03, p.D8)
1868 Mar 26, Fuad I, king of Egypt
(1922-36), was born.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1869 Nov 17, The Suez Canal was
opened in Egypt, linking the Mediterranean and the Red seas. The 100
mile canal eliminated a 4000-mile trip around Africa. Empress Eugenie,
the wife of Napoleon III, together with Ferdinand de Lesseps, chief
architect of the canal, led the first file of ships from on board the
French imperial yacht Aigle. It was financed by the Rothschild banking
empire. In 2003 Zacharay Karabell authored "Parting the Desert: The
Creation of the Suez Canal."
(I&WWI, p.1041)(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)(AP,
11/17/97)(MC, 11/17/01)(WSJ, 7/10/03, p.D8)
1871 Dec 24, Giuseppe Verdi's
opera "Aida" had its world premiere in Cairo, Egypt. He completed it
too late to celebrate the 1869 opening of the Suez Canal.
(SFC, 7/12/96, p.A11)(AP, 12/24/97)(PCh, 1992, p.522)
1879 Aug 23, Governor-general
Charles Gordon of Sudan returned to Cairo.
(MC, 8/23/02)
1879 Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira, the
son of the chief rabbi of Morocco, was making his way from his native
Morocco to the Holy Land when he fell ill and died in the Egyptian city
of Damanhour near Alexandria. He is revered by some Jews as a mystic
renowned for his piety and for performing miracles.
(AP, 1/4/10)
1880 Swedish Egyptologist Karl
Piehl uncovered the tomb of Amenhotep, the deputy seal-bearer of the
Pharaoh King Tuthmosis III (1504BC-1452BC), in the city of Luxor, about
600 km (375 miles) to the south of the capital Cairo. It later
disappeared under the sand and was rediscovered in 2009.
(Reuters, 3/1/09)
1881 Jan 22, Ancient Egyptian
obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle," was erected in Central Park.
(MC, 1/22/02)
1882 Sep 13, British troops
defeated Egyptian forces in the Battle at Tel-el-Kebir.
(http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/battles/egypt/egypt3.htm)
1882 Sep 14, British General
Wolseley (d.1913) reached Cairo.
(http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/battles/egypt/egypt4.htm)
1882 In Egypt a military coup
against the Khedive furnished a pretext for a British invasion.
(WSJ, 7/10/03, p.D8)
1883 Nov 3, A poorly trained
Egyptian army, led by British General William Hicks, marched toward El
Obeid in the Sudan--straight into a Mahdist ambush and massacre.
(HN, 11/3/98)
1888 An Egyptian farmer discovered
thousands of cat mummies.
(SFEM, 12/15/96, BR p.7)
1893 Feb 9, Suez Canal builder De
Lesseps and others were sentenced to prison for fraud.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1893 Howard Carter (18) left his
home in England to draw the pyramids of Egypt.
(ON, 5/00, p.6)
1898 Apr 8, British General
Horatio Kitchener defeated the Khalifa, leader of the dervishes in
Sudan, at the Battle of Atbara. Anglo-Egyptian forces crushed 6,000
Sudanese.
(HN, 4/8/99)(MC, 4/8/02)
1898 Sep 2, Anglo-Egyptian lines
under Gen’l. Kitchener were charged by 50,000 fanatical Dervishes and
were mowed down by howitzers, machine guns and rifles. Lt. Winston
Churchill led one of the last (and most useless) cavalry charges in
history.
(WSJ, 8/25/98, p.A14)
1899 Scientists of the Univ. of
Calif. Berkeley expedition uncovered hundreds of crocodile mummies
encased and stuffed with papyrus covered with writings from the ruins
of the city of Tebtunis. The site dated from the 3rd century BCE when
Ptolemy the Great ruled Egypt.
(SFC, 12/4/96, p.A4)
1905 Mar 9, Archeologists
unearthed the royal tombs of Yua and Tua in Egypt.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1905 Baron Edouard Empain of
Belgium built the model city of Heliopolis near Cairo, Egypt, with his
own elaborate, Indian-inspired palace as its main attraction.
(AP, 5/4/05)
1907 Howard Carter obtained the
patronage of George Herbert, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon to finance his
archeological excavations in Egypt.
(ON, 5/00, p.6)
1910 Mar 28, Pres. Theodore
Roosevelt gave his “Law and Order in Egypt” speech at Cairo Univ.
Sheikh Ali Yusuf, Muslim cleric and popular columnist, had written an
open letter in praise of Roosevelt’s visit, but the president’s
imperious tone soon disappointed Egyptian hopes.
(www.mobipocket.com/EN/eBooks/eBookDetails.asp?BookID=86377)(Econ,
6/6/09, p.1910)
1911 Dec 11, Naguib Mahfouz
(d.2006), Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian novelist, was born.
(HN, 12/11/00)(SFC, 8/31/06, p.A13)
1912 Apr 8, Steamers collided in
Nile, drowning 200.
(MC, 4/8/02)
1912 Dec 23, The Aswan Dam in
Egypt began operation.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1913 Frank Shuman, American
inventor, created the first large solar pumping station in Meadi, Egypt.
(Econ, 6/6/09, TQ p.23)
1916 Jan 3, Three armored Japanese
cruisers were ordered to guard the Suez Canal.
(HN, 1/3/99)
1916 Aug 5, The British navy
defeated the Ottomans at the naval battle off Port Said, Egypt.
(HN, 8/5/98)
1918 Jan 15, Gamal Abdel Nasser,
President of Egypt (1954-1971), was born.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1918 Dec 25, Anwar Sadat (d.1981),
president of Egypt, was born. "There can be hope only for a society
which acts as one big family, and not as many separate ones."
(AP, 5/9/98)(HN, 12/25/98)
1920 Feb 11, Farouk I, last King
of Egypt (1936-52), was born in Cairo.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1920s The statue of Ramses II was
found in Memphis, the ancient capital of Egypt, 15 miles from Cairo.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1921 At the Cairo Conference
Britain and France carved up Arabia and created Jordan under Emir
Abdullah; his brother Faisal became King of Iraq. France was given
influence over Syria and Jewish immigration was allowed into
Palestine. Faisal I died one year after independence and his son,
Ghazi I succeeded him.
(HNQ, 6/20/99)(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.D3)
1922 Feb 28, Britain declared
Egypt a sovereign state, but British troops remained.
(HN, 2/28/98)(MC, 2/28/02)
1922 Mar 16, Sultan Fuad I was
crowned king of Egypt. England recognized Egypt.
(MC, 3/16/02)
1922 Nov 4, British archeologist
Howard Carter was elated when his Egyptian workers uncovered the top of
a stairway cut into bedrock in the Valley of the Kings. For a decade,
Carter had been searching for the tomb of the young king Tutankhamun,
who had ruled Egypt 3,200 years before. Carter was particularly
thrilled at the discovery of the staircase because his wealthy patron,
the Earl of Carnarvon, had agreed to fund only one more season before
abandoning the search. At the bottom of the staircase was a sealed
doorway, which suggested that the tomb had probably not been robbed.
Carter ordered the stairway filled and telegraphed his patron, "At last
have made wonderful discovery in valley; a magnificent tomb with seals
intact; recovered same for your arrival; congratulations." On November
26, Carter, with Carnarvon standing by, drilled a small hole in the
tomb's antechamber. Inserting a candle, Carter peered into the darkness
at the rich funerary goods. When asked by Carnarvon if he could see
anything, the awestruck Carter replied, "Yes, wonderful things."
(NG, May 1985, R. Caputo, p.598)(AP, 11/4/97) (HNPD,
11/3/98)
1922 Nov 14, Boutros Boutros
Ghali, Egyptian secretary-general of UN (1992-), was born.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1922 Nov 26, Lord Carnarvon and
Howard Carter, archeologists, opened King Tut’s tomb in Egypt.
(HN, 11/26/98)(AP, 11/26/02)
1923 Feb 16, In Egypt the burial
chamber of King Tutankhamen's recently unearthed tomb was unsealed by
archeologist Howard Carter.
(AP, 2/16/08)
1923 Apr 5, George Edward Stanhope
Molyneux Herbert (56), England’s 5th Earl of Lord Carnarvon, died in
Egypt from an infected mosquito bite. He financed the excavation of the
Egyptian New Kingdom Pharaoh Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt's Valley of
the Kings.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herbert,_5th_Earl_of_Carnarvon)
1923 Arab feminists returned from
a women’s conference in Rome and dumped their head coverings at the
Cairo train station. A whole generation was inspired to follow suit.
(WSJ, 5/1/97, p.A1)
1924 Jan 3, British Egyptologist
Howard Carter found the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun.
(MC, 1/3/02)
1924 Feb 13, King Tut's tomb was
opened. Teams from the Univ. of Chicago’s Oriental Inst. had begun
studying the monuments of Thebes. Howard Carter discovered the tomb of
Tutankhamen Jan 3.
(NG, May 1985, p.598)(SFC, 8/5/96, p.A10)(MC,
2/13/02)
1924 Nov 22, England ordered the
Egyptians out of Sudan.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1925 Mar 9, Egyptian Ministry of
Public Works announced the discovery of the 5,000-year-old tomb of King
Sneferu.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1928 May 4, Hosni Mubarak,
Egyptian president (1981- ), was born in the village of Kafr
el-Moseilha in the Nile delta province of Menoufia.
(WP, 6/29/96, p.A20)(AP, 7/9/04)
1928 The Muslim Brotherhood was
founded in Egypt by Hasan al-Banna (d.1949), a young school teacher.
His plan was to re-Islamicize society by teaching the fundamentals of
Islam in everyday language. He set up welfare organizations and was
famous for his commitment to social justice. In 1946 a branch opened in
Syria and branches began spreading across the globe.
(WSJ, 9/21/01, p.A16)(WSJ, 9/7/04, p.A20)(Econ,
6/4/05, p.44)(WSJ, 7/12/05, p.A12)
1928 In Egypt Pierre Montet, a
French archeologist, began excavations at Tanis. He was convinced that
the ruins there were of Pi-Rameses, capital of Rameses the Great.
However it was later determined that many of the artifacts had been
brought there from Qantir by the kings of Dynasties 21 and 22, as they
built their new Delta capital. In the late 1930s and 1940s an entire
complex of tombs was found intact at Tanis.
(Arch, 5/05, p.18)
1929 Aug 24, Yasser Arafat
(d.2004), leader of the Palestinian Liberation Movement (Nobel 1994),
was born in Cairo according to his Cairo birth certificate. He was the
5th child of Palestinian merchant Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini. In
1998 Said K. Aburish published his biography "Arafat: From Defender to
Dictator."
(SFC, 11/11/04,
p.A18)(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Yasser-Arafat)
1931 Apr 22, Egypt signed a treaty
of friendship with Iraq.
(HN, 4/22/98)
1933 Apr 29, Constantine Cavafy
(b.1863), Greek poet, died in Alexandria, Egypt. The 1996 Greek film
"Cavafy" was a profile of the Greek homosexual poet, and a winner of
Greece’s National Film Award for best feature of the year. Cavafy spent
30 years working as a clerk in the Ministry of Irrigation. In 2006 “The
Collected Poems of C.P. Cavafy,” translated by Aliki Barstone, was
published.
(SFC, 6/18/98, p.E4)(SSFC, 6/24/01, DB
p.64)(www.kirjasto.sci.fi/kafavis.htm)
1933 Count Byron De Prorok
undertook an archeological expedition from Egypt into Ethiopia. His
book "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" described the venture. He pioneered the
use of motion pictures from 1920. His other books included "Digging for
Lost African Gods" (1926), "Mysterious Sahara" (1929) and "In Quest of
Lost Worlds" (1935).
(AM, 9/01, p.64)
1935 Nov 13, Anti-British riots
took place in Egypt.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1936 Aug 26, The Anglo-Egyptian
Treaty, calling for most British troops to leave Egypt, except those
guarding the Suez Canal, was signed in Montreux, Switzerland. It was
abrogated by Egypt in 1951.
(AP, 8/26/05)
1936 King Farouk ascended to the
throne.
(SFEC,11/9/97, Par p.2)
1937 The Gayer-Anderson Museum was
founded in Cairo, Egypt.
(AM, 3/04, p.34)
1939 Mar 21, In Egypt King Farouk
arrived at Tanis for the opening of the coffin of the 21st Dynasty King
Psusennes I, recently discovered by French archeologist Pierre Montet.
It turned out that this coffin actually belonged to Sheshonq II of the
22nd Dynasty.
(Arch, 5/05, p.21)
1940 Feb 28, In Egypt King Farouk
arrived at Tanis for the opening of the sarcophagus of the 21st Dynasty
King Psusennes I, recently discovered by French archeologist Pierre
Montet.
(Arch, 5/05, p.24)
1940 Apr 17, In Egypt King Farouk
arrived at Tanis and ordered French archeologist Pierre Montet to open
the tomb of King Amenemope, son of 21st Dynasty King Psusennes I.
(Arch, 5/05, p.25)
1940 Jul 14, A force of German
Ju-88 bombers attacked Suez, Egypt, from bases in Crete.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1940 Sep 12, Italian forces began
an offensive into Egypt from Libya.
(HN, 9/12/98)
1940 Sep 13, Italian troops under
Marshal Graziani attacked Egypt.
(MC, 9/13/01)
1940 Dec 9, British troops opened
their first major offensive in North Africa during World War II and
seized 1,000 Italians in a sudden thrust in Egypt.
(AP, 12/9/97)(HN, 12/9/98)
1941 May 18, An Egyptian steamer
sank.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1942 Feb 4, Sir Miles Lampson,
British high commissioner, staged a virtual coup d’etat against King
Farouk. In 1998 David Freeman wrote a romantic historical novel: "One
of Us," that was loosely set on this background.
(WSJ, 2/25/98, p.A20)
1942 Jun 24, The German Africa
Corps occupied Egypt.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1942 Jul 27, The advance of German
army was halted in the first battle of El Alamein, Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein)
1942 Oct 23, During World War II,
Britain launched a major offensive against Axis forces at El Alamein in
Egypt.
(AP, 10/23/97)
1942 Oct 24, The 2nd day of battle
at El Alamein (Egypt).
(MC, 10/24/01)
1942 Oct 25, In the 3rd day of
battle at El Alamein (Egypt), the British continued an offensive move.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1942 Oct 26, In the 4th day of the
battle at El Alamein the Australians made a breakthrough.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1942 Oct 27, In the 5th day of
battle at El Alamein: heavy battles and Australians advanced.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1942 Oct 28, The 6th day of the
battle at El Alamein. British offensive under Montgomery.
(MC, 10/28/01)
1942 Oct 29, In the 7th day of
battle at El Alamein Montgomery led an assault.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1942 Oct 30, On the 8th day of
battle at El Alamein a new Australian assault began.
(MC, 10/30/01)
1942 Oct 31, The 9th day in battle
at El Alamein (Egypt).
(MC, 10/31/01)
1942 Nov 1, The 10th day of battle
at El Alamein (Egypt).
(MC, 11/1/01)
1942 Nov 2, 11th day of battle at
El Alamein, Egypt: British made an assault on Tel el Aqqaqir.
Montgomery defeated Rommel in battle of Alamein Egypt.
(MC, 11/2/01)
1942 Nov 3, The 12th day of battle
at El Alamein (Egypt): Scottish assault.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1942 Nov 4, The 13th day of battle
at El Alamein: Axis Africa corps retreated from El Alamein in North
Africa in a major victory for British forces commanded by Field Marshal
Bernard Montgomery.
(AP,
11/4/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein)
1942 Nov 5, Richard Carver (28),
the stepson of Britain’s Gen. Montgomery, was captured by the Afrika
Corps, a day after the battle of El Alamein. A year later after serving
time in an Italian prison, he journeyed some 400 miles to reunite with
Gen. Montgomery. In 2009 Tom Carver, his son, authored “Where the Hell
Have You Been” Monty, Italy and One Man’s Incredible Escape.”
(Econ, 10/24/09, p.97)(http://tinyurl.com/ykwz9t7)
1943 Nov 22, President Roosevelt,
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang
Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss measures for defeating Japan.
(AP, 11/22/99)
1944 Nov 6, British official Lord
Moyne was assassinated in Cairo, Egypt, by members of the Zionist Stern
gang.
(AP, 11/6/06)
1945 Feb 24, Egyptian Premier
Ahmed Maher Pasha was killed in Parliament after reading a decree.
(HN, 2/24/98)
1945 Mar 22, The Arab League was
formed with the adoption of a charter in Cairo, Egypt. Saudi Arabia
became a founding member of the UN and the Arab League.
(AP, 3/22/97)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1945 Mar 24, Egypt declared war on
Germany.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1945 Oct 20, Egypt, Syria, Iraq
and Lebanon formed the Arab League to present a unified front against
the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
(HN, 10/20/98)
1945 The Egyptian musical film
"Salaamah" starred Oum Kalsoum (d.1974).
(SFEC, 9/3/00, DB p.53)
1945 Hamas began life as a branch
of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, which advocated the creation of states
based ion Muslim law across the Middle East. [see Palestine 1987]
(Econ, 11/12/05,
p.48)(www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=18062002-051845-8272r)
1946 Feb 21, Anti-British
demonstrations took place in Egypt.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1946 Egypt’s King Farouk hosted
the 1st Arab summit. The group resolved to thwart the birth of Israel.
(SFC, 3/26/02, p.A10)
1946 France allowed Haj Amin
al-Husseini, the former mufti of Jerusalem, to escape to Egypt. He had
resided in Nazi Germany and hidden in Paris to avoid answering for
various war crimes.
(WSJ, 11/15/06, p.D14)
1946 French archeologist Pierre
Montet (d.1966) resumed his excavations at Tanis, Egypt, and continued
work there until 1951. In 1958 he published an account of his
discoveries titled “La Necropole Royale de Tanis.”
(Arch, 5/05, p.25)
1947 An Egyptian and Ugandan water
agreement led to the construction of Uganda’s Owen Falls Dam and
authorized Egyptian engineers to monitor Nile water releases.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1948 May 15, Hours after declaring
its independence, the new state of Israel was attacked by Transjordan,
Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. The first president of the State of
Israel, Chaim Weizmann, took office with the founding of the nation.
David Ben-Gurion was Israel’s first prime minister. Weizmann, born in
Russia in 1874, taught chemistry in England and as a leading Zionist
influenced Britain’s Balfour Declaration of 1917 favoring a Jewish
homeland in Palestine. Weizmann settled in Palestine in 1934 and
served as president of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1952.
(AP, 5/15/97)(HNQ, 6/19/99)
1948 Jul 14, Israel bombed Cairo.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1948 Oct 14, Large scale fighting
took place between Israel and Egypt.
(MC, 10/14/01)
1948 Oct 18, The Israeli
offensive, Operation 10 Plagues, began the against Egyptian army.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1948 Dec 28, Premier Nokrashy
Pasha of Egypt was assassinated by a member of the outlawed Moslem
Brotherhood because of his failure to achieve victory in the war
against Israel.
(HN, 12/28/98)
1948 The Muslim Brotherhood
opposition party was officially outlawed.
(WSJ, 12/8/95, p.A-1)(WSJ, 9/21/01, p.A16)
1949 Feb 12, Moslem Brotherhood
chief Hassan el Banna was shot to death in Cairo.
(HN, 2/12/97)
1949 Feb 24, Israel and Egypt
signed an armistice agreement.
(MC, 2/24/02)
1949 Nov 7, King Faruk disbanded
the Egyptian parliament.
(MC, 11/7/01)
1950 Nov 16, Egyptian king Farouk
demanded the departure of all British troops.
(MC, 11/16/01)
1951 Mar 8, The Int’l. Table
Tennis Federation banned Egypt for refusing to play Israel.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1951 Oct 17, The Egyptian army
fired on British troops.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1951 Nov 18, British troops
occupied Ismailiya, Egypt. [see Jan 20, 1952]
(MC, 11/18/0)
1952 Jan 20, British troops
occupied Ismalia, Egypt. [see Nov 18, 1951]
(HN, 1/20/99)
1952 Mar 1, Egyptian
government-Ali Maher Pasja resigned.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1952 Jul 23, General Mohammed
Neguib seized power in Egypt. There was a revolution in Egypt, King
Farouk I abdicated. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew the monarchy and
established Egyptian sovereignty after 2,300 years of foreign
domination. The revolution was led by the group of Free Officers headed
by Gamal Abdel Nasser and included Kamal Eddin Hussein.
(AP, 7/23/97)(NG, May 1985, p.584)(HFA, '96,
p.34)(TMC, 1994, p.1952)(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A24)
1952 Jul 26, King Farouk I of
Egypt abdicated in the wake of a coup led by Gamal Abdel Nasser.
(AP, 7/26/97)(SFEC,11/9/97, Par p.2)
1952 Sep 7, General Mohammad
Naguib (1901-1984) formed an Egyptian government and became premier.
Naguib served as Egypt’s 1st president. He was dismissed in Nov, 1954.
(MC, 9/7/01)(www.presidency.gov.eg)
1952 In Egypt Mohammed Zakaria
Ghoneim found the burial mask of noblewoman Ka Nefer Nefer at the
Saqqara pyramids. It dated back to 1307BC-1196BC. In 1998 St. Louis
bought the mask for half a million dollars from Phoenix ancient Art
gallery in Geneva, which was owned by Lebanese brothers Hicham and Ali
Aboutaam. In 2004 an Egyptian court sentenced Ali Aboutaam in absentia
to 15 years in prison for smuggling artifacts from Egypt to Switzerland.
(SFC, 11/28/08, p.A24)
1952 Nov 3, Egypt protested German
retribution payments to Israel.
(MC, 11/3/01)
1952 In Egypt some 2,000 vast
estates occupied half the country’s fertile land and millions of
illiterate peasants toiled as sharecroppers.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.32)
1953 Jan 17, In Egypt all
political parties were dissolved and banned.
(http://countrystudies.us/egypt/32.htm)
1953 Jun 18, Egypt was declared a
republic, and the monarchy was abolished, ending the rule of Muhammad
Ali's dynasty. Naguib became the first president and also prime
minister. Nasser became deputy prime minister and minister of interior.
(http://countrystudies.us/egypt/32.htm)
1954 Feb 23, In Egypt Pres. Naguib
resigned. The popular outcry was so great that Naguib was reinstated as
president. Nasser, however, took the position of prime minister,
previously held by Naguib, and remained president of the Revolutionary
Command Council (RCC).
(http://countrystudies.us/egypt/32.htm)
1954 Apr 18, Colonel Nasser seized
power in Egypt.
(HN, 4/18/98)
1954 Oct 19, Egypt and Britain
concluded a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military
occupation. Britain agreed to withdraw its 80,000-man force within 20
months, and Egypt agreed to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1954 Oct 26, In Egypt a member of
the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to kill PM Nasser.
(http://countrystudies.us/egypt/32.htm)
1954 Oct 29, In Egypt Colonel
Nasser disbanded the Moslem Brothership.
(MC, 10/29/01)
1954 Nov 14, Egyptian Pres. Naguib
was fired and a state of emergency declared. Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel
Nasser (1918-1970), chairman of the RCC, took command.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Rulers_of_Modern_Egypt)
1954 In Egypt Youssef Chahine
(1926-2008), filmmaker, directed “The Blazing Sun” with Omar Sharif.
(SFC, 7/29/08, p.B5)
1954 The statue of Ramses II was
moved from Memphis to Cairo. It was divided into 3 pieces and loaded
onto trucks for the move.
(WSJ, 8/21/97, p.A12)
1955 In Egypt Onsi Sawiris founded
a small construction firm. It grew to become the Orascom business group
worth over $12 billion in 2005.
(Econ, 3/12/05, p.62)
1956 Jan 16, Egyptian Pres. Nasser
pledged to reconquer Palestine. His government made Islam the state
religion.
(HN, 1/16/99)(MC, 1/16/02)
1956 Feb 27, Female suffrage was
granted in Egypt.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1956 Apr 18, An Israeli-Egyptian
cease fire, arranged by UN Gen’l. Sec. Dag Hammarskjöld, went into
effect.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)
1956 Jun 13, The 74-year British
occupation of the Suez Canal ended. The last British troops left the
Canal base.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(PC, 1992 ed, p.953)
1956 Jun 23, Egyptians approved a
new constitution and elected Gamal Abdel Nasser as president.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(EWH, 1968, p.1249)
1956 Jul 19-1956 Jul 20, The US
and Britain announced the withdrawal of their aid offers to Egypt for
the construction of the Aswan high dam.
(EWH, 1968, p.1249)
1956 Jul 20, Great Britain refused
to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam.
(MC, 7/20/02)
1956 Jul 26, Egypt’s Premier Gamal
Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal to provide revenue for the
construction of the high Aswan dam. His speech in Alexandria, which
included the codeword “De Lesseps,” triggered the army to start the
seizure of the canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1241)(EWH, 1968, p.1249)(Econ,
7/29/06, p.23)
1956 Aug 7, British government
sent 3 aircraft carriers to Egypt.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1956 Sep 11, Britain and France
announced economic pressure on Egypt to accept international control
over the Suez Canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Sep 12, British Prime
Minister Eden announced a British, French, US agreement to establish an
association to operate the Suez. Nasser dubbed this as an attempt to
provoke war.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Sep 14, Egypt assumed
complete control over the operation of the Suez Canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1249)
1956 Oct 14, British and French
officials met as Israel was about to attack Egypt. Anthony Nutting
(d.1999 at 79), a deputy foreign secretary, learned that Prime Minister
Anthony Eden had agreed with the French that once fighting began, they
would send in paratroopers under the guise to separate the fighting
factions, but would actually support Israel, seize the canal and
undermine Nasser. Nutting resigned when British planes took to the air
Oct 31.
(SFC, 2/26/99, p.A25)
1956 Oct 29, During the Suez Canal
crisis, Israel launched an invasion of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.
Paratroopers under Ariel Sharon dropped into Sinai to open the Straits
of Tiran. The Sinai Campaign, also known as Operation Kadesh, lasted
eight days to November 5, 1956.
(AP, 10/29/97)(Econ, 7/29/06,
p.24)(www.jafi.org.il/education/100/Concepts/d3.html)
1956 Oct 31, Great Britain and
France attempted to take over the Suez Canal. They bombed Egyptian
airfields.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(TOH, 1982, p.1956)
1956 Nov 2, The UN passed an
American resolution, 64 to 5, for a ceasefire at the Suez Canal in
Egypt. The General Assembly took up a Canadian suggestion for an
emergency force to monitor the ceasefire. These became the first “blue
hat” UN peacekeepers.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Nov 4, Israel captured the
Straits of Tiran and reached the Suez Canal in Egypt.
(MC, 11/4/01)
1956 Nov 5, Britain and France
started landing troops in Egypt during fighting between Egyptian and
Israeli forces around the Suez Canal. A cease-fire was declared two
days later.
(AP, 11/5/97)
1956 Nov 5, Israel liberated
Sharm-el-Sheikh, reopening Gulf of Aqaba.
(MC, 11/5/01)
1956 Nov 6, Pressure from the US
and USSR effected a cease-fire in the Middle-East. The UN created an
emergency force (UNEF) to supervise a cease fire. Britain’s PM Anthony
Eden called French PM Guy Mollet to tell him that Britain was aborting
operations in Egypt. German chancellor Konrad Adenauer, meeting with
Mollet, remarked that Europe must unite to counter the influence of the
United States.
(TOH, 1982, p.1956)(EWH, 1968, p. 1242)(Econ,
7/29/06, p.24)
1956 Nov 7, Britain’s PM Anthony
Eden surrendered to American demands and stopped British operations in
Egypt’s Canal Zone.
(Econ, 7/29/06, p.29)
1956 Nov 15, The first units of
UNEF arrived to enforce the cease fire in the Suez Canal Zone.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Nov 30, Britain and France
bowed to UN pressure and agreed to leave the Suez Canal. Russia and the
US forced a combined British, French and Israeli operation against
Nasser in the Suez to abort.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(TMC, 1994, p.1956)
1956 Dec 3, England & France
pulled troops out of Egypt.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1956 Dec 22, The evacuation of the
Suez Canal was completed by Britain and France.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)
1956 Dec 29, Salvage crews began
to clear the Suez Canal.
(EWH, 1968, p.1242)
1956 Alfredo Kraus (d.1999 at 71)
made his debut as the Duke of Mantua in a production of "Rigoletto" at
the Royal Opera House in Cairo.
(SFC, 9/11/99, p.A19)
1957 Jan 9, British PM Anthony
Eden resigned in the wake of the Suez crises.
(AP, 1/9/99)(Econ, 7/29/06, p.23)
1957 Feb 17, Suez Canal reopened.
(MC, 2/17/02)
1957 Mar 8, Israeli troops left
Egypt. Suez Canal re-opened for minor ships.
(MC, 3/8/02)
1957 Mar 9, Egyptian leader Nasser
barred U.N. plans to share the tolls for the use of the Suez Canal.
(HN, 3/9/98)
1957 Apr 10, Egypt reopened the
Suez Canal to all shipping traffic. The canal had been closed due to
wreckage resulting from the Suez Crisis.
(AP, 4/10/08)
1957 Indar Jit Rikhye (1920-2007),
UN peacekeeper from India, became chief of staff of UN forces along the
Suez Canal. Prior to this each national liaison officer reported to
their own governments.
(Econ, 6/9/07, p.99)
1957 Albert Metzger, owner of the
Cecil Hotel in Alexandria, was kicked out of Egypt "with only two
suitcases." The hotel had been founded by his father in 1929. The Cecil
palace, which once attracted Alexandria's rich cosmopolitan elite, was
nationalized by late president Gamal Abdel Nasser after Egypt's
nationalist revolution in 1952. In 2007 the Metzger family regained
control of the 86-room four-star hotel run by French company Accor.
(AFP, 6/21/07)
1958 Feb 1, Syria and Egypt formed
the United Arab Republic. Most Syrians resented the merger, which was
led by the radical Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) party. The union
of Syria and Egypt was dissolved in 1961 following a coup in Syria.
Egypt kept the name United Arab Republic until 1971.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)(HNQ, 6/5/98)(AP, 2/1/08)
1958 Feb 5, Gamel Abdel Nasser was
formally nominated to become the first president of the new United Arab
Republic. Egypt used the UAR name from 1961-1971.
(AP, 2/5/97)(WUD, 1994, p.1555)
1958 Feb 21, Egypt-Syria as UAR
elected Gamel Nasser president with a 99.9% vote.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1958 Mar 2, Yemen announced it
will join the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria).
(SC, 3/2/02)
1958 Oct 23, USSR lent money to
UAR to build Aswan High Dam.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1959 May 8, A 3-deck Nile
excursion steamer sprang a leak panicking passengers who capsized
the ship. 200 drowned just yards from shore.
(MC, 5/8/02)`
1959 Oct 31, The USSR and Egypt
signed contracts for building the Aswan Dam.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1959 The Grand Sheikh of Cairo’s
al-Azhar University, the foremost seat of Sunni scholarship, issued a
fatwa that officially recognized mainstream Shiism as a legitimate
school of thought.
(Econ, 3/4/06, p.22)
1959 A water agreement between
Egypt and Sudan was based on an annual net yield of 96.2 billion cubic
yards of water and gave Egypt 72.15 billion and Sudan 20.04. Ethiopia
got no allocation and never recognized the treaty.
(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1960 Jan 9, The foundation stone
for Egypt’s Aswan High Dam was laid.
(www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/020116/2002011626.html)
1960 Pres. Gamal Abdel Nasser
nationalized the country’s media. Mustafa Amin (d.1997 at 83) and his
twin brother Ali published 5 of the best-selling publications prior to
the seizure and were highly critical of Nasser.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A19)
1960 Egypt passed a Transmission
Law that gave the state-run Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU)
the sole right to transmit television signals out of the country. The
law was later use to clamp down on providers of satellite television.
(SFC, 5/27/08, p.A9)
1961 Syria withdrew from the UAR
following a coup.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)(HNQ, 6/5/98)
1961-1971 UAR was the official name of Egypt over
this period.
(WUD, 1994, p.1555)
1962 Mar 9, Egyptian Pres. Nasser
declared Gaza belongs to Palestinians.
(MC, 3/9/02)
1964 Jan 17, The PLO charter was
put together with articles that proclaimed Israel an illegal state and
pledged "the elimination of Zionism in Palestine." The PLO was founded
in Egypt. Fatah became the core group of the PLO.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.A18)(SFC, 4/30/02, p.A8)(SFC,
11/11/04, p.18)
1964 Mar 25, Egypt ended a state
of siege (1952-64).
(MC, 3/25/02)
1964 May 9, Khrushchev visited
Egypt.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1964 May 14, Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev joined United Arab Republic President Gamel Abdel Nasser in
setting off charges, diverting the Nile River from the site of the
Aswan High Dam project.
(AP, 5/14/04)
1964 Waguih Ghali authored “Beer
in the Snooker Club,” a story about life in Cairo shortly after the
fall of King Farouk (1952).
(Econ, 4/26/08, p.108)
1964 In Egypt the first stage of
the Aswan High Dam began harnessing the Nile.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_High_Dam)
1965 Mar 15, Nasser was re-elected
Egyptian President.
(HN, 3/15/98)
1965 Nov 1, In Cairo, Egypt,
a trackless trolley plunged into Nile River drowning 74.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1965 Mustafa Amin was arrested
while meeting an American diplomat in Alexandria and accused of being
an American spy. He was later freed by Pres. Anwar Sadat.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A19)
1965 Former King Farouk died at a
restaurant in Rome. The obese monarch was notorious for his decadent
lifestyle. The David Freeman novel "One of Us" is based on his life and
times.
(SFEC,11/9/97, Par p.2)
1966 Jun 19, French archeologist
Pierre Montet (b.1885), renowned for his excavations at Tanis, Egypt,
died in Paris. In 1958 he published an account of his discoveries
titled “La Necropole Royale de Tanis.”
(Arch, 5/05,
p.25)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Montet)
1966 Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Prize
(1988), published his novel "Adrift on the Nile."
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.C11)
1966 In Egypt Sayed Qutb (b.1906),
intellectual godfather of radical Islam, was executed by Pres. Nasser.
Qutb had earlier written: "A Muslim has no nationality except his
belief." He denounced western hedonism and the decadence of Muslim
regimes. Qutb had spent some time in the US (1948-1951) and authored
the 1951 essay “The America I Have Seen.” His brother Muhammad went
into exile in Saudi Arabia where he taught at King Abdul Aziz Univ.
Osama bin Laden was one of his students.
(WSJ, 3/22/04, p.A18)(Econ, 2/4/06, p.24)(Sm, 2/06,
p.100)
1967 May 22, Egyptian president
Nasser closed the Straits of Tiran to Israel.
(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1948to1967_sixday_backgd.php)
1967 Jun 5, The Six Day War
erupted in the Middle East as Israel, convinced an Arab attack was
imminent, raided Egyptian military targets. Syria, Jordan and Iraq
entered the conflict. Jordan lost the West Bank, an area of 2,270 sq.
miles. War broke out as Israel reacted to the removal of UN
peace-keeping troops, Arab troop movements and the barring of Israeli
ships in the Gulf of Aqaba.
(AP, 6/5/97)(HN, 6/5/98)(NG, 5/93, p.58)(HNQ,
5/22/00)
1967 Jun 5-1967 Jun 10, Israel
fought the Six-Day War against Syria and captured the Golan Heights,
the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Allegations that
Israeli soldiers killed hundreds of Egyptian prisoners with the
knowledge of national leaders were made by Israeli historians in 1995.
Israel occupied Syrian territory. The Gaza Strip and the West Bank were
captured by Israel. Israel annexed the largely Arab East Jerusalem,
which included the Old City, and has since ringed it with Jewish
neighborhoods.
(WSJ, 8/17/95, p.A-1)(WSJ,11/24/95, p.A-1)(WSJ,
5/6/96, p.A-13)(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)(SFC, 1/22/98, p.B12)(SFC, 4/24/98,
p.A17)
1967 Jun 8, On the 4th day of the
Six-Day War Israel captured the Gaza Strip and Sinai Peninsula from
Egypt, as well as the West Bank and Eastern Jerusalem from Jordan.
(SSFC, 6/3/07, p.E6)
1967 Jun 10, Israel completed its
final offensive in the Golan Heights in the 6-Day Middle East War. The
next day Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United Nations-mediated
cease-fire. Israel took Gaza and the Sinai from Egypt, Old Jerusalem
and the West Bank from Jordan, and the Golan Heights from Syria. In
2002 Michael B. Oren authored "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the
making of the Modern Middle East." Israeli military historian Arieh
Yitzhaki later said that his research showed Israeli troops killed 300
Egyptian prisoners of war. Israel said soldiers on both sides committed
atrocities. In 2007 Tom Segev authored “1967: Israel, the War and the
Year that Transformed the Middle East.”
(AP, 6/10/97)(WSJ, 6/5/02, p.D7)(AP, 3/6/07)(Econ,
5/26/07, p.97)
1967 Jun 11, Israel and Syria
accepted a UN cease-fire. The UN brokered a cease-fire between Israel
and the defeated Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, ending the Six-Day War with
Israel occupying the Sinai, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan
Heights. Israel annexed the largely Arab East Jerusalem, which included
the Old City, and has since ringed it with Jewish neighborhoods.
(HN, 6/11/98)(AP, 6/11/03)(SFC, 6/25/96, p.A10)
1969 Nov 3, The Arab League
brokered a deal in Cairo that gave the PLO in Lebanon refugee camps
freedom of government interference. They reached an agreement that
effectively endorsed PLO freedom of action in Lebanon to recruit, arm,
train, and employ fighters against Israel. The Lebanese Army protected
their bases and supply lines.
(www.palestinefacts.org/pf_1967to1991_lebanon_cairo_1969.php)(Econ,
6/2/07, p.46)
1969 In Egypt the construction on
the Aswan High Dam, which expanded irrigation, had led to an increase
in bilharzia infection. In this year the government began to channel
its bilharzia interventions into more comprehensive and organized
control programs and projects. During the 1970’s and 1980s a campaign
of multiple drug injections to combat the parasitic disease led to a
massive spread of hepatitis c.
(Econ, 11/4/06, p.54)(http://tinyurl.com/wuwmx)
1970 Jan 28, Israeli fighter jets
attacked the suburbs of Cairo.
(HN, 1/28/99)
1970 Jul 21, The Aswan Dam opened
in Egypt. Over the years the giant dam caused the disruption of the
Nile's flow and destroyed vital mineral deposits. Fishing industries
have been linked to the spread of disease. Formal opening ceremonies
were held Jan 15, 1971.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_High_Dam)
1970 Aug 7, Israel, Jordan and
Egypt agreed to a ceasefire under the terms of the US proposed Roger
Plan. The Roger Plan was originally proposed in a December 9, 1969,
speech at an Adult Education conference. The plan was formally
announced on 19 June 1970.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Attrition)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Plan)
1970 Sep 28, In Egypt Pres. Gamal
Abdul Nasser (b.1918) died of a heart attack. He became president in
1953. Anwar Sadat replaced Nasser.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser)
1970 Sep 27, A cease-fire accord
was signed in Cairo between the Jordanian army and Palestinian
guerrillas by King Hussein and Yasser Arafat brokered by the Arab peace
committee headed by Bahi Ladgham of Tunisia.
(SFC, 4/16/98, p.B4)(http://tinyurl.com/6e3v9s)
1970 Oct 15, Anwar Sadat
(1918-1981) succeeded the late Gamal Abdel Nasser as president of
Egypt. Sadat had worked with Nasser to overthrow Egypt‘s monarchy and
was imprisoned during World War II for his ties to the Germans. After
the revolution in 1952, he held key posts under Nasser including that
of vice president (1964-66 and 1969-70). In 1973, he led Egypt into a
war with Israel, but five years later negotiated the Camp David Accords
with Israeli premier Menachem Begin for which both men received the
1978 Nobel Peace Prize. He was assassinated by Muslim extremists in
1981.
(SFC, 4/14/97, p.A19)(HNQ,
7/30/00)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_Sadat)
1970 Nov 27, Syria joined the pact
linking Libya, Egypt and Sudan.
(HN, 11/27/98)
1971 Jan 15, Egypt’s Aswan High
Dam, 600 miles upstream from Cairo, was formally inaugurated.
(http://tinyurl.com/y4dn83)
1971 Sep 11, Egypt adopted a new
constitution by public referendum. It called for the president to be
chosen by at least two-thirds of MPs, and then confirmed by referendum.
In 2007 a questionable referendum approved 34 constitutional
amendments.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.61)(Econ, 3/31/07,
p.57)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Egypt)
1971 A number of members of the
Egyptian National Assembly were expelled for plotting to overthrow
Pres. Sadat.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A24)
1972 Jul 18, Egypt’s President
Sadat demanded that the USSR withdraw all military advisors from Egypt.
(http://files.osa.ceu.hu/holdings/300/8/3/text/67-5-236.shtml)
1972 In Egypt Hosni Mubarak was
appointed commander of the air force and deputy minister for military
affairs.
(AP, 7/9/04)
1973 Oct 6, The fourth
Arab-Israeli war in 25 years was fought. Israel was taken by surprise
when Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Jordan attacked on the Jewish holy day of
Yom Kippur, beginning the Yom Kippur War. The Yom Kippur War in which
Syria tried to regain the Golan Heights with a massive attack with
1,500 tanks. The assault was repulsed by air power.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.A-13)(TL-MB, p.21) (TMC, 1994,
p.1973)(AP, 10/6/97)(HN, 10/6/98)
1973 Oct 15 Israeli tanks under
General Ariel Sharon crossed the Suez Canal and began to encircle two
Egyptian armies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Oct 16, OPEC, the Arab
oil-producing nations, announced they would begin cutting back on oil
exports to Western nations and Japan. The next day, the five Arab
members of the OPEC committee were joined in Kuwait by the oil
ministers of Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The result was
a total embargo that lasted until March 1974 and caused oil prices to
quadruple.
(www.harvardir.org/articles/1659/)(AP,
10/17/97)(WSJ, 7/28/03, p.A8)
1973 Oct 24, The UNSC passed
Resolution 339, serving as a renewed call for all parties to adhere to
the cease fire terms established in Resolution 338. Organized fighting
on all fronts ended by October 26.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War)
1973 Nov 11, Israel and Egypt
signed a cease-fire.
(www.amichai.com/war/process/73talks.html)
1973 Nov 15-1973 Nov 22, Egypt and
Israel exchanged prisoners of war.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Society_&_Culture/pows.html)
1973 Dec 21, Israel, Egypt, Syria,
Jordan, US and USSR leaders met in Geneva. The Geneva Conference of
1973 was an attempt to negotiate a solution to the Arab-Israeli
conflict as called for in UN Security Council Resolution 338 which was
passed after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Conference_(1973))
1973 Syria acquired chemical
weapons from Egypt just before war with Israel.
(SSFC, 5/4/03, p.A11)
1974 Jan 18, Israel and Egypt
signed a Separation of Forces Agreement.
(http://tinyurl.com/4z534e)
1974 Feb 28, The United States and
Egypt re-established diplomatic relations after a seven-year break.
(AP, 2/28/98)
1974 Nawal El Saadawi of Egypt
authored "God Dies by the Nile," a novel of daughters and wives abused
by men consumed with power.
(SFC, 4/14/03, p.D1)
1975 Mar 29, Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat declared that he would reopen the Suez Canal on June 5,
1975.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1975 Jun 5, Egypt reopened the
Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed
because of the 1967 war with Israel.
(AP, 6/5/97)
1975 Sep 1, Israel and Egypt
initialed the Sinai II agreement on disengagement. A ceremonial signing
was held in Geneva on Sep 4.
(www.jafi.org.il/education/jafi75/timeline6f.html)
1975 Oct 26, Anwar Sadat became
the first Egyptian president to pay an official visit to the United
States.
(AP, 10/26/97)
1975 In Egypt Lake Nasser behind
the Aswan High Dam was filled.
(NG, May 1985, p.602)
1975-2000 US aid to Egypt totaled some $52 billion
over this period.
(SFC, 12/29/00, p.B4)
1976 Dec 25, Some 100 Moslems,
returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, died when their boat, the
Egyptian SS Patria, sank in the Red Sea.
(HN,
12/25/98)(www.emergency-management.net/ship_acc.htm)
1977 Mar 12, Egypt's Anwar Sadat
pledged to regain Arab territory from Israel.
(http://tinyurl.com/37jrq9)
1977 Apr 4, Egyptian Pres Anwar
Sadat held his 1st meeting with President Jimmy Carter.
(www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/diary/1977/d040477t.pdf)
1977 Nov 19, Egyptian Pres. Anwar
Sadat became the first Arab leader to visit Israel. Peace talks began
in the Middle East with Sadat going to Israel.
(TMC, 1994, p.1977)(AP, 11/19/97)
1977 Nov 19, The Libyan flag was
adopted, after Libya left the Federation of Arabs Republic, which
consisted of Libya, Egypt and Syria.
(www.worldflags101.com/l/libya-flag.aspx)
1977 Nov 20, Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat became the first Arab leader to address Israel's
parliament.
(AP, 11/20/97)
1977 Dec 25, Israeli PM Menachem
Begin met Egyptian Pres. Sadat (1918-1981) in Egypt.
(www.washington-report.org/backissues/1098/9810083.html)
1977 Food riots took place in
Egypt and Kamal Addin Hussein, an independent member of the Egyptian
People's Assembly, accused Pres. Sadat of punishing the people. Hussein
was voted out of the Assembly for his statements.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A24)
1977 In Egypt agricultural
engineer Shukri Mustafa became the leader of Takfir wal Hijra. The
group began in the 1960s as a splinter group of Muslim Brotherhood, but
did not gain international prominence until 1977. The group’s ideology
was developed in Egypt, where theorists openly advocated using
immigration as a Trojan horse to expand jihad (holy war).
(WSJ, 3/29/04,
p.A16)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takfir_wal-Hijra)
1978 Jan 8, The Israeli government
voted to "strengthen" settlements in occupied Sinai.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1978 Feb 3, Egyptian President
Anwar al-Sadat arrived in Washington DC to discuss the Middle East
peace process with US President Jimmy Carter.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/3/newsid_2525000/2525341.stm)
1978 Jul 18, Cyrus Vance
(1917-2002), US Sec. of State, met with the Egyptian and Israeli
Foreign Ministers at Leeds Castle, England.
(www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/trvl/ls/13038.htm)
1978 Sep 5-1978 Sep 17, US Pres.
Carter, Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt signed
agreements at Camp David, Md. Israel promised to withdraw gradually
from Sinai and to establish some form of autonomous Palestinian
territory on the West Bank. Sadat’s astrologer, Hasan al-Tuhami, was
the only person Sadat trusted. In the Camp David Accord "Israel was the
winner and Egypt the Loser." Thus wrote Boutros Boutros-Ghali in his
1997 book: "Egypt’s Road to Jerusalem: A Diplomat’s Story of the
Struggle for Peace in the Middle East."
(WUD, 1994, p.1691)(TL, 1988, p.119)(SFC, 6/2/97,
p.D5)
1978 Sep 16, The Grateful Dead
performed at the Great Pyramid of Giza. Hanza El Din (1930-2006),
Nubian oud virtuoso, first played with the Grateful Dead.
(SFC, 5/26/06,
p.B9)(www.archive.org/details/gd78-09-16.sbd.orf.2319.sbeok.shnf)
1978 Oct 12, Representatives of
Israel and Egypt opened talks in Washington.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time70s.html#1978)
1978 Oct 22, Negotiators for Egypt
and Israel announced in Washington they had reached tentative agreement
on the main points of a peace treaty.
(AP, 10/22/98)
1978 Oct 27, Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were named
winners of the Nobel Peace Prize for their progress toward achieving a
Middle East accord.
(AP, 10/27/97)
1979 Mar 21, The Egyptian
Parliament unanimously approved a peace treaty with Israel.
(AP, 3/21/99)
1979 Mar 22, The Israeli
parliament approved a peace treaty with Egypt.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/begin_closing.html)
1979 Mar 26, The Camp David peace
treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian
President Anwar Sadat at the White House. [see Sep 5-17, 1978]
(AP,
3/26/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords)
1979 Mar 31, The Arab League
suspended Egypt following its treaty with Israel.
(www.safarix.com/0131900048/ch08)
1979 Apr 2, Israeli PM Menachem
Begin visited Cairo, Egypt, and met with Pres. Sadat.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time70s.html#1979)
1979 May 25, Israel began to
return Sinai to Egypt.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time70s.html)
1979 Nov 25, Israel returned the
Alma oil field in A-Tour to Egypt.
(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/time70s.html)
1979 Dec 25, Egypt began major
restoration of the Sphinx.
(HN, 12/25/98)
1979-1980 The Islamic Jihad was founded in Egypt by
Palestinian students from the Gaza Strip. Nafez Azzam was one of the
founders. Control was later moved to Iran with training and funding
from Iran, Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Leaders included Ramadan
Shalah and Abdullah Shami.
{Egypt, Palestine, Iran, Syria, Lebanon}
(www.mideastweb.org/Middle-East-Encyclopedia/egyptian_islamic_jihad.htm)(SFC,
6/6/02, p.A12)
1980 Jan 26, Israel and Egypt
established diplomatic relations, in accord with PM Begin’s agreement
with Pres. Sadat on Jan 10 at Aswan.
(http://tinyurl.com/2mk9zf)
1980 Feb 26, Egypt and Israel
exchanged ambassadors for the 1st time.
(http://tinyurl.com/2rsjax)
1980 Mar 23, Shah of Iran arrived
in Egypt.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1980 Jul 27, On day 267 of the
Iranian hostage crisis, the deposed Shah of Iran (1941-1979) died at a
military hospital outside Cairo, Egypt, at age 60.
(AP, 7/27/00)(MC, 7/27/02)
1980 Jul 29, A state funeral was
held in Cairo, Egypt, for the deposed Shah of Iran, who had died two
days earlier at age 60.
(AP, 7/29/00)
1980 Egypt’s Pres. Sadat allowed
Sharia to become the principal source of Egyptian law.
(SFC, 7/15/06, p.E2)
1980-1989 During the 1980s Ayman Al-Zawahri fled from
Egypt after he was sentenced to 3 years in prison for belonging to an
outlawed group. He later met Osama bin Laden and became the "emir" of
the Islamic Jihad.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A8)
1981 Jun 17, Riots between Muslims
& Christians in Cairo left 16 people dead.
(www.amcoptic.com/egyptmag/anti.html)
1981 Oct 6, Egyptian Pres. Anwar
Sadat was killed by Islambouli, an Islamic fundamentalist (Takfir wal
Hijra) and Egyptian army lieutenant, at the parade ground of Nasser
City during a ceremony commemorating the Egyptian crossing of the Suez
Canal during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Although authorities were
warned of a death plot hours earlier, the information did not get to
the president in time. He was succeeded by Vice President Hosni
Mubarak. The events are described in a book by Fouad Allam: "The
Brotherhood and I." In 2000 Mohammad Khan produced the film "Days of
Sadat," starring Ahmed Zaki.
(SFC, 4/26/96, p.A-12)(HNQ, 7/12/98)(HN,
10/6/98)(SFC, 6/5/00, p.A8)(WSJ, 3/29/04, p.A16)
1981 Oct 7, Egypt's parliament
named Vice President Hosni Mubarak to succeed the assassinated Anwar
Sadat. He invoked a state of emergency and tolerated the Muslim
Brotherhood.
(WSJ, 12/8/95, p.A-8)(AP, 10/7/97)(SFC, 9/28/99,
p.C16)
1981 Oct 10, Funeral services were
held in Cairo for Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat, who had been
assassinated by Muslim extremists.
(AP, 10/10/02)
1981 Oct 13, Voters in Egypt
elected Vice President Hosni Mubarak the new president in a referendum
with a 98.5% vote, one week after the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
(AP, 10/13/97)(AP, 7/9/04)
1981 Oct 14, Hosni Mubarak, the
new president of Egypt, was sworn in to succeed the assassinated Anwar
Sadat. Mubarak pledged loyalty to Sadat's policies.
(AP, 10/14/06)
1981 Oct, Tarek el-Zomor and his
cousin, a lieutenant in the Egyptian army, were arrested for plotting
Sadat's assassination and belonging to the outlawed Islamic Jihad
group, but they did not shoot the president. In 1984 they were
sentenced to 20 years prison, the maximum term under Egyptian law.
Zomor was released from prison in 2005.
(AP, 7/13/05)
1981 Nov 14, In Egypt the weight
of Lake Nasser unexpectedly triggered earthquakes, such as the
5.2 magnitude quake on Nov 14, 1981.
(NG, May 1985, p.603)(http://tinyurl.com/349x3j)
1981 Construction began on the
Cairo Metro.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A6)
1982 In Egypt the Soviet built
turbine blades of the Aswan High Dam cracked. The US gave the Egyptian
government 85 million dollars to replace the blades. It was expected
that the generators be functional by 1990. Heavy evaporation has caused
Lake Nasser to become more saline.
(NG, May 1985, R. Caputo, p.602)
1982 In Egypt the Multinational
Force and Observers (MFO) was created as part of a peacekeeping mission
on the Sinai Peninsula following the 1979 Camp David Accord between
Egypt and Israel.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, Par p.4)
1982 In Egypt the Soviet built
turbine blades of the Aswan High Dam cracked. The US gave the Egyptian
government 85 million dollars to replace the blades. It was expected
that the generators be functional by 1990. Heavy evaporation has caused
Lake Nasser to become more saline.
(NG, May 1985, p.602)
1983 Dec 22, Egyptian president
Mubarak met with PLO leader Yasser Arafat.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1983 An international expedition
of American, Polish and Egyptian anthropologists in the Aswan region
unexpectedly came upon the skeleton of a prehistoric man thought to be
about 80,000 years old, the oldest human skeleton ever found in Egypt.
Early modern humans were present in the Levant between 130,000-80,000
BP.
(http://tinyurl.com/2l2rmz)(www.athenapub.com/8shea1.htm)
1984 The Muslim Brotherhood gets
into Parliament for the first time through an alliance with Egypt's
Labor Party.
(WSJ, 12/8/95, p.A-8)
1985 Oct 9, The hijackers of the
Achille Lauro cruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port
Said, Egypt.
(AP, 10/9/97)
1985 Nov 23, Egypt Air flight 648
was hijacked to Malta by Palestinian militant Omar Mohammed Ali Rezaq,
a member of the Abu Nidal terrorist group.
(SFC, 7/20/96, p.A6)(SFEC, 10/8/96,
D1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_648)
1985 Nov 24, The hijacking of an
Egyptair jetliner parked on the ground in Malta ended violently as
Egyptian commandos stormed the plane. Fifty-eight people died in the
raid, in addition to two others killed by the hijackers. Ali Rezaq of
the Abu Nidal terrorist group was imprisoned in Malta for 7 years and
then released. The US FBI apprehended him in Nigeria in 1993 and he was
convicted by a US federal jury in 1996 and sentenced to life in prison.
(SFC, 7/20/96, p.A6)(SFEC, 10/8/96, D1)(AP, 11/24/97)
1985 Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the
minister of state for foreign affairs and warned that the next war in
the Middle East would be fought over water.
(NG, 5/93, p.53)
1986 Feb 9, The tomb of
Tutankhamen's treasurer, Maya, was found in Egypt.
(http://tinyurl.com/mfsn7)
1986 Sep 11, Egypt's Pres Mubarak
received Israeli premier Peres.
(http://tinyurl.com/spu4y)
1987 The opera "Aida" was staged
at the Temple of Luxor by the company Opera on Original Site Inc.
(WSJ, 9/16/98, p.A20)
1987 Voters in Egypt elected
President Hosni Mubarak for a 2nd term.
(AP, 10/13/97)(AP, 7/9/04)
1987 Oct, The Cairo Metro opened
its first line, 26.5 miles long.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A6)
1988 Oct 13, Egyptian novelist
Naguib Mahfouz was named recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature.
(AP, 10/13/98)
1988 Dec 18, PLO chairman Yasser
Arafat met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss
how to continue the momentum gained by the first U.S.- PLO dialogue.
(AP, 12/18/98)
1989 Pres. Mubarak's lobbying
culminates in majority of Arab League foreign ministers endorsing
Egypt's readmission to the league after 10 year absence caused by Arab
rejection of Sadat's peace treaty signing with Israel.
(AP, 7/9/04)
1990 Feb 4, Nine people were
killed as guerrillas attacked a bus carrying Israeli tourists near
Cairo, Egypt.
(AP, 2/4/00)
1990 Aug 5, In Cairo the 19th
Islamic Conference of foreign Ministers adopted the “Cairo
Declaration,” which laid out an alternative view of liberty. The member
states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) attached a
rider that the application of all human rights should be subordinated
to sharia law.
(Econ, 4/4/09,
p.63)(www.religlaw.org/interdocs/docs/cairohrislam1990.htm)
1991 Dec 14-1991 Dec 15, At least
464 people were left dead or missing when an Egyptian-registered ferry
sank in the Red Sea near the port of Safaga after coral reef tore a
hole in a ferry's side.
(SFC, 5/22/96, p.A8)(AP, 2/3/06)
1991 Nawal El Saadawi (b.1931),
Egyptian feminist writer, authored "Daughter of Isis," a detailed
account of her childhood. She left Egypt in 1993 and returned in 1996.
In 2002 she authored "Walking Through Fire," a continuation of her
memoir.
(SSFC, 8/11/02, p.M2)
1991 The IMF began extensive loans
to Egypt along with pressure to sell-off state owned enterprises.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A12)
1992 Jan 25, Mahmoud Riad
(b.1917), Egyptian diplomat and sec-gen of Arab League (1972-79), died.
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9390991?hook=795127)
1992 Jun 8, In Egypt two masked
gunmen shot and killed writer Farag Foda.
(WSJ, 2/20/98,
p.A16)(www.tkb.org/MorePatterns.jsp?countryCd=EG&year=1992)
1992 Jul 21, Israeli Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak, who said afterward that he'd accepted Rabin's invitation to
visit Israel.
(AP, 7/20/97)
1992 Oct 12, A 5.8 earthquake hit
Cairo and at least 510 people died.
(AP,
10/12/97)(http://io.ingrm.it/amminist/annali/elenean433.htm)
1992 Oct 21, In Dairu a British
nurse died in a bus attack by Islamic extremists.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1992 Naguib Mahfouz, Nobel Prize
(1988) winning Egyptian author, published his novel "Sugar Street." It
was the most political and last book of his “Cairo Trilogy.”
(WSJ, 9/1/07, p.P9)
1992 The radio program "Nocturnal
Confessions" began.
(SFC, 12/2/96, p.A12)
1992 Pres. Mubarek launched a
crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood following civil war in Algeria
triggered by Islamic electoral successes.
(WSJ, 9/21/01, p.A16)
1992 Muslim militants began an
insurgency with attacks largely in southern Egypt to overthrow the
government of Hosni Mubarak. By 1996 more than 920 people had been
killed, mostly police and militants.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.a-15)(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A17)
1992-1996 Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt served as
the Secretary-General of the UN.
(SFC, 12/14/96, p.A1)
1993 Feb 26, In Cairo a bomb in a
coffee shop killed 3 people and injured 18.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1993 Mar 24, Mahmoud Abouhalima, a
cab driver implicated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, was flown
back to the United States from Egypt. Abouhalima was later convicted of
conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison.
(AP, 3/24/03)
1993 Jun 8, In Cairo, Egypt, a
bomb exploded near a tour bus on Pyramids Road killing 2 people and
wounding 22 others.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
1993 Aug 15, An Egyptian
surrendered peacefully after hijacking a Dutch jet to Germany to demand
the U.S. release Muslim cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman.
(AP, 8/15/98)
1993 Oct 6, Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Yasser Arafat held their first official
meeting in Cairo, Egypt, to begin work on realizing terms of the
Israeli-PLO accord.
(AP, 10/6/98)
1993 Oct 26, In Cairo gunfire at a
hotel killed 2 Americans, 1 Frenchman and injured 3 others.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1993 Nov 25, Egyptian Prime
Minister Atef Sedki escaped an attempt on his life when Islamic
militants detonated a car bomb near his motorcade. The attack killed a
5-year-old girl. Yasser al-Siri, a member of the "media committee" of
the Islamic Jihad, was tried and convicted in absentia for the
assassination attempt. Siri fled to the UK and obtained political
asylum.
(HN, 11/25/98)(WSJ, 10/26/01, p.A19)
1993 Dec 10, Mansour El-Kikhia,
former Libyan ambassador to the UN, was kidnapped in Cairo. The US CIA
later reported that he was taken to Libya and executed in early 1994.
El-Kikhia’s book “Libya’s Qaddafi: The Politics of Contradiction” was
published in the US in 1997.
(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.E5)(http://tinyurl.com/lnqr5)
1993 Dec 27, In Egypt, a gun and
bomb attack on a tourist bus in old Cairo wounded 8 Austrians and 8
Egyptians. The militant group Gama’a al-Islamiya claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
1993 A 12-mile section of the
Cairo Metro beneath the Nile River was begun. A grand opening was
scheduled for 2000.
(SFC, 1/25/99, p.A6)
1993 Dr. Ayman al-Zawahri became
head of the Egyptian Jihad.
(WSJ, 7/2/02, p.A1)
1994 Jan 10, Talks between Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators resumed in Taba, Egypt.
(AP, 1/10/99)
1994 Feb 23, In Egypt, an
explosion hit a train in Assiut. 6 foreign tourists were hurt. The
militant Islamic group Gama’a al-Islamiya claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
1994 Mar 4, At Abu Tig machine-gun
fire fatally wounded a German woman on a Nile cruise ship.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Aug 26, In Egypt a
13-year-old Spanish boy was killed and 3 others injured in a tour bus
attack by Islamic extremists at Nag Hammadi.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Sep 5, A U.N.-sponsored
population conference opened in Cairo, Egypt, where Norwegian Prime
Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland lashed out at the Vatican and at Muslim
fundamentalists by defending abortion rights and sex education. 179
nations signed a statement to ensure every woman’s right to education
and health care and to make choices about childbearing. In 2004 world
leaders of 85 nations endorsed the plan but the US refused because the
statement mentioned “sexual rights.”
(AP, 9/5/99)(SFC, 10/14/04, p.A9)
1994 Sep 27, At Hurghada a German
tourist and 2 Egyptians were killed by Islamic extremists. Two other
Germans were injured in gunfire at a Red Sea resort city, and one later
died.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Oct 14, Nobel Prize-winning
writer Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) was stabbed several times in the neck
by a 21-year-old assailant on a Cairo street. Muslim militants were
blamed in the attack. The wound resulted in the paralysis of his
writing hand.
(WSJ, 2/20/98, p.A16)(AP, 10/14/04)
1994 Oct 23, At Naqada a British
man was killed and 3 injured in an attack on a van by Islamic
extremists.
(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1994 Nov 2, In Durunka, Egypt,
more than 475 people were killed when fuel carried by floodwaters
ignited.
(AP, 11/2/99)
1994 Ali Salem, Egyptian
playwright, traveled across Israel and authored “My Drive to Israel.” I
sold some 60,000 copies and angered Egyptian intellectuals.
(SFC, 12/19/08, p.A24)
1994 In Egypt Youssef Chahine
(1926-2008), filmmaker, directed “The Emigrant.” The film, about
the Old Testament figure of Joseph, was denounced by militant Islamists
and banned.
(SFC, 7/29/08, p.B5)
1994 The government of Egypt
decreed that schoolgirls may not wear the full length veil, niqab, that
covers everything but the eyes.
(SFC, 5/23/96, p. C2)
1994 In Cairo a conference on
population called on improving the lot of women so that they would have
fewer children.
(SFC, 6/30/99, p.A12)
1994 McDonald’s opened its first
Egypt restaurant in Cairo.
(WSJ, 4/10/97, p.A12)
1994 Police Gen’l. Raouf Khairat
was killed. Four people were sentenced to death in 1997 for crimes
including the murder which they denied.
(SFC, 9/16/97, p.A12)
1994-1995 Five Egyptian banks lent out some $370
million of which only $115.6 was paid back. In 2000 a court convicted 4
parliamentary members in a corruption scandal with sentences up to 10
years. A total of 31 people were found guilty.
(SFC, 6/26/00, p.A12)
1995 Feb 2, The leaders of Egypt,
Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians held an unprecedented summit in
Cairo to try to revive the Mideast peace process.
(AP, 2/2/00)(http://tinyurl.com/255pml)
1995 Jun, Egypt’s Pres. Mubarak
escaped unharmed after his motorcade comes under fire during a trip to
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, en route to an African summit. One of at least
four attempts on his life.
(AP, 7/9/04)
1995 Nov 19, A suicide bomber
self-destructed in the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad and killed 15
others. 59 were wounded. Islamic militants opposed to the Cairo regime
claimed responsibility.
(WSJ, 11/20/95, p.A-1)(MC, 11/19/01)
1995 Dec 7, The ruling party of
Pres. Hosni Mubarak won a 2/3 majority in parliament. Islamic activists
charged vote-rigging. 27 people were killed and about a 1000 opposition
activists were arrested. The US gives Egypt more than 2 bil in foreign
aid annually. More than 90% of the population of 60 mil are Muslims.
(WSJ, 12/8/95, p.A-1)
1995 Dec 21, A train collision
outside Cairo, Egypt, claimed 75 lives.
(AP, 12/20/00)
1995 "Ancient Egyptian Art: The
Brooklyn Museum" is a CD by Digital Collections.
(Civil., Jul-Aug., '95, p.84)
1995 Yousry Nasrallah directed the
Egyptian documentary “On Boys, Girls and the Veil.”
(SFC, 7/15/06, p.E3)
1995 Egypt enacted its first
environmental laws.
(WSJ, 1/19/00, p.A1)
1995 Some 373 people were killed
this year in terrorist attacks.
(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.A1)
1996 Jan, Pres. Hosni Mubarek
brought in a new economic team and named Kamal el-Ganzouri as Prime
Minister. Ganzouri pushed legislation to allow foreigners to buy
Egyptian property and businesses and other changes.
(WSJ, 4/10/97, p.A12)
1996 Apr 17, In [El Giza] Cairo,
Egypt, suspected Muslim militants attacked a group of Greek tourists in
front of the Europa hotel. 18 people were killed and 14 wounded.
(SFC, 4/18/96, p.A-1)(SFC,11/19/97, p.C2)
1996 Jun 18, Parliament abolished
a law that imposed stiff penalties on journalists for libel and
defamation and eliminated a provision that allowed journalists to be
jailed without charge.
(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul, Female circumcision was
banned but the prohibition was not incorporated into the penal code.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A11)
1996 Aug 31, Torrential rains
threatened Sudan and Egypt with floods.
(SFC, 8/31/96, p.A4)
1996 Oct 16, Two girls, 4 & 3,
died from bleeding after being circumcised at their homes by a
government doctor.
(SFC, 10/17/96, A11)
1996 Oct 27, In Egypt a 12-story
apartment building collapsed in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo and at
least 2 people were killed. The death toll reached 25 and 100 were
still missing. The owner had illegally added the last 5 levels.
(SFC, 10/28/96, p.A9)(SFC, 10/30/96, p.A8)
1996 Dec 29, The government
arrested 240 linked to the outlawed Islamic group the "Kotbioun," a
violent branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A8)
1996 The documentary film "Days of
Democracy" was about women in Egyptian politics.
(SFC, 9/6/99, p.B5)
1996 In Egypt Mustafa Mashour
(d.2002 at 81) took over leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood. He had
spent 20 years in jail.
(SFC, 11/19/02, p.A23)
1996 A 2,000 year old cemetery was
discovered at the Bahariya Oasis. An estimated 10,000 bodies were
thought to be there. The place began to be called the Valley of the
Golden Mummies when some mummies were found to be sheathed in gold.
(SFC, 8/14/99, p.A12)
1997 Jan 11, A new canal was
planned to be cut 150 miles northwest from Lake Nasser.
(SFC, 1/11/96, p.C1)
1997 Jan 21, The al-Ahram
newspaper reported that a 30-member family of beggars was arrested.
They had managed to save $294,000 from illegal begging on the streets
of Suez.
(SFC, 1/22/96, p.C1)
1997 Feb, Ahmed Zayat, an Egyptian
American, took over the Al Ahram Beverages Co. and began to build a
state-of-the-art brewery to produce Egyptian Stella and Danish
Carlsberg Beer.
(WSJ, 4/10/97, p.A12)
1997 Mar 13, Four masked,
suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire in a Christian village in southern
Egypt and killed 14 men before escaping.
(SFC, 3/14/97, p.A16)(AP, 3/13/98)
1997 Jul 22, Six police officers
were killed in an ambush by militants near Minya.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Jul 26, It was reported that
a cease-fire had been proclaimed by 6 imprisoned leaders of the Gamaa
al Islamiya. The government dismissed the cease-fire as empty talk.
(SFC, 7/26/97, p.A13)
1997 Aug 15, It was reported that
a nurse in Alexandria, Aida Nur el-Din, had killed at least 18 patients
so that she would not be disturbed at night.
(SFC, 8/16/97, p.C1)
1997 Sep 16, In Egypt a
state-owned farm-truck carrying up to 120 boys and girls overturned and
killed 29 of them. 23 children from Sa el-Hagar were killed.
(SFC, 9/17/97, p.C4)(SFC, 10/1/98, p.A14)
1997 Sep 18, In Egypt two gunmen
killed 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in front of the Egyptian
Museum. Of the dead were nine German tourists and a bus driver and a
dozen more were wounded as the tour bus was set afire. Saber and
Mahmoud Abu el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his
brother, were caught, convicted and sentenced to death.
(SFC, 9/19/97, p.A12)(SFC,10/31/97, p.D3)(AP,
9/18/98)
1997 Aug 31, Prince Charles
brought Princess Diana home for the last time, escorting the body of
his former wife to a Britain that was shocked, grief-stricken and
angered by her death in a Paris traffic accident. Princess Diana (36)
and Egyptian billionaire Dodi al-Fayed (42) were killed along with the
car’s driver in a car crash in Paris while trying to evade paparazzi
photographers. A bodyguard was severely injured but expected to
survive. It was later learned that the driver had 3 times the legal
alcohol limit and was driving at about 110 mph.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.A1)(SFC, 9/1/97, p.A1)(SFC,
9/2/97, p.A1)(AP, 8/31/98)
1997 Oct 26, In Egypt Pres.
Mubarek opened the new Peace Canal to carry Nile water to the Sinai
Peninsula. The irrigation of 620,000 acres of desert was planned to
support 1.5 million residents.
(SFC,10/27/97, p.A9)(WSJ, 8/22/97, p.A1)
1997 Nov 17, In Egypt 6 gunmen
killed 62 people, including 58 foreign tourists, at the Hatshepsut
Temple in Luxor. The assailants, members of the Gamaa al-Islamiya, were
all killed. The attack was meant to force the US to release Sheik Omar
Abdel-Rahman who was serving a life term for a plot to bomb NYC
landmarks. The assailants, members of the Gamaa al-Islamiya, were all
killed. It was later reported that Mustafa Hamza ordered the attack and
that he was financed by Osama bin Laden. Mohamed Ali Hassan Mokhlis, a
suspected planner of the attack, was arrested in Uruguay in 1999 and
handed over to Egypt in 2003.
(SFC,11/18/97, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/19/97,
p.A1)(SFC,11/22/97, p.C1)(SFC, 5/14/99, p.A15)(AP, 11/17/07)
1997 Dec 15, A court sentenced a
physician, Dr. Rabie Ibrahim Mahgoub, one year in prison and a fine of
$150 for the April death of a 14-real-old girl, Amina Abdel-Hamid
Abu-Elah, who was undergoing circumcision surgery (called genital
mutilation by opponents).
(SFC,12/16/97, p.B2)
1997 Dec 27, Hassan Khalifa was
sentenced to death for the 1993-94 murders of 26 policemen and 8
Romanian nationals. Rifaat Zeidan and Abdul-Hamid Othman, all members
of al-Gama’a al-Islamiya, were sentenced to death in absentia.
(SFEC,12/28/97, p.A17)
1997 Dec 28, The Health Ministry
banned government certified doctors and health workers from performing
female circumcision.
(SFC, 12/29/97, p.A7)
1997 The Egyptian film "Destiny"
starred Nour el-Cherif and Laila Eloui. It was directed by Youssef
Chahine. It was about the 12th century philosopher Averroes.
(SFC, 9/17/99, p.C6)
1997 A phase out of leaded
gasoline was completed.
(WSJ, 1/19/00, p.A1)
1998 Jan 17, It was reported that
motorists in Cairo were switching to compressed natural gas (CNG) to
fuel their vehicles. It was both cheaper and burned cleaner. Over 5,000
vehicles had made the switch.
(SFC, 1/17/98, p.A10)
1998 Feb 23, In Afghanistan Osama
bin Laden declared a holy war on the US. Bin Laden announced the
formation of the World Islamic Front for Jihad against Jews and
Crusaders. It called on Muslims worldwide to attack Americans. The Al
Quds Al-Arabi newspaper published a statement that announced an
alliance between Dr. Zawahri, head of the Egyptian Jihad, and Osama bin
Laden. "We—with God’s help—call on every Muslim…to comply with God’s
order to kill Americans."
(WSJ, 4/2/02, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/2/02, p.A8)(SFC,
2/22/00, p.A8)
1998 Mar 31, A sweeping press ban
forbade publishing houses from printing in tax-free zones. This
amounted to a temporary de facto ban for over 50 publications that
printed in the Nasr City tax-free zone outside of Cairo.
(SFC, 5/9/98, p.A10)
1998 May 24, Saber and Mahmoud Abu
el-Ulla, a former inmate of a mental hospital and his brother, were
hanged for the Sep 18, 1997, killings of 10 people in Cairo’s Tahrir
Square.
(SFC, 5/25/98, p.A12)
1998 May 25, The conclusion of a
decade long, $2.5 million restoration project on the Sphinx was
celebrated.
(SFC, 5/26/98, p.A8)
1998 May, the government passed an
amendment that governing police that said a current or former officer
could be jailed and fined for divulging information obtained while on
duty, unless permission was obtained from the Interior Dept.
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Jun 17, Sheik Mohammed
Sharawi died at age 87. The popular cleric lectured on Egyptian TV and
his teachings were widely acclaimed. He supported female circumcision
and ruled that women should not be appointed to top government
positions or become judges.
(SFC, 6/19/98, p.B6)
1998 Jun 25, Albanian security
personnel (SHIK) under CIA guidance arrested Shawki Salama Attiya, a
Tirana cell forger. Over the next month they made a successful raids on
more suspected members of the Egyptian Jihad terrorist organization.
The suspected terrorists were turned over to anti-terrorist officials
in Egypt, where they delivered forced confessions following torture.
(SFC, 8/13/98, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/20/01, p.A1)
1998 Aug 24, In Egypt Abu Nidal
was captured after crossing the border from Libya. He had split from
the PLO in 1974 and was responsible for terrorist bombings in 1985 at
the Rome and Vienna airports and a 1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73
as well as a number of assassinations of PLO figures. Egypt denied the
report of Nidal’s capture.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A6)(WSJ, 8/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Sep, In Egypt Brigadier
Gen’l. Hamdi El-Batran was to go on trial for his book "The diary of an
Officer in the Countryside."
(SFC, 8/19/98, p.A12)
1998 Oct 18, In Egypt a train
jumped its tracks in the town of Kafr el-Dawar and at least 47 people
were killed.
(SFC, 10/19/98, p.A14)
1998 Dec 1, It was reported that
construction of the $180 million Bibliotheca Alexandria was proceeding.
Completion was expected in Oct, 1999.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec 4, From Egypt it was
reported that a new 3rd party, named "Wasat" or middle party, was
emerging. It was an alternative to the fundamentalist Islamic regime
and the secular state.
(SFC, 12/5/98, p.A10)
1998 Dec, Construction of wind
farms on 32 square miles of desert at Zafarana was to begin with Danish
and German financing.
(SFC, 8/25/98, p.A8)
1999 Jan 2, Police arrested 71
suspected Muslim militants over the last 3 days on suspicion of
plotting to kill senior government officials.
(SFEC, 1/3/99, p.A19)
1999 Jan 18, The end of Ramadan
was marked by prisoner releases in Egypt, Palestine and Afghanistan.
(WSJ, 1/18/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 11, Defense Sec. William
Cohen announced $3.2 billion in subsidized arms sales to Egypt.
(SFC, 3/12/99, p.A16)
1999 Mar 21, Balloonists Bertrand
Piccard and Brian Jones landed their Breitling Orbiter 3 north of Mut,
Egypt, a day after setting their around the world record.
(SFEC, 3/21/99, p.A21)
1999 Spring, The Islamic Group
announced that it was giving up armed struggle.
(SFC, 6/25/99, p.D3)
1999 Apr 19, It was reported that
Cairo's new governor, Abdul Rahim Shehata, had drafted and begun a new
beautification plan which included moving garbage sorting and recycling
18 miles away. The move was expected to seriously impact the livelihood
of the Zebaleen, i.e. garbage collectors.
(SFC, 4/19/99, p.A8)
1999 May 27, In Egypt the
parliament approved powers over private groups with laws of operating
rules and banned private groups from participating in political
activity.
(SFC, 5/28/99, p.D3)
1999 Jun 19, Kamal Eddin Hussein,
revolutionary and former vice-president, died at age 77.
(SFC, 6/22/99, p.A24)
1999 Jul 24, Shoukry Ayyad, poetry
critic, died at age 78. His 20 books on Arabic poetry, language and
theater included "The Hero in Literature and Fables," "Music of
Poetry," and Language and Creativity."
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A17)
1999 Jul, The culture ministry
announced plans to move the temple of Hibis (b.~600BCE) to protect it
from rising groundwater.
(SFC, 7/16/99, p.D3)
1999 Sep 4, At Sharm El-Sheikh,
Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority
Pres. Yasser Arafat signed a new deal that ceded West Bank land to the
Palestinians and set up a timetable for peace.
(SFEC, 9/5/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 6, In Egypt Said Hassan
Suleiman (40) inflicted a light wound with a sharp object On Pres.
Mubarak in Port Said. Suleiman was immediately killed by security
guards.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A12)
1999 Sep 7, In Egypt police shot
and killed 4 suspected Islamic militants including Farid Kidwan, leader
of al-Gamaa al-Islamiya.
(SFC, 9/8/99, p.A14)
1999 Sep 26, In Egypt a 79%
turnout in weekend referendum gave Pres. Mubarak (71) 94% support for a
further 6-year term. Opposition groups boycotted the vote and called
for democracy and the lifting of the state of emergency in force since
1981.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.C16)(AP, 7/9/04)
1999 Oct 12, Ahmed H. Zewail, an
Egyptian chemist at the California Inst. of Tech., won the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for finding a way to freeze-frame the private matings of
molecules using ultra fast laser probes.
(SFC, 10/13/99, p.A2)
1999 Oct 31, An EgyptAir Boeing
767-300, Flight 990, enroute from New York to Cairo crashed off
Nantucket Island and all 217 people aboard were killed. Captains Ahmed
al-Habashy and Raouf Noureldin were at the controls. Relief pilot Gamil
al-Batouti was suspected to have caused the crash.
(SFC, 11/1/99, p.A1)(SFC, 11/16/99, p.A3)(SFC,
11/17/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/13/01, p.A14)
1999 Dec 31, Violence broke out in
southern Egypt following an argument between a Christian shopkeeper and
a Muslim customer in el-Kusheh.
(SFC, 1/7/00, p.D3)
1999 Sally Tagholm authored
"Ancient Egypt" a children's guidebook to the land of the Pharaohs.
(SFEC, 5/9/99, Par p.10)
1999 During the trial of 107
suspected terrorists defendants reported that agents of Osama bin Laden
had purchased dangerous biological agents through the mail for as
little as $3,865."
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A20)
1999 Ayman Al-Zawahri, "emir" of
the Islamic Jihad, was sentenced to death in absentia by an Egyptian
military court for organizing an insurgency against the government.
(SFC, 2/22/00, p.A8)
2000 Jan 3, A curfew was imposed
in southern Egypt following violence between Muslims and Christians
that left 20 Christians and Muslim dead in the village of el-Kusheh (Al
Kosheh).
(SFC, 1/4/00, p.A12)(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A10)
2000 Jan 27, In Egypt a new law
which expanded women's right to divorce passed the People's Assembly.
Travel freedoms were excised at the last minute.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A15)(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D3)
2000 Feb 26, Pope John Paul II
visited the 6th century St. Catherine's monastery in Egypt, built on
the reputed site where Moses encountered the burning bush. He met with
Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damianos and held a short prayer service in
an olive garden outside the monastery.
(SFEC, 2/27/00, p.A20)
2000 Feb, Ahmed Osman Saleh and
Ahmed Ibrahim al-Naggar, members of the Egyptian Jihad, were hanged for
their connections to terrorist cases. They had been pulled out of
Albania in 1998 by Albanian Security (SHIK) working with the CIA.
(WSJ, 11/20/01, p.A10)
2000 May, The government banned
the Socialist Labor Party and shut down its weekly organ, Al Shaab.
(SFC, 10/23/00, p.A10)
2000 Jul 20, In Egypt at least 15
people were killed when a 6-story factory building collapsed in
Alexandria.
(SFC, 7/21/00, p.B10)
2000 Jun 30, Saad Eddin Ibrahim,
sociology professor and pro-democracy advocate, was arrested on
nebulous anti-government charges. He was released Aug 11.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.A10)
2000 Sep 3, A 2-day meeting of
Arab League foreign ministers opened. Yasser Arafat said he would not
accept a peace deal without control of Jerusalem.
(SFC, 9/4/00, p.B10)
2000 Sep 27, Shereef Fawzi
Mohammad el-Falali (35), a civil engineer, was arrested in Heliopolis
for providing intelligence information to Israel.
(SFC, 11/29/00, p.C7)
2000 Oct 21, Arab leaders met in
Cairo for a 2-day summit where they condemned Israel for violence and
made proposals to deal with Israel.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A1,21)
2000 Nov 15, Election results were
released. The National Democratic Party of Hosmi Mubarak won 388 of the
legislature’s 444 (448) elected seats. 12 people died in the elections
and irregularities were charged. 17 seats went to independents allied
with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
(SFC, 11/16/00, p.A16)(WSJ, 11/16/00, p.A1)(WSJ,
9/21/01, p.A16)
2000 Nov 18, Some 2000 women from
19 Arab countries met in Cairo to push for improved status in their
male-dominated societies.
(SFEC, 11/19/00, p.C16)
2000 Nov 21, Egypt recalled its
envoy from Israel to protest the bombings in Gaza.
(SFC, 11/22/00, p.A18)
2000 Nov 21, At least 11 people
were left dead after robbers escaped with $361,000 from the National
Bank of Egypt in Maragha following a gun battle with police.
(SFC, 11/22/00, p.C6)
2000 Nov, Egypt’s Constitutional
court ruled that men cannot block women from obtaining passports.
Husbands, however could refuse to sign the passports.
(SFC, 9/28/01, p.D3)
c2000 The new library at
Alexandria opened.
(WSJ, 6/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Tharwat Salah Shehata gave up
as head of the Egyptian Jihad and Dr. Zawahri resumed control.
(WSJ, 7/2/02, p.A8)
2001 Apr 2, Pres. Bush met with
Egypt’s Pres. Mubarak and both pledged to continue searching for an end
to Middle East violence.
(WSJ, 4/3/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 28, Shimon Peres,
Israel’s foreign minister, traveled to Cairo to discuss objections to
the Jordanian-Egyptian Middle East peace initiative.
(SFC, 4/28/01, p.A12)
2001 May 7, It was reported that
Shaaban Abdel Rehim, an Egyptian singer, had a big hit with his song "I
Hate Israel."
(SFC, 5/7/01, p.C1)
2001 May 11, Cairo authorities
arrested 52 males aboard a riverboat restaurant for homosexual
activities. [see Sep 18]
(SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)
2001 May 21, In Cairo Saad Eddin
Ibrahim, an Egyptian American human rights campaigner, was sentenced to
7 years in prison of charges of tarnishing Egypt’s image, accepting
foreign money and embezzling funds. His conviction was overturned Dec
3, 2002.
(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A10)(SFC, 12/4/02, p.A19)
2001 Jun 17, The Cairo weekly Al
Nabaa published a sex scandal along with pictures at the Coptic
Christian Muhariq monastery in Assiut between former monk Adel
Saadallah Gabriel and an unidentified woman. Publisher Mamdouh Mahran
was charged with disturbing the peace. Al-Nabaa was banned from
publishing on July 5 and Mahran faced charges of sedition.
(SFC, 6/30/01, p.A8)(SFC, 7/6/01, p.D4)
2001 Jul 18, A trial began for 52
men arrested on charges of obscene behavior and contempt of religion.
The men were arrested May 11 at the Queen Boat nightclub in Cairo. On
Nov 14, 23 men were sentenced up to 5 years in prison and 29 were
acquitted. In 2002 Pres. Mubarak tossed out the verdicts against all
but 2 of the 52 defendants.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A12)(SFC, 11/15/01, p.A19)(SFC,
5/31/02, p.A13)
2001 Aug 24, Pope Shenouda III,
the 117th successor of St. Mark and head of the 12-million member
Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church, was denied access to a site in Marin,
Ca., where a new monastery was planned.
(SFC, 8/25/01, p.A10)
2001 Sep 18, In Cairo a
15-year-old boy was sentenced to 3 years in prison for practicing
homosexuality. [see May 11]
(SFC, 9/19/01, p.B4)
2001 Sep 25, Interpol issued a
bulletin for the arrest of Ayman al-Zawahri (50), an Egyptian surgeon
believed to be Osama bin Laden’s closest al Qaeda associate in
Afghanistan.
(SFC, 9/27/01, p.A8)
2001 Oct, The US-Egypt Bright Star
war games involved 23,759 US troops and 43,350 Egyptian troops. The
annual games began 20 years ago. 8 other nations participated with some
564 soldiers apiece.
(SFC, 1/18/02, p.A29)
2001 Nov 2, A US classified memo
to Congress notified lawmakers that the Bush administration planned a
$400 million arms deal with Egypt that included 53 Harpoon Block II
surface-to-surface satellite guided missiles.
(SFC, 11/27/01, p.A5)
2001 Nov 19, Egypt and Syria
confirmed the extradition of Rifai Ahmed Taha, a former aide to Osama
bin Laden, from Syria to Egypt.
(SFC, 11/20/01, p.A12)
2001 Egypt’s economy expanded
about 3.2% in 2001 and 2002.
(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A7)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported that
Egypt required female graduates of secondary schools, exempt from the
military draft, to spend 6 months in a service program.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A3)
2002 Jan 21, In Alexandria, Egypt,
a small group of leading rabbis, Muslim clerics and bishops signed the
Alexandria Doctrine, which condemned violence and insisted that holy
places be kept open.
(http://tinyurl.com/2pey69)(Econ, 11/3/07, SR p.13)
2002 Jan 30, The 3.5-ton satellite
Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUNE), launched in 1992, broke up in
Earth’s atmosphere over Egypt. It had surveyed the entire Milky Way and
beyond and transmitted date until Jan 31 2001.
(SFC, 1/30/02,
p.A2)(www.cbc.ca/health/story/2002/01/31/satellite020131.html)
2002 Feb 6, Egypt won a pledge for
$10 billion in aid from 37 donor nations.
(SFC, 2/8/02, p.A12)
2002 Feb 19, In Cairo, Egypt, an
overcrowded train en route from Cairo to the southern city of Luxor
burst into flames from a gas cannister. It then traveled 2 1/2 miles
before the driver stopped. 361 people were killed.
(SFC, 2/20/02, p.A9)(SFC, 2/21/02, p.A8)(AFP,
5/27/04)
2002 Mar 2, Egypt’s Pres. Mubarek
(73) began a 4-day visit to the US.
(SSFC, 3/3/02, p.A19)
2002 Mar 5, Pres. Bush met with
Egypt’s Pres. Mubarek, who called for greater US involvement in seeking
Middle East peace.
(SFC, 3/5/02, p.A11)(SFC, 3/6/02, p.A13)
2002 Mar 9, In Cairo Arab foreign
ministers met and voiced support for a Middle East peace proposal by
Saudi Arabia.
(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.A16)
2002 Mar 18, Van Leo (80),
Armenian-born Egyptian photographer (Leon Boyadjian), died. His
portraits gave Egypt’s beggars, strippers and the elite the look of
Hollywood film stars.
(SFC, 3/22/02,
p.A27)(http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2002/579/cu6.htm)
2002 Apr 3, Israeli tanks entered
the Wet Bank cities of Jenin, Salfeet and Nablus. At least 1 Israeli
soldier and 12 Palestinians were killed. Gunners from Lebanon’s
Hezbollah exchanged artillery and mortar fire with Israeli troops.
Scores of Palestinian gunmen were holed up in the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem. The Egyptian government announced a cutoff of
official contacts with Israel. Syria shifted 20,000 troops in Lebanon
toward the Lebanese-Syrian border reportedly in accord with the 1989
Taif agreement.
(SFC, 4/3/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/4/02, p.A1,13)(WSJ,
4/4/02, p.A1)
2002 Apr 9, Sec. of State Colin
Powell met with Pres. Mubarek in Egypt and stated that he would meet
with Yasser Arafat. Some 10,000 demonstrated in Alexandria and one
protester was killed by police.
(SFC, 4/10/02, p.A18)(SFC, 4/17/02, p.A14)
2002 May 7, An EgyptAir Boeing 737
with 62 people crashed in bad weather near Tunis. 14 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A15)(AP, 5/7/03)
2002 Jun 8, Pres. Bush met with
Egypt’s Pres. Hosni Mubarek, who said Middle East violence would
continue until Israel withdraws from Palestinian territory and hope for
a future is restored to the Palestinian people.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.A12)
2002 Jun 11, Tahseen Basheer (77),
a veteran diplomat who served as official spokesman for two of Egypt's
late presidents died.
(AP, 6/12/02)
2002 Jul 5, In southern Egypt a
minibus and a truck collided head-on, killing all 18 people aboard the
bus.
(AP, 7/5/02)
2002 Jul 30, In Egypt a military
court convicted 16 members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group,
mostly academics and professionals, on charges of conspiring against
the government and sentenced them to up to five years in prison.
(AP, 7/30/02)
2002 Aug 10, In rural Upper Egypt
3 gunmen ambushed two vehicles, killing 22 members of a rival family.
(AP, 8/10/02)
2002 Sep 9, In Egypt a military
court convicted 51 men in one of the country’s biggest cases against
Muslim militants in years and sentenced them to two to 15 years in
prison. The group was dubbed al-Wa’ad (the Promise).
(AP, 9/9/02)(SFC, 9/10/02, p.A11)
2002 Sep 17, Pres. Mubarak named
his son, Gamal, to third most powerful member of NDP's secretariat
despite repeated denials he is not grooming his son to succeed him as
president.
(AP, 7/9/04)
2002 Oct 14, Gen. Adel Labib, gov.
of Qena Province in southern Egypt, ordered a ban on shisha (water
pipe) smoking.
(SSFC, 10/27/02, p.F7)
2002 Oct 16, Egypt inaugurated the
new $230 million Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a modern version of the
ancient library known for a freedom of thought and expression lacking
in today's Middle East. It was funded mostly by Iraq, the UAR and Saudi
Arabia. The planned capacity was 4 million books.
(SFC, 5/30/02, p.D11)(AP, 10/16/02)
2002 Nov, Egypt state television
planned to air a 41-part series titled "Horseman Without a Horse,"
about a journalist’s efforts to uncover the truth behind an alleged
Jewish plot to conquer the world. "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
were 1st printed in 1897. They were copied from a novel by Hermann
Goedsche and believed to be concocted by the secret police of Czar
Nicholas II. Goedsche claimed a secret group of rabbis were plotting to
take over the world. His story was based on Maurice Joly’s "Dialogues
in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu."
(SFC, 10/24/02, p.A9)
2002 Nov 6, A bus carrying workers
home for an Islamic holiday collided with a truck and overturned east
of Cairo, killing 24 people and wounding 25 others.
(AP, 11/6/02)
2002 Nov 12, In Egypt a court
sentenced Mohammed el-Wakil, the news director of a state-owned
television station, to 18 years of hard labor in prison on bribery and
drug charges.
(AP, 11/13/02)
2002 Nov 16, Hussein Bicar
(89), Egypt's well-known portrait artist and painter, died.
(AP, 11/17/02)
2002 Egypt expelled Amr Khaled, a
Muslim minister, for attracting large crowds at Cairo mosques. Khaled
moved to the US and beamed TV programs to Egypt and the rest of the
Arab world. His broadcast aired on Iqra, a Saudi-owned religious
satellite channel and he spoke out against terrorism and despair.
(SSFC, 2/26/06, p.A15)
2002 Egypt’s economy expanded
about 3.2% in 2001 and 2002. The population stood at about 67 million.
(WSJ, 1/18/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 8/6/04, p.A7)
2003 Jan 7, In Egypt Orthodox
Christmas was marked for the first time as a national holiday in this
predominantly Muslim nation.
(AP, 1/7/03)
2003 Feb 17, American CIA
operatives snatched Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu
Omar) from his house in Milan and took him to Egypt, where he was
jailed, tortured and released. In 2005 an Italian judge ordered the
arrest of 13 American suspects on charges of kidnapping. In 2009 Nasr
asked for euro10 million (nearly $15 million) in damages from the
American and Italian defendants charged in his abduction.
(Econ, 7/2/05, p.48)(AP, 10/7/09)(SFC, 10/8/09, p.A2)
2003 Feb 27, In Egypt tens
of thousands gathered for an anti-war demonstration in Cairo.
(SFC, 2/28/03, A20)
2003 Mar 1, Arab leaders
held a summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The UAR became the 1st Arab
country to call for Sadam Hussein to step down.
(SSFC, 3/2/03, A8)
2003 Jun 3, In Egypt Arab leaders
met with President Bush as he plunged into the labyrinth of Mideast
peace talks. They pledged to fight terror and violence and called on
Israel to "rebuild trust and restore normal Palestinian life."
(AP, 6/3/03)
2003 Sep 16, Mohammed Abdel Qader
and his brother were summoned to a Cairo police station by Captain
Ashraf Safwat. Abdel Qader died five days later and an autopsy gave
torture by electric shock combined with a weak heart as the cause of
death.
(AFP, 2/1/07)
2003 Oct 11, A team of 18 doctors
in Dallas, Texas, began a complicated separation surgery in an attempt
to give Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim, 2-year-old conjoined twins from
Egypt, a chance at independent lives. The 34-hour went well.
(AP, 10/11/03)(SSFC, 10/11/03, p.A2)(SFC, 10/14/03,
p.A3)
2003 Dec 4, Palestinians opened
formal talks in Egypt aimed at forging a cease-fire they hope will
induce Israel to halt its attacks on militants and lead to renewed
peace negotiations.
(AP, 12/4/03)(WSJ, 12/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 10, The presidents of
Egypt and Iran met for the 1st time since 1979. Iran's rulers
authorized the signing of a UN nuclear deal.
(WSJ, 12/11/03, p.A1)
2003 Dec 22, Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Maher (68) was attacked by Islamic extremists at the Al
Axsa mosque in Jerusalem. He said the incident would only strengthen
his country's resolve to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
(AP, 12/23/03)(SFC, 12/23/03, p.A3)
2003 Raymond William Baker
authored “Islam Without Fear: Egypt and the New Islamists.”
(SFC, 7/10/04, p.A11)
2004 Jan 2, Kemal el-Sheik (85),
Egyptian film director celebrated for a career that spanned nearly five
decades, died.
(AP, 1/2/04)
2004 Jan 3, An Egyptian Air Flash,
Boeing 737, carrying 148 people, most of them French tourists on New
Year family holidays, crashed into the Red Sea off the resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh, killing all on board.
(AP, 1/3/04)(SFC, 1/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 6, Egypt and Iran agreed
to restore diplomatic ties sundered in 1979.
(WSJ, 1/7/04, p.A1)
2004 Jan 26, In Egypt an 11-story
building collapsed in Nasr City, a Cairo suburb, during a fire and at
least 14 people, mostly firefighters and police responding to a blaze,
were killed.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Jan 29, Egypt expelled
American journalist Charles Levinson. He had written articles on
torture and deaths in Egyptian prisons. Levinson was allowed to return
in February.
(SFC, 2/19/04, p.A14)(SFC, 2/21/04, p.A2)
2004 Feb 9, An Egyptian enraged at
the events in the Middle East stabbed 2 foreign tourists in Cairo’s
historic Ghawriya district.
(WSJ, 10/11/04, p.A17)
2004 Feb 27, In Egypt Izzat
Mohammed Hamid, a clan leader in a southern town, threatened to kill
scores of hostages if police should attempt a rescue. The band seized
the hostages during a shootout with authorities who had been trying to
arrest fugitives wanted for drug trafficking and other crimes.
(AP, 2/27/04)
2004 Feb 28, Egyptian security
forces attacked gunmen who had taken an estimated 80 people hostage in
a southern Egyptian town. Some of the captives were feared dead.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 May 27, In Egypt 5 people
were burned to death and 14 others injured when a gas canister, carried
by a passenger, blew up on a commuter bus in Cairo.
(AFP, 5/28/04)
2004 May, The Muslim Brotherhood
announced its intention to form a human rights organization with
members from other political parties.
(SFC, 7/10/04, p.A11)
2004 Jun 3, The United States
signed an agreement to give Egypt $300 million to compensate it for
"regional unrest" stemming from last year's war in Iraq.
(AP, 6/4/04)
2004 Jun 5, The European
Investment Bank (EIB) granted a loan of 100 million euros (122 million
dollars) to Egypt's state-run natural gas holding company (EGAS) to
finance pipeline construction in Jordan.
(AFP, 6/6/04)
2004 Jun 22, In Egypt a 5-story
apartment building collapsed in the southern city of Aswan, killing at
least 13. Eight residents remain missing.
(AP, 6/22/04)(AP, 6/23/04)
2004 Jul 9, In Egypt President
Hosni Mubarak's cabinet resigned and the longtime leader appointed
technocrat Ahmed Nazief (Nazif), a relative outsider, to replace Atef
Obeid as prime minister, further consolidating his power at a time of
growing calls for political, social and economic change. Half of the 26
regional governors were also replaced.
(AP, 7/9/04)(Econ, 7/17/04, p.47)
2004 Jul 19, An Egyptian truck
driver held hostage for two weeks by insurgents in Iraq was freed and
taken to the Egyptian Embassy.
(AP, 7/19/04)
2004 Jul 23, Iraqi insurgents in
Baghdad kidnapped Muhammad Mamdouh Qutb, a 3rd ranking official of the
Egyptian Embassy, demanding his country abandon any plans it had to
send security experts to Iraq.
(SFC, 7/24/04, p.A13)(AP, 7/23/05)
2004 Jul 26, An Egyptian diplomat
held hostage by militants in Iraq for three days was released and was
in good condition.
(AP, 7/26/04)
2004 Sep 2, Egypt's antiquities
chief revealed a 2,500-year-old hidden tomb under the shadow of one of
Giza's three giant pyramids.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Sep 11, Egypt claimed that
its regional and international clout qualify it for a permanent seat on
an expanded U.N. Security Council.
(AP, 9/11/04)
2004 Sep 11, Petros VII, the
Christian Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, was killed after an army
helicopter that was transporting him and his entourage to a monastic
enclave in northern Greece crashed in the sea. The helicopter carried
12 passengers and 4 crew.
(AP, 9/11/04)
2004 Oct 1, US aid to Egypt for
fiscal 2005 began. The budget request of $535 million was down $40
million from 2004.
(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.A13)
2004 Sep 15, The Egyptian and
Syrian presidents linked calls by the UN and fellow Arab leaders for
Syrian troops to leave Lebanon to past UN resolutions demanding that
Israeli pull out of the West Bank and Golan Heights.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Sep 19, In northern Egypt a
pickup truck and a minibus collided head on a rural road, killing 13
people and injuring 10.
(CP, 9/19/04)
2004 Sep 22, Six members of the
same family were hanged in Egypt after being convicted for the
revenge-killing of 22 members of a rival family two years ago.
(AP, 9/22/04)
2004 Sep 22, In Iraq kidnappers
seized 4 Egyptians and four Iraqis working for the country's mobile
phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)
2004 Sep 23, Egypt’s ruling
National Democratic Party ended its annual conference and announced
that income and corporate taxes would be halved with top rates capped
at 20%.
(Econ, 9/25/04, p.61)
2004 Sep 23, In Iraq kidnappers
seized 2 more Egyptian construction engineers working for the country's
mobile phone company.
(AP, 9/24/04)(SFC, 9/25/04, p.A1)
2004 Oct 7, A car bomb at Egypt’s
Taba Hilton killed at least 35 people on the last day of the Jewish
holiday of Sukkot. The attack was quickly followed by two more car
bombings outside beach-bungalow camps south of Taba. The next day
Israeli officials said they believe al-Qaida was probably behind 3
suicide car bomb attacks targeting Red Sea resorts filled with Israeli
tourists. It was later reported that all 4 bombers who attacked the
resorts escaped on foot minutes before their vehicles exploded.
(AP, 10/8/04)(SFC, 10/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 10/13/04)
2004 Oct 25, Egyptian authorities
said a Palestinian refugee plotted the co-ordinated bombings targeting
Israeli tourists at resorts in the Sinai and accidentally killed
himself while carrying out the deadliest blast. Egypt announced it had
arrested five of the nine men who bombed Red Sea resorts almost three
weeks ago, saying the attackers used stolen cars packed with old
war-time explosives and a washing-machine timer.
(AP, 10/25/04)
2004 Oct 27, The Egyptian
government approved the creation of a political party headed by a young
ambitious lawyer, in only the third time that a new party was
authorized there in almost three decades. Al-Ghad became Egypt's 18th
party.
(AFP, 10/27/04)
2004 Nov 7, In Egypt a passenger
bus returning from Saudi Arabia collided with a truck, killing 33
people.
(AP, 11/8/04)
2004 Nov 12, Kings, princes and
presidents from across the world paid a last tribute to Yasser Arafat
at a military funeral in Cairo. Arafat was interned in Ramallah before
a sea of mourners.
(AP, 11/12/04)(SFC, 11/13/04, p.A17)
2004 Nov 13, Egypt released 200
Islamic militants to mark Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadean fests. Egypt
newspapers reported that some 700 members of the al-Gama'a al-Islamiya
had been released from prison in recent days. The Islamist group
fought the government in the 1990s but has since renounced violence.
(Reuters, 11/14/04)(AP, 11/15/04)
2004 Nov 17, Millions of locusts
swarmed into northern Egypt for the first time in 50 years, prompting
authorities to order emergency pesticide spraying to protect the
region's important agriculture industry.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 18, Israeli troops killed
three Egyptian policemen mistaken for Palestinian militants along the
Gaza-Egypt border.
(AP, 11/18/04)
2004 Nov 30, The 28th Cairo
International Film Festival, the biggest in the Middle East, opened
with US and British films excluded from competition for "technical"
reasons.
(AP, 11/28/04)
2004 Dec 5, Egypt freed an Israeli
Arab businessman convicted of spying in exchange for Israel's release
of six Egyptian students.
(AP, 12/5/04)
2004 Dec 8, In Cairo, Egypt,
several thousand Christians who packed a cathedral compound hurled
stones at riot police to protest a woman's alleged forced conversion to
Islam. At least 30 people were injured.
(AP, 12/9/04)
2004 Dec 14, Egypt and Israel
signed a first joint trade accord with the United States since their
historic peace treaty 25 years ago.
(AP, 12/14/04)
2004 Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian
businessman, started the Middle East’s 1st non-government,
non-satellite television station in Iraq.
(WSJ, 4/18/05, p.B1)
2004 In Egypt Kefaya, a loose
gathering of mainly Nasserist and communist activists, was formed. It
struggled to make an impact beyond its street protests since the regime
started loosening the noose slightly on the political scene.
(AP, 12/13/05)
2005 Jan 1, Egypt was forecast for
3% annual GDP growth with a population at 74.6 million and GDP per head
at $1,030.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.94)
2005 Jan 4, Diplomats said the
U.N. atomic watchdog agency has found evidence of secret nuclear
experiments in Egypt that could be used in weapons programs.
(AP, 1/4/05)
2005 Jan 27, Egypt admitted to
failing to signal a "number of research experiments" to the IAEA, after
diplomats said the agency was investigating an Egyptian lab that could
be used to make plutonium, a nuclear weapons material.
(AFP, 2/14/05)
2005 Jan 31, in Egypt Ayman
al-Nur, the head of an opposition party, denounced his arrest on
forgery charges, telling a court it was a strike against political
reform, while human rights groups said the moves against him could be a
message to other opposition groups.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 1, Egyptian security
forces clashed with Islamic militants in the mountains of Sinai,
killing a suspect in last year's deadly bombings of beach resorts on
the peninsula.
(AP, 2/1/05)
2005 Feb 5, Egyptian police killed
two suspected militants wanted in last year's Sinai bombings following
clashes in Egypt's Sinai peninsula desert.
(AP, 2/5/05)
2005 Feb 6, Four Egyptians working
for a mobile phone company were abducted by gunmen in Baghdad, and
Islamic militants threatened to kill an Italian journalist Feb 7 unless
Italy agrees to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 2/6/05)
2005 Feb 8, In Sharm El-Sheik,
Egypt, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas declared that their people would stop all military and
violent attacks against each other, pledging to get peace talks back on
track. The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it would not be bound
by the cease-fire declarations.
(AP, 2/8/05)
2005 Feb 8, Cairo’s 2-week book
fair ended. During the two-week fair, police confiscated leftist books
and arrested three people protesting any renewal of Hosni Mubarak's
presidency.
(AP, 2/9/05)
2005 Feb 14, The UN atomic
monitoring agency said Egypt's nuclear experiments were small, basic
and do not appear part of an attempt to make weapons, praising Cairo's
cooperation with an investigation of the country's now mothballed
clandestine activities.
(AP, 2/14/05)
2005 Feb 19, Libyan leader Moamer
Kadhafi and Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak backed an African solution to
the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region during 2 rounds of talks in Cairo.
(AFP, 2/19/05)
2005 Feb 21, Over 500 people
rallied in Cairo to protest against a new term in office for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and against moves to enable his son Gamal to
succeed him.
(AFP, 2/21/05)
2005 Feb 22, A US human rights
advocacy group said the Egyptian government had shown a "shameless"
lack of accountability by failing to name the 2,400 people it had
detained for the Oct 7 Sinai terror attacks. Relatives were not told
where they are held.
(AP, 2/22/05)(WSJ, 2/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 23, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak said that he expects further Syrian troop redeployments
in Lebanon, and he dispatched his intelligence chief to Damascus to
meet with President Bashar Assad to discuss increasing American and
European pressure on Syria.
(AP, 2/23/05)
2005 Feb 25, Atef Sedki (75),
former PM of Egypt (1986-1996), died. He helped steer Egypt toward a
market-oriented economy.
(AP, 2/25/05)
2005 Feb 26, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak ordered a revision of the country's election laws and
said multiple candidates could run in the nation's presidential
elections.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Mar 3, An Arab League meeting
opened in Cairo. An Arab diplomat said Syria has told Arab countries it
needs to keep 3,000 troops and early-warning stations inside Lebanon to
maintain its security despite international pressure for a full
withdrawal. Saudi Arabia told Syria to withdraw its troops.
(AP, 3/3/05)(SFC, 3/4/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 9, Egypt’s parliament
agreed to amend the Constitution to allow for 1st time multi-candidate
balloting.
(SFC, 3/10/05, p.A3)
2005 Mar 12, Ayman Nour, Egyptian
opposition leader and presidential hopeful, walked out of Cairo's
central security headquarters and was whisked to the shoulders of his
supporters after posting bail.
(AP, 3/12/05)
2005 Mar 25, In Cairo, Egypt, the
new $30 million, 74-acre Al-Azhar, was inaugurated under the auspices
of Aga Khan.
(SFC, 3/12/05, p.F1)
2005 Mar 27, A Cairo court
sentenced an Egyptian to 35 years in prison after finding him guilty of
spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and planning to assassinate
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The court gave Mahmoud Eid Mohamed
Dabbous 10 years in prison for spying for a foreign state and another
25 years for plotting to kill Mubarak.
(Reuters, 3/27/05)
2005 Mar 27, Egyptian police
detained about 200 members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood,
before and during an attempt to protest outside parliament in favor of
reform.
(AP, 3/28/05)
2005 Mar 27, Ahmed Zaki (55), one
of Egypt's most acclaimed actors, died. He portrayed former Egyptian
presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat.
(AP, 3/27/05)
2005 Apr 4, About 300 university
students staged a rowdy protest in downtown Cairo calling for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak to step down and further democratic reforms.
(AP, 4/5/05)
2005 Apr 7, A bomb blast rocked a
Cairo bazaar popular with foreigners. An American tourist died the next
day from wounds sustained in a bomb blast raising the death toll to
three. Hassan Rafaat Ahmed Bashandi (17-18), was carrying almost 7
pounds of TNT in a leather bag filled with nails when it exploded
prematurely.
(AP, 4/8/05)(AP, 4/11/05)
2005 Apr 17, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak and Ethiopian PM Meles Zenawi discussed joint projects to
allow their respective countries to benefit from the waters of the Nile
River.
(AFP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 17, Egypt's Interior
Ministry identified 4 men it accused of training a bomber who killed
three tourists and himself in a Cairo bazaar.
(AP, 4/17/05)
2005 Apr 26, President Vladimir
Putin started the first visit to Egypt by a Russian head of state in
more than 40 years, in an effort to reinforce Moscow's political and
economic ties with the Arab world.
(AFP, 4/26/05)
2005 Apr 27, Hundreds of
pro-democracy activists protested in 15 Egyptian cities and towns,
drawing out large numbers of riot police who briefly detained 75
protesters.
(AP, 4/27/05)
2005 Apr 30, In Egypt a bomb blast
and tour bus shooting took place near Cairo tourist sites. A man
identified as a suspect in an April 7 bombing blew himself up as he
leapt off a bridge during a police chase. Less than two hours later 2
veiled women opened fire on a tour bus in a historic part of Cairo and
one of them was killed in a gunbattle with security guards..
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 1, In Egypt police
detained about 200 people from the home villages of 3 attackers
responsible for a bomb blast and tour bus shooting near Cairo tourist
sites the day before.
(AP, 5/1/05)
2005 May 4, Thousands of
supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic
group, protested across the country in an escalation of the opposition
campaign demanding political reform. Police arrested hundreds of
protesters.
(AP, 5/4/05)
2005 May 8, In Alexandria Egypt,
some 3,000 female supporters of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood
gathered to demand democratic reforms.
(AP, 5/8/05)
2005 May 10, Egypt's parliament
overwhelmingly passed a constitutional amendment allowing
multicandidate presidential elections for the first time, but the
opposition denounced the reform, saying it won't shake President Hosni
Mubarak's grip on power.
(AP, 5/10/05)
2005 May 18, Egyptian security
detained 56 men in northern Egypt in the latest of a series of sweeps
against the banned but usually tolerated Muslim Brotherhood.
(AP, 5/18/05)
2005 May 18, President Bush
offered his unqualified support for Egypt's political reform process as
he received PM Ahmed Nazief at the White House.
(AP, 5/18/06)
2005 May 19, In Egypt authorities
detained 14 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the south
in a crackdown on the large Islamist movement. The number of detained
rose to more than 780.
(Reuters, 5/20/05)
2005 May 20, Ashraf Saeed Youssef
(27), ringleader of 3 recent attacks that targeted Western tourists in
Egypt, died in the Cairo hospital he'd been transferred to a week ago
for treatment after hitting his head several times against the wall of
his prison cell.
(AP, 5/21/05)
2005 May 22, Egyptian authorities
arrested the 4th-highest official in the powerful Muslim Brotherhood
and 25 others. Mahmoud Ezzat, secretary-general of the Islamist group
and head of its Cairo operations, is the highest-profile Brotherhood
arrest since 1996.
(AP, 5/22/05)
2005 May 25, In Egypt police and
plainclothes security men beat and arrested demonstrators calling for a
boycott of a government-backed referendum on constitutional changes
that would clear the way for Egypt's first multicandidate presidential
election.
(AP, 5/25/05)
2005 May 26, Officials announced
that a nationwide referendum to open the way for Egypt's first
multicandidate presidential elections passed overwhelmingly.
(AP, 5/26/05)
2005 Jul 1, Egypt and Israel
signed a commercial agreement committing Egypt to export natural gas to
Israel.
(Econ, 3/28/09,
p.56)(www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/egisgas.html)
2005 Jun 7, In Egypt 12 people,
including two children, were killed and 16 injured when a building
collapsed in Egypt's Mediterranean city of Alexandria.
(AP, 6/8/05)
2005 Jun 17, Egyptian security
forces in the Sinai mountains clashed with suspects in deadly attacks
last year on Red Sea resorts. Security officials said a soldier and a
fugitive were killed and four other soldiers were wounded.
(AP, 6/18/05)
2005 Jun 22, Egyptian police
opened the streets of north Cairo to political protests against and in
favor of President Hosni Mubarak, giving the opposition a chance to
argue their case with ordinary people.
(Reuters, 6/22/05)
2005 Jun 26, In Egypt some 200
demonstrators gathered outside state security headquarters in Cairo to
protest torture.
(AP, 6/26/05)
2005 Jun 28, Egypt ordered five
public sector company bosses to stand trial in a multi-million dollar
corruption case, one of the biggest of its kind in recent years.
(AFP, 6/29/05)
2005 Jun 30, The Muslim
Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic group, launched an alliance
devoted to the peaceful removal of President Hosni Mubarak, who has
been in power since 1981. Several other opposition groups promptly lent
their support to what the Brotherhood has called the an alliance
intended "to exercise peaceful pressure on the regime, through legal
and constitutional means, to make it respond to democratic change."
(AP, 6/30/05)
2005 Jul 2, An Egyptian judicial
report was released that alleged the government forged turnout figures
and forced state employees to fabricate results in a May referendum to
allow first-ever multiparty presidential elections.
(AP, 7/3/05)
2005 Jul 2, Ihab al-Sherif, an
Egyptian envoy, was kidnapped in Baghdad, weeks after arriving in the
country. He was expected to become Iraq's first Arab ambassador since
Iraq's new government took office. Al-Qaida later announced it had
killed him.
(AP, 7/3/05)(AP, 7/2/06)
2005 Jul 4, Egypt replaced the
editors of all the top state-owned publications in the biggest
reshuffle the media houses have seen in nearly 20 years.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 7, Al-Qaida in Iraq said
in a Web statement that it has killed Ihab al-Sherif, Egypt's top envoy
in Iraq, posting a video of the blindfolded diplomat identifying
himself.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 7, Egypt recalled its
staff to Cairo and said it will temporarily shut its diplomatic mission
in Iraq.
(AP, 7/7/05)
2005 Jul 13, Opposition movements
from across Egypt's political spectrum joined in opposition to
President Hosni Mubarak with calls for a boycott of September's
presidential vote.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 13, Egypt announced it
was launching a campaign for the return of five of its most precious
artifacts from museums abroad, including the Rosetta Stone in London
and the graceful bust of Nefertiti in Berlin.
(AP, 7/13/05)
2005 Jul 15, An official said
police in Egypt said they had arrested Magdy el-Nashar (33), an
Egyptian biochemist, sought in the probe of the London bombings. He was
taken into custody upon his arrival in Cairo from abroad.
(AP, 7/15/05)
2005 Jul 17, Egypt demanded that
institutions in Britain and Belgium return two pharaonic reliefs it
says were chipped off tombs and stolen 30 years ago, threatening to end
their archaeological work here if they refuse.
(AP, 7/17/05)
2005 Jul 19, Egypt said that Magdy
el-Nashar, the detained chemist wanted by Britain for questioning about
the London bombings, had no links to the July 7 attacks or to al-Qaida.
(AP, 7/19/05)
2005 Jul 23, In Egypt a rapid
series of car bombs and another blast ripped through a luxury hotel and
a coffeeshop in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, killing
at least 83 people. The Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, a group citing ties
to al-Qaida, claimed responsibility for the bombings. The previously
unknown Mujahedi Masr or "Holy Warriors of Egypt" group disputed the
claims of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, al-Qaida, and said five of its
own members died carrying out seven explosions.
(AP, 7/23/05)(AP, 7/24/05)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.40)
2005 Jul 23, Kristina Miller (27)
of Peachtree City, Ga., was the only American killed in the
blasts at the Egyptian resort at Sharm el-Sheik.
(AP, 7/27/05)
2005 Jul 24, In Egypt an explosive
detonated as it was being carried by Sami Gamal Ahmad (33), to the
tourist area of Kerdassa, a bazaar of souvenir shops near the Pyramids
of Giza. Ahmad was severely injured.
(AP, 7/24/05)
2005 Jul 26, Investigators have
identified a suicide bomber in the weekend attacks that killed scores
in this Red Sea resort, saying he was an Egyptian with Islamic militant
ties. DNA tests identified him as Youssef Badran, an Egyptian Sinai
resident.
(AP, 7/26/05)
2005 Jul 26, A third previously
unknown Islamist group, Tawhid and Jihad Group in Egypt, claimed
responsibility on the Internet for the bomb attacks on Egypt's Sharm
el-Sheikh resort in which as many as 88 people were killed. It said it
was responsible for bomb attacks that ripped through the resort town of
Taba last October, killing 34 people.
(AP, 7/26/05)(Econ, 7/30/05, p.40)
2005 Jul 28, President Hosni
Mubarak announced his bid to run in Egypt's first multicandidate
elections on Sept. 7, promising new legislation to "besiege" terrorism
and replace the country's much-criticized emergency laws.
(AP, 7/28/05)
2005 Jul 28, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak called for an extraordinary Arab summit to be held in
Sharm el-Sheikh on August 3, just days after the deadly attacks in the
Red Sea resort.
(AFP, 7/28/05)
2005 Jul 30, In Egypt police and
government supporters beat pro-reform activists with batons, sometimes
kicking them as they on lay the ground, during a protest against
President Hosni Mubarak's announcement that he would run for
re-election for a fifth time.
(AP, 7/30/05)
2005 Aug 1, Egyptian police
cornered a main suspect in the Sharm el-Sheik bombings in his mountain
hideout and killed him in a shootout that also fatally wounded his
wife. The couple's 4-year-old daughter also was wounded.
(AP, 8/1/05)
2005 Aug 14, Egypt’s Interior
Ministry announced that it had identified those responsible for the
July 23 terrorist attack at Sharm el-Sheik.
(SFC, 8/15/05, p.A3)
2005 Aug 15, In Egypt’s the Sinai
Peninsula a crude roadside bomb blasted a vehicle belonging to
international peacekeepers, lightly wounding two Canadians.
(AP, 8/15/05)
2005 Aug 18, Egyptian police
detained Hassan el-Arishi, a suspected mastermind behind the July 23
deadly attacks in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
(AP, 8/19/05)
2005 Aug 21, Egyptian police
arrested 300 people as security forces deployed 2,100 men backed by
armored vehicles in the Sinai Peninsula for a massive sweep through the
rugged desert region in search of terrorists involved in a series of
recent bombings.
(AP, 8/22/05)
2005 Aug 23, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak vowed to work towards a long-envisaged free trade
agreement with the US as he called for stronger economic ties with
Washington.
(AFP, 8/23/05)
2005 Aug 24, Egyptian security
forces besieging parts of rugged northern Sinai clashed with gunmen and
arrested 26 people during a massive search for suspects linked to the
recent attacks in the peninsula.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 24, Israel and Egypt
reached an agreement to have 750 Egyptian troops take control of a
volatile Egypt-Gaza border area from Israeli forces.
(AP, 8/24/05)
2005 Aug 25, Two Egyptian police
officers were killed in a bomb blast in the northern Sinai.
(AFP, 8/25/05)
2005 Aug 28, Egyptian authorities
released senior Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Ezzat after holding
him without trial for more than three months. 8 other jailed members of
the banned Muslim Brotherhood also were ordered freed.
(AP, 8/28/05)
2005 Aug 29, Egypt's intelligence
chief met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to shore up the strained
cease-fire with Israel and discuss freedom of movement across Gaza's
borders.
(AP, 8/29/05)
2005 Sep 3, An Egyptian court
ruled that non-governmental groups will be allowed to monitor the
nation's first multi-candidate presidential election next week.
(AP, 9/3/05)
2005 Sep 5, In Egypt an actor
knocked over a candle on a stage filled with billowing paper, starting
a blaze that killed at least 32 people at the Culture Palace in Beni
Suef.
(AP, 9/6/05)
2005 Sep 5, In Egypt a bus in Abu
Swaylim village collided with a car and then plunged into a canal,
killing 7 people, leaving at least 5 missing and presumed drowned, and
injuring 14.
(AP, 9/5/05)
2005 Sep 7, Egyptians voted in the
country's first-ever contested presidential election, but charges of
fraud and a big boycott rally marred balloting that longtime leader
Hosni Mubarak portrayed as a major democratic reform.
(AP, 9/7/05)
2005 Sep 8, In Egypt President
Hosni Mubarak took an overwhelming early lead in his country's
first-ever contested presidential race in a ballot marred by low
turnout and widespread reports of voter intimidation.
(AP, 9/8/05)
2005 Sep 9, Pro-government
newspapers trumpeted President Hosni Mubarak's re-election victory
after preliminary results showed he swept Egypt's first contested race
for his job. The turnout was 23%.
(AP, 9/9/05)(Reuters, 9/9/05)
2005 Sep 10, A defiant Egyptian
opposition ratcheted up the pressure on President Hosni Mubarak, after
he was reelected with the votes of only one-fifth of the electorate.
(AFP, 9/10/05)
2005 Sep 14, Egypt said it had
found an arms-smuggling tunnel under the Gaza border, and Palestinians
crossing the frontier were warned to return by sunset when passport
controls will be reimposed.
(AP, 9/14/05)
2005 Sep 16, Thousands of
Palestinians broke through Egyptian and Palestinian Authority lines on
the Gaza border, pouring into Egypt in defiance of government attempts
to secure the frontier.
(AP, 9/16/05)
2005 Sep 19, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas said the Gaza-Egypt border will reopen only as part of an
international agreement, quashing speculation Egypt and the
Palestinians might operate a crossing without Israel's blessing.
(AP, 9/19/05)
2005 Sep 20, Egyptian police
stopped Palestinians from returning to Gaza, causing a crowd of more
than 1,000 people to gather near the crossing here, as officials from
the two sides met to discuss the border situation.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 20, A US Air Force
officer taking part in a military exercise was killed in a road
accident in northern Egypt.
(AP, 9/20/05)
2005 Sep 23, In Egypt Seoudi Ali
Salem, a Qatari man participating in an informal car race, killed five
people and injured 32 when his speeding car slammed into a crowd
sitting on a grassy median strip on the airport road. Salem fled the
scene with another driver.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 23, Palestinians took
charge of a border for the first time ever, allowing thousands to cross
between the Gaza Strip and Egypt in a temporary opening of the frontier.
(AP, 9/23/05)
2005 Sep 28, Egyptian police in
the Sinai peninsula shot dead two men suspected of organizing bombings
which killed 67 people in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in July.
(AP, 9/29/05)
2005 Oct 11, In Egypt some 3,000
Islamists students staged a demonstration at Cairo Univ. to press for
increased freedom on campus and free and fair union elections next
month.
(AFP, 10/11/05)
2005 Oct 12, In Egypt a sit-in by
hundreds of Sudanese refugees outside the offices of the UNHCR in the
Cairo entered its 14th day, even as the agency insisted it could not
meet their asylum demands. Some 14,400 Sudanese refugees were
registered in Egypt.
(AP, 10/12/05)
2005 Oct 15, Egyptian authorities
ordered the release of a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, Essam
el-Erian, and three other members of the banned Islamic group.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Oct 19, The International
Organization for Migration (IMO) said "Ethiopian women and girls who
migrate to Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and Saudi Arabia suffer from
maltreatment, physical, sexual and emotional abuses," in a report based
on interviews with 443 women returning from the region.
(AP, 10/20/05)
2005 Oct 21, In Alexandria, Egypt,
thousands of Muslims rioted outside a Coptic Christian church to
denounce a play deemed offensive to Islam, prompting police to beat
protesters and fire tear gas into the crowd. 3 people died and more
than 90 were injured. The play, "I Was Blind But Now I Can See," tells
the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes
disillusioned. The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a
play that was performed at the church two years ago.
(Reuters, 10/21/05)
2005 Oct 25, The US deported
Mohammed Abouhalima (41) to Egypt. He had just finished serving an
8-year prison term after being convicted of helping his brother,
Mahmoud, flee New York following the Feb. 26, 1993 attack that killed
six people and wounded more than 1,000.
(AP, 10/27/05)
2005 Oct 28, Egyptian Pres. Hosni
Mubarak held unexpected talks with his beleaguered Syrian counterpart
Bashar Assad to discuss Damascus' crisis with the West over the killing
of a former Lebanese leader.
(AP, 10/28/05)
2005 Nov 1, Two Islamic militants
jailed in the 1981 killing of President Anwar Sadat were released after
more than two decades behind bars. Nageh Ibrahim and Fouad el-Dawalibi
were founding members of al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, once Egypt's largest
Islamic militant group.
(AP, 11/8/05)
2005 Nov 7, The EU agreed to
monitor a Gaza-Egypt border crossing that serves as the main gate to
the world for Palestinians.
(AP, 11/7/05)
2005 Nov 9, Egyptians cast ballots
in their most robustly contested parliamentary election in more than 50
years, but no one expected the vote to unseat the long-dominant party
of President Hosni Mubarak.
(AP, 11/9/05)
2005 Nov 10, Egypt's ruling party
secured the most seats in the first stage of parliamentary balloting,
but the banned Muslim Brotherhood made its mark as well, sending 42
candidates to run-off elections.
(AP, 11/10/05)
2005 Nov 12, In Egypt hundreds of
Sudanese refugees staging a sit-in outside UN offices in Cairo began a
hunger strike to press their case for asylum.
(AFP, 11/12/05)
2005 Nov 16, In Egypt the Muslim
Brotherhood won 20% of the overall vote in the first round of
parliamentary elections, according to initial official results released
after a day of intense runoff balloting. The group is banned but
members as individuals doubled their parliamentary seats to 34. The
ruling party won 112 seats.
(AP, 11/16/05)(WSJ, 11/17/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 19, In Cairo, Egypt,
Shiite and Kurdish delegates stormed out of an Iraqi reconciliation
conference, halting the effort to patch over ethnic and religious fault
lines threatening to drag the country into a full civil war.
(AP, 11/19/05)
2005 Nov 20, Widespread violence
marred the second round of Egypt's parliamentary vote, with police
saying a campaign worker was shot and killed in Alexandria and
witnesses reporting scores of injuries. Police arrested 400 Muslim
Brotherhood activists in a crackdown on the Islamist group.
(AP, 11/20/05)(Reuters, 11/20/05)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt ballot
results showed that the banned Muslim Brotherhood won about a quarter
of the parliamentary seats open in the second round of balloting
despite widespread violence that marred the voting.
(Reuters, 11/21/05)(AP, 11/22/05)
2005 Nov 21, In Egypt Iraqi
leaders backed a Sunni call for a timetable for the withdrawal of
U.S.-led forces and said Iraq's opposition had a "legitimate right" of
resistance. The announcement concluded a reconciliation conference
backed by the Arab League.
(AP, 11/22/05)(SFC, 11/22/05, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/22/05,
p.A1)
2005 Nov 21, Egyptian forces shot
dead Salem Khadr al-Shnub, a Bedouin leader in the Sinai peninsula. He
was wanted over his suspected involvement in a string of deadly
bombings in the area. Two of Shnub's relatives, Sallam Sweilam and
Sallam Sallam Sweilam, were also killed in the clashes.
(AP, 11/21/05)
2005 Nov 23, Egypt's parliamentary
polls claimed a 2nd victim when supporters of a newly-elected MP seized
backers of a losing candidate, tied them to the back of tractors and
dragged them through the streets.
(AFP, 11/23/05)
2005 Nov 25, Palestinian leader
Mahmoud Abbas opened the Gaza-Egypt border in a festive ceremony, a
milestone for the Palestinians who for the first time took control of a
frontier crossing without Israeli veto powers and gained some freedom
of movement.
(AP, 11/25/05)
2005 Nov 26, Police detained at
least 140 members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood as Egyptians voted in a
parliamentary runoff.
(AP, 11/26/05)
2005 Nov 27, In Egypt the outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood captured 29 more seats in weekend parliamentary
runoff elections.
(AP, 11/27/05)
2005 Nov 28, Egyptian police
arrested nearly 200 Muslim Brotherhood activists in a crackdown the
opposition Islamist group said was designed to weaken its chances in
parliamentary elections this week.
(AP, 11/28/05)
2005 Nov 30, The Muslim
Brotherhood said Egyptian police rounded up hundreds of Muslim
Brotherhood organizers in the two days before the last stage of
parliamentary elections, bringing the total in two weeks to over 1,600.
(AP, 11/30/05)
2005 Dec 1, In Egypt riot police
battled voters, killing one person and blocking entry to polling
stations in opposition strongholds in the third and final round of
legislative elections.
(AP, 12/01/05)
2005 Dec 2, Election officials
said that Egypt's leading opposition group did not win any seats
outright in the final round of parliamentary voting, which was marred
by violence and police barring thousands from casting ballots.
(AP, 12/02/05)
2005 Dec 7, In Egypt police fired
tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds trying to break through blockades
of polling stations in an opposition stronghold, the final day of
parliamentary elections, and a hospital official said two people were
killed.
(AP, 12/07/05)
2005 Dec 8, Preliminary results in
Egypt's elections gave the leading opposition group, the Muslim
Brotherhood, a record 19% of the seats in parliament after a four-week
election that counted 11 fatalities.
(AP, 12/08/05)(Reuters, 12/08/05)
2005 Dec 10, Egypt's justice
minister announced that just 26% of registered voters cast ballots in
the month-long parliamentary elections that ended this week. The low
turnout reflected both voter apathy and fear of violence. The ruling
party won 71% of the seats.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 22, Mohammed Mahdi Akef,
the leader of Egypt's main Islamic opposition group, said the Holocaust
was a "myth," and he slammed Western governments for criticizing
disclaimers of the Jewish genocide.
(AP, 12/22/05)
2005 Dec 24, In Egypt a court
sentenced leading government opponent Ayman Nour to five years'
imprisonment for forgery at the end of a year-long judicial process
that has drawn international criticism and strained Egypt's relations
with the US. Nour was freed in 2009.
(AP, 12/24/05)(AP, 2/18/09)
2005 Dec 27, A conference
underlining the gravity of Egypt's landmines problem kicked off in
Cairo, with delegates appealing for international support in the mine
clearing effort. Egypt is one of the most heavily-mined regions in the
world, a legacy of World War II and the Arab-Israeli wars, which left
the northwestern desert infested with an estimated 22 million mines
and other unexploded ordnance (UXOs).
(AFP, 12/28/05)
2005 Dec 30, Egyptian police
turned water cannons on Sudanese war refugees and beat them with
sticks, clearing out a squatters camp in a city park. At least 10
people were killed.
(AP, 12/30/05)
2005 Dec 31, In Egypt President
Hosni Mubarak on Saturday swore in a new Cabinet that retained major
personalities of the previous government, while adding two more
pro-American business figures and installing Egypt's first minister to
wear a headscarf. The government of PM Ahmed Nazif included Aisha Abdul
Hadi, appointed as labor and immigration minister.
(AP, 12/31/06)
2005 Dec 31, In Egypt several
Sudanese migrants injured when police violently cleared a ramshackle
camp died later from their wounds, raising the death toll from the
clash to 25. Sudanese refugees began trickling across the border to
Israel following the clashes.
(AP, 12/31/05)(Econ, 8/25/07, p.45)
2005 Sayed al-Qimani, Egyptian
writer, fearing for his life publicly repented for purported sins and
abandoned writing for some years. His book “Rabb al-Zaman” (God of Our
Time) was marked for banning by the ‘Ulama’, who also sued him for his
views.
(Econ, 8/8/09,
p.53)(www.dayan.org/D&A-Egypt-ami.htm)
2006 Jan 3, A Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman said Egypt will deport 654 Sudanese refugees who were
violently evicted from a protest camp in a Cairo park last week.
(AP, 1/3/06)
2006 Jan 4, Two Egyptian guards
were shot dead at the border with Gaza after armed Palestinians made a
hole in the border wall. Palestinian militants angry at the jailing of
their leader stole two bulldozers and smashed through the border wall
between Gaza and Egypt.
(AP, 1/4/06)
2006 Jan 11, Egypt released 164
Sudanese migrants who were detained last month when police evicted them
from a city park in a violent operation that brought international
condemnation.
(AP, 1/12/06)
2006 Jan 11, In Egypt a tour bus
carrying Australian tourists overturned on a wet highway, killing six
people and injuring at least 24.
(AP, 1/11/06)
2006 Jan 14, Egypt and France were
locked in legal wrangling over a decommissioned aircraft carrier
containing asbestos, leaving the French warship stranded off the
Egyptian coast for the third day running.
(AFP, 1/14/06)
2006 Jan 18, Egypt released 233
Sudanese migrants detained after security forces broke up a protest
camp in a Cairo square last month.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 31, In Egypt 14 tourists
from Hong Kong were killed and 30 wounded when their bus spun off the
road along the Red Sea coast in one of the deadliest crashes involving
foreign nationals in recent years.
(AP, 1/31/06)
2006 Jan, In Egypt El-Kabir (21),
a Cairo minibus driver, intervened in an argument between police and
his cousin. Kabir was arrested by police, who sodomized with a wooden
pole and filmed the incident on video. The tape later made it onto the
Internet and in 2007 a judge ordered 2 police officers into custody
pending trial.
(AP, 1/21/07)
2006 Feb 1, Two top Egyptian
officials called on Hamas to recognize Israel, disarm and honor past
peace deals, the latest sign Arab governments are pushing the militant
group to moderate after its surprise election victory.
(AP, 2/1/06)
2006 Feb 3, An Egyptian passenger
ferry carrying 1,408 people, mostly Egyptian workers returning from
Saudi Arabia, sank in the Red Sea overnight. The 35-year-old ship,
"Al-Salam Boccaccio 98," went down 40 miles off the Egyptian port of
Hurghada between midnight and 2 a.m. Rescue boats picked up at least
362 survivors from the ferry that caught fire and sank in the Red Sea,
apparently so fast there was no time for a distress signal. But more
than 1,000 missing passengers and crew were feared drowned. The report
into the sinking found the ship was overloaded and using forged
documents to hide a shortage of safety equipment. In 2008 an Egyptian
court acquitted in absentia Mamdouh Ismail, the owner of the ferry and
his son, of negligence and corruption. Ismail, is a member of
parliament's upper house, and his son Amr was a top executive in the
ferry company. In 2009 Mamdouh Ismail was convicted of involuntary
manslaughter and negligence and sentenced to seven years in prison.
(AP, 2/3/06)(AP, 2/4/06)(AP, 4/19/06)(AP,
7/27/08)(AP, 3/11/09)
2006 Feb 8, Egypt's antiquities
chief announced that American archaeologists from the Univ. of Memphis
have uncovered an 18th Dynasty tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, the
first uncovered there since King Tutankhamen’s in 1922. The 18th
Dynasty ruled from around 1560 B.C. to 1085 B.C.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 9, Two masked gunmen shot
out the tires of a diplomatic vehicle and kidnapped Egypt's military
attache to the Palestinian Authority, in a brazen daylight abduction
just outside the heavily guarded Egyptian mission in Gaza City.
(AP, 2/9/06)
2006 Feb 11, An Egyptian diplomat
abducted at gunpoint in the Gaza Strip was released.
(AP, 2/11/06)
2006 Feb 14, The Egyptian
parliament approved the two-year postponement of municipal polls
despite objections from opposition Islamists and the US. President
Hosni Mubarak issued a decree last week calling for the delay of the
elections which was passed by parliament's upper chamber on Feb 12 and
approved this day in two readings by the lower chamber.
(AFP, 2/15/06)
2006 Feb 16, Egypt confirmed its
first cases of H5N1 bird flu.
(Reuters, 2/17/06)
2006 Feb 22, Imprisoned Egyptian
opposition leader Ayman Nour asked US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice to look into whether Egypt can benefit from a US offer to help
developing countries develop nuclear energy.
(AP, 2/22/06)
2006 Feb 26, Egypt's antiquities
chief said archaeologists had discovered a pharaonic sun temple with
large statues believed to be of King Ramses II (1270-1213BC) under an
outdoor marketplace in Cairo.
(AP, 2/26/06)
2006 Feb 27, In Egypt an official
said a Liberian-flagged tanker, Grigoroussa 1, lost 3,000 tons of heavy
fuel in the Suez Canal after a collision with a quay caused a leak.
(AFP, 2/27/06)
2006 Mar 3, Egypt arrested Rashad
Bayyumi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader, along with 7 members of Egypt's
main opposition group. Bayyumi sits on the Brotherhood's 13-member
Guidance Bureau. 3 more members were arrested the next day.
(AFP, 3/4/06)
2006 Mar 3, Scientists reported
the discovery of a 19-mile wide crater in Egypt’s Sahara desert. The
newfound crater, named Kebira, was likely carved by a space rock that
was itself roughly 0.75 miles wide in an event that would have been
quite a shock, destroying everything for hundreds of miles. It was
discovered in satellite images by Boston University researchers Farouk
El-Baz and Eman Ghoneim.
(http://tinyurl.com/rukmd)
2006 Mar 5, Egyptian security
forces arrested three more members of the Muslim Brotherhood, taking to
15 the number of Islamists from the banned opposition group arrested in
the last few days.
(AP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 10, Tamer Yusri Yassin,
who worked in Qatar and is considered the founder of a group of 14
people involved in terrorist attacks, was allegedly extradited to Egypt
from Qatar. The next day Qatar denied that Yassin was extradited.
Yassin was one of 14 people referred for trial by the public prosecutor
this week for involvement in two Cairo bombings on April 7 and April
30, 2005.
(AFP, 3/11/06)(Reuters, 3/12/06)
2006 Mar 13, Pope Benedict XVI and
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks at the Vatican about Iran,
Iraq and the prospects for lasting peace in the Middle East.
(AP, 3/13/06)
2006 Mar 17, Nearly 1,000 Egyptian
judges held a half-hour silent protest to demonstrate for full judicial
independence and against the government's order to interrogate six of
their colleagues who criticized recent elections.
(AP, 3/17/06)
2006 Mar 18, Egypt's health
ministry said a 30-year-old Egyptian woman has died of bird flu, the
country's first human victim of the virus.
(Reuters, 3/18/06)
2006 Apr 2, The World Health
Organization (WHO) confirmed that four Egyptians have caught bird flu,
including two who died from the virus.
(Reuters, 4/3/06)
2006 Apr 6, A government minister
said Egypt has found two more people infected with the bird flu virus,
bringing the number of human cases in the country to 11.
(AP, 4/6/06)
2006 Apr 10, Egypt’s Health and
Population Minister Hatem el-Gabali said a 12th case of human bird flu
has been found.
(Reuters, 4/11/06)
2006 Apr 14, In Egypt worshippers
at three Christian churches came under attack from knife-wielding
assailants during Mass. Police said one worshipper was killed and more
than a dozen wounded in the simultaneous attacks in the northern city
of Alexandria.
(AP, 4/14/06)
2006 Apr 14, Five publishers, all
members of Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood, were detained as they
prepared to publish material criticizing Egypt's emergency law.
(AFP, 4/15/06)
2006 Apr 16, In Egypt police fired
live ammunition into the air and lobbed tear gas into rioting crowds of
Christians and Muslims in a third day of sectarian violence in
Alexandria. Egyptian police detained 43 university students on
suspicion of membership in the banned Muslim Brotherhood, the country's
largest Islamic fundamentalist group.
(AP, 4/16/06)
2006 Apr 19, The Egyptian
government said it had arrested a group of 22 militant Islamists
planning bomb attacks on tourist targets, a gas pipeline near Cairo and
Muslim and Christian religious leaders. The statement listed 22
members, led by a 26-year-old humanities student named Ahmed Mohamed
Ali Gabr.
(Reuters, 4/19/06)
2006 Apr 24, In Egypt 3 explosions
rocked the resort city of Dahab at the height of the tourist season,
killing 21 people and wounding more than 80. 3 of the dead were thought
to be suicide bombers.
(AP, 4/25/06)(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 Apr 26, In Egypt 2 suicide
bombers struck outside the main base of the multinational peacekeeping
force near the Gaza border in Sinai, killing themselves but causing no
other casualties.
(AP, 4/26/06)
2006 Apr 30, Egypt's parliament
agreed to a two-year extension of emergency law requested by the
government while it prepares replacement anti-terrorism laws. Egyptian
security forces hunting bombers behind attacks last week in the Sinai
peninsula fought gunbattles with suspects and killed 3 of them.
(AP, 4/30/06)(AFP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 1, Egyptian security
forces fatally shot three men wanted in terrorist bombings that killed
at least 18 people in a coastal Sinai Peninsula resort on April 24. A
police officer was also killed.
(AP, 5/2/06)
2006 May 9, In Egypt Nasser Khamis
el-Mallahi, the leader of an al-Qaida-inspired group wanted for last
month's bombings in Dahab, was killed in a gunbattle in the mountains
of the Sinai Peninsula.
(AP, 5/9/06)
2006 May 11, Thousands of Egyptian
riot police beat pro-democracy activists in Cairo, chasing and dragging
them through the streets to break up a demonstration in support of
judges who blew the whistle on election fraud.
(AP, 5/12/06)
2006 May 12, Gamal Mubarak, the
son of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, met secretly with top White
House officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney. Gamal is widely
seen as his father's heir-apparent.
(AP, 5/15/06)
2006 May 18, In Cairo, Egypt,
police beat pro-reform protesters in the streets and arrested more than
300 for the second week in a row as Egyptian courts dealt new setbacks
to activists seeking greater democracy.
(AP, 5/18/06)
2006 May 20, President Hosni
Mubarak opened the World Economic Forum in a booming Red Sea resort
with a surprisingly tough speech that signaled deepening strains in the
once-ironclad links with Egypt's American allies and benefactors. PM
Ahmed Nazif said the Egyptian government is not in a hurry to change
the country's political system.
(Reuters, 5/20/06)(AP, 5/20/06)
2006 May 21, In Egypt global
business and political leaders focused on dialogue, democracy and
development in the Middle East. 3 major players, Iran, Hamas and Syria,
were absent.
(AP, 5/21/06)
2006 May 25, About 300 pro-reform
judges staged a sit-in outside a downtown Cairo courthouse to demand
the independence of Egypt's judiciary as thousands of riot police
watched.
(AP, 5/25/06)
2006 Jun 2, Two Egyptian security
officers were killed in an exchange of fire with Israeli troops after
crossing the border into Israel.
(AP, 6/2/06)
2006 Jun 18, In Egypt 2 brothers
who led a gang that held more than 100 people hostage two years ago
were hanged in Alexandria.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 18, China's PM Wen Jiabao
wrapped up a two-day visit to Cairo after meeting with Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and signing 10 oil, natural gas and
telecommunications deals. He was also scheduled to visit Ghana,
Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.
(AP, 6/18/06)
2006 Jun 19, Egyptian authorities
detained 31 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, bringing to
nearly 700 the number of members arrested since a crackdown began in
March.
(AP, 6/19/06)
2006 Jun 27, Egyptian security
forces shot dead two men named as members of a group behind deadly
bombings in Sinai tourist resorts.
(AP, 6/27/06)
2006 Jul 14, Militants forced open
a border gate between Egypt and Gaza, wounding an Egyptian officer and
letting hundreds of Palestinians who had been trapped on the Egyptian
side of the border to get into Gaza.
(AP, 7/14/06)
2006 Jul 15, Arab foreign
ministers held an emergency summit in Cairo over Israel's expanding
assault on Lebanon, the worst Israeli attack on its neighbor in 24
years.
(AP, 7/15/06)
2006 Jul 18, Egypt and Israel
reopened the Rafah border crossing for the first time in three weeks,
triggering a rush to the border by thousands of Palestinians who had
been waiting in Egypt.
(AP, 7/18/06)
2006 Aug 6, A former official of
Egypt's Gama'a Islamiya said that even if some members of the Islamist
group had joined al Qaeda it was unlikely that most would.
(AP, 8/6/06)
2006 Aug 20, Arab League foreign
ministers convened in Egypt for an emergency meeting to discuss how to
fund reconstruction in war-ravaged Lebanon and defuse Mideast tensions
amid rising discord between moderate Arabs and Syria, a main backer of
Hezbollah.
(AP, 8/20/06)
2006 Aug 21, In northern Egypt a
passenger train barreled into railway station and collided with a
second train outside Qalyoub, killing at least 58 people and injuring
more than 100.
(AFP, 8/21/06)(SFC, 8/22/06, p.A3)
2006 Aug 22, An Egyptian tour bus
overturned in the Sinai peninsula killing 11 people, most of them
Israeli Arabs, and injuring more than 30.
(AP, 8/22/06)
2006 Aug 30, Naguib Mahfouz
(b.1911), Arab writer, died in Cairo. He became the first Arab writer
to win the Nobel Prize in Literature (1988) for his novels depicting
modern Egyptian life. Across the span of 35 novels, hundreds of short
stories and essays, over 20 movie scripts and five plays, Mahfouz
depicted with startling realism the Egyptian "Everyman" balancing
between tradition and the modern world.
(AP, 8/30/06)(Econ, 9/2/06, p.78)
2006 Sep 4, In Egypt a passenger
train collided with a cargo train north of Cairo, killing 5 people and
injuring 30 others.
(AP, 9/4/06)
2006 Sep 16, Fouad el-Mohandes
(82), one of Egypt's most beloved comedians, died in Cairo. His plays
and movies made over a half century brought him fans across the Arab
world.
(AP, 9/16/06)
2006 Sep-2006 Oct, In Egypt for
the seventh year running, a mysterious black cloud appeared over Cairo,
triggering serious health concerns for the polluted city's 16 million
residents. This year the black cloud coincided with the month of
Ramadan, notorious for its traffic jams.
(AFP, 10/26/06)
2006 Oct 10, A World Health
Organization official said Egypt has detected its first human case of
the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus since May in an Egyptian
woman who raised ducks from her home.
(Reuters, 10/10/06)
2006 Oct 16, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi held talks on how to
resolve the Darfur crisis in Sudan without intervention from outside
Africa.
(AFP, 10/16/06)
2006 Oct 17, The Italian bank
Sanpaolo won a five-way race for control of Bank of Alexandria, the
first Egyptian bank to be privatized in a selloff worth 1.6 billion
dollars.
(AFP, 10/17/06)
2006 Oct 31, A parliament speaker
said Egypt it will amend its constitution to make it easier for
candidates to run for president, part of long-delayed political reforms
that President Hosni Mubarak plans to carry out next year. Talaat Sadat
(52), the nephew of Egypt's late President Anwar Sadat, was sentenced
to a year in prison for defaming Egypt's armed forces, after saying in
an interview that Egyptian generals had masterminded his uncle's
assassination.
(AP, 10/31/06)
2006 Nov 3, Egyptian police found
more than 3,000 pounds of explosives buried in two caches in the Sinai
desert, one of them near the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 6, In Italy a Milan court
sentenced Rabei Ousmane Sayed Ahmed, the accused mastermind of the
March 2004 train bombings in Madrid, to 10 years in jail for membership
of a terrorist organization. A second Egyptian, Yahya Mawad Mohamed
Rajeh, was sentenced to five years in jail in the case.
(AFP, 11/6/06)
2006 Nov 7, China and Egypt agreed
to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy, state media said,
in a development that could rile the United States, a traditional Cairo
ally.
(AFP, 11/8/06)
2006 Nov 14, Eighteen Egyptians
were killed when a public bus and a truck collided on a highway south
of Cairo.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 30, In Egypt a state
security court sentenced three Islamic militants to death for their
involvement in suicide attacks that killed 34 people at Sinai resorts
in 2004.
(AP, 11/30/06)
2006 Dec 2, A 50-year-old battle
to evict squatters from one of Egypt's most renowned archaeological
sites, the West Bank of Luxor, ended as authorities began demolitions.
The fate of Qurna's 10,000 residents was sealed when authorities gave
the demolition order for the mud-brick houses erected over ancient
Egyptian tombs.
(AFP, 12/3/06)
2006 Dec 4, Egypt’s Interior
Ministry said police had arrested an American, 11 Europeans and several
others from Arab countries for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in
Middle Eastern countries including Iraq.
(AP, 12/4/06)
2006 Dec 6, Egypt’s Pres. Hosni
Mubarak arrived in Dublin at the start of a five-day European tour that
will also include France and Germany. He said renewing the Middle East
peace process is top of his agenda.
(AFP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 7, Egyptian authorities
expelled two Belgians and eight French terrorist suspects, but an
American and another French citizen remained in Egyptian custody.
(AP, 12/7/06)
2006 Dec 14, In Egypt police
arrested Mohammed Khayrat el-Shater, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood's
chief strategist, and at least 140 others in a crackdown after a
protest by uniformed students raised fears the Islamist political group
is creating a military wing.
(AP, 12/14/06)
2006 Dec 16, An Egyptian court
denied Bahais the right to state their religion on official documents
and described them as pro-Israeli apostates, in a landmark case
condemned by rights organizations.
(AFP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 16, British PM Tony Blair
arrived in Egypt for Middle East peace talks, saying the next few days
and weeks would be critical in determining whether Israel and the
Palestinians can break their cycle of violence.
(AP, 12/16/06)
2006 Dec 24, An Egyptian woman
died of bird flu, hours after tests confirmed she and two other members
of her extended family had been suffering from the highly pathogenic
virus.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 Dec 27, A 26-year-old
Egyptian man died of bird flu, the third member of his extended family
to die of the virus.
(AP, 12/27/06)
2006 Dec 28, Israeli security
officials said Egypt has sent a large shipment of weapons through
Israeli territory to shore up forces loyal to the embattled Palestinian
president, Mahmoud Abbas, an extraordinary show of support by both
countries for his efforts to renew peacemaking with Israel.
(AP, 12/28/06)
2006 Dec, In Egypt some 18,000
textile workers went on strike at Mahalla over low wages and purported
corruption. They won an annual bonus worth 45 days’ pay.
(SFC, 2/20/07, p.A11)
2006 Film-maker Tahani Rached made
her one-hour documentary "El-Banate Dol" ("Those Girls") based on the
lives of street girls in Cairo, Egypt.
(Reuter, 7/26/06)
2007 Jan 4, Overshadowed by an
Israeli raid into the Palestinian territories, a summit between Israel
and Egypt achieved little in reviving the long-stalled Mideast peace
process, highlighting instead the disagreements between Israel and its
Arab neighbors.
(AP, 1/5/07)
2007 Jan 19, An Egyptian woman
died from bird flu after six days in hospital.
(Reuters, 1/19/07)
2007 Jan 24, Egyptian security
forces arrested seven members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood north of
Cairo in a widening crackdown on the country's largest opposition
movement.
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Feb 1, A Lebanese publisher
said the Egyptian government had censored several Egyptian and foreign
titles at its annual book fair, including the classic novel "Zorba the
Greek" as well as books by Czech author Milan
Kundera.
(AFP, 2/1/07)
2007 Feb 11, In Egypt Osama Hassan
Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was released. The Egyptian Muslim
preacher had been allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents off the streets of
Milan, Italy, on Feb 17, 2003, and taken to Egypt. It was reported that
since the end of December seven women have been stabbed by a
dark-skinned man in his 20s in Cairo’s Maadi suburb, whose richer areas
are home to numerous embassies and many foreigners.
(AP, 2/12/07)(AFP, 2/12/07)
2007 Feb 15, In Egypt police
arrested 80 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, in what appeared to be a
pre-emptive strike against the country's largest Islamic group ahead of
elections and a key parliamentary debate.
(Reuters, 2/15/07)
2007 Feb 15, Nadia Abdel Hafez, an
Egyptian woman (37), died of bird flu in a Cairo hospital and a boy, 5,
became the 22nd Egyptian to test positive for the deadly disease.
(Reuters, 2/16/07)
2007 Feb 18, Egyptian authorities
arrested Mohammed Sayed Saber (35), an Egyptian engineer from the
country's nuclear energy agency, for spying for Israel, but the arrest
was not announced until April 17.
(AP, 4/17/07)
2007 Feb 20, It was reported that
recent strikes in Egypt involved over 35,000 workers at nearly a dozen
textile, cement and poultry plants. Experts said there has never been a
legal strike in Egyptian history.
(SFC, 2/20/07, p.A11)
2007 Feb 21, Security officials
said Egyptian border and security authorities had arrested 23
Palestinians and Egyptians in the Sinai region, including one who was
wearing an explosives belt and had crossed from Gaza to Egypt in an
underground tunnel.
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 22, Abdel Kareem Nabil
(22), an Egyptian blogger, was convicted of insulting Islam and
President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced to four years in prison in
Egypt's first prosecution of a blogger. Nabil was convicted for calling
Islam a brutal religion in a piece he wrote in 2005 after Muslim
worshippers attacked a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria. In 2009
an Appeals court upheld his 4-year sentence.
(AP, 2/22/07)(AP, 12/22/09)
2007 Feb 23, Egyptian security
forces discovered approximately 1 ton of explosives hidden underground
near Egypt's border with Gaza.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 28, An Egyptian court
ordered a freeze on the assets of 29 known financiers of the Muslim
brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful opposition movement. An Egyptian
with Canadian citizenship on trial for spying for Israel shouted from
his courtroom cage that a confession had been extracted under torture.
(AP, 2/28/07)
2007 Feb, An Egyptian publisher
recalled copies of a book written by a controversial feminist after
discovering it "offends religion." Nawal al Saadawi (b.1931), one of
Egypt’s most renowned feminists, authored her play “God Resigns in the
Summit Meeting.” Religious leaders attacked the script without reading
it on the grounds that Islam does not allow criticism of “God’s work.”
In 1965 she lost her job in Egypt’s Ministry of Health because of her
political views. In 1981 she created the Arab Women’s Solidarity
Association, the nation’s first independent women’s organization.
(SSFC, 5/6/07,
p.F3)(http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/07/10102478.html)
2007 Mar 11, Health Ministry and
World Health Organization officials said a 4-year-old Egyptian boy has
contracted the deadly bird flu virus, bringing to 24 the number of
Egyptians who have tested positive for the disease.
(AP, 3/11/07)
2007 Mar 14, In Egypt a published
decree said Mukbil Shakir, head of the Supreme Judicial Council, has
named the country's first female judges despite opposition from
conservative Muslims. Shakir appointed 31 women to judge or chief judge
positions in Egypt's courts.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 18, In Egypt over 100
mainly Islamist lawmakers walked out of parliament to protest
government moves to push through constitutional laws that opponents
fear will entrench the ruling party's grip on power.
(AP, 3/18/07)
2007 Mar 19, Egypt's parliament
approved a controversial set of amendments to the constitution that the
opposition has denounced as a blow to democracy. Critics said the
amendments are meant to ease his son’s succession.
(AP, 3/19/07)(WSJ, 3/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 26, Egyptians were slow
to vote in a referendum on constitutional amendments that opponents
condemned as a sham and a setback to democratic progress. Egyptian
human rights groups later said that turnout for the referendum was only
five percent, far lower than the 27 percent reported by the government.
(AP, 3/26/07)(Econ, 3/31/07, p.57)(AP, 4/11/07)
2007 Mar 27, Egypt’s government
said voters had overwhelmingly approved a set of controversial
amendments to Egypt's constitution, a day after opposition groups
massively boycotted the referendum. Egyptian blogs soon showed cell
video clips of ballot stuffing.
(AP, 3/27/07)(WSJ, 3/30/07, p.A1)
2007 Mar 30, A French architect
claimed to have uncovered the mystery about how Egypt's Great Pyramid
of Khufu was built. Jean-Pierre Houdin said advanced 3D technology had
shown the main ramp which was used to haul the massive stones to the
apex was contained 10-15 meters beneath the outer skin, tracing a
pyramid within a pyramid..
(Reuters, 3/30/07)
2007 Apr 14, The Egyptian state
news agency MENA said that Neo-Nazis had attacked an Egyptian diplomat
in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Ukrainian government has said it
deeply regrets the incident.
(Reuters, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 18, At least 16 Egyptian
secondary school students were killed on their way to school when a
truck they were riding in collided head-on with another vehicle south
of Cairo.
(AP, 4/18/07)
2007 Apr 21, In Cairo an
Egyptian-Canadian man was convicted of spying for Israel and sentenced
to 15 years in prison by a special security court.
(AP, 4/21/07)
2007 Apr 29, In Egypt police
arrested two lawmakers and at least 10 other members of the banned
Muslim Brotherhood group as part of an ongoing campaign against the
country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 4/30/07)
2007 Apr 30, Egyptian authorities
released two Muslim Brotherhood lawmakers but ordered 12 other members
of the country's most powerful opposition group detained.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 May 2, An Egyptian court
sentenced Al Jazeera producer Huweida Taha Metwalli to six months in
jail or a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,760) for her part in
producing a feature on torture by Egyptian police.
(AP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 2, Egypt and Japan agreed
to push together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear
ambitions, calling for a Middle East free of weapons of mass
destruction.
(AFP, 5/2/07)
2007 May 3, In Egypt a conference
of nearly 50 nations opened at Sharm el-Sheik to rally international
support, particularly from Arab nations, for an ambitious plan to
stabilize Iraq. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Syria's
foreign minister in the first high-level talks between the two
countries in years. Hours after the chief military spokesman in Iraq
said Syria had moved to reduce "the flow of foreign fighters" across
its border.
(AP, 5/3/07)
2007 May 6, In Egypt a plane
carrying foreign peacekeepers across the Sinai desert crashed near a
stretch of highway where it had tried to make an emergency landing,
killing eight French soldiers and a Canadian.
(AP, 5/6/07)
2007 May 8, An Egyptian court
decided in a rare ruling that President Hosni Mubarak's order to try 40
of the banned opposition Muslim Brotherhood's top figures before a
military court was not valid.
(AP, 5/8/07)
2007 May 10, In Cairo Israeli
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in the first high-level discussion between Israel and the Arab
world on an Arab initiative calling for an exchange of land for peace.
(AP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 12, Egyptian security
forces arrested 59 Muslims in Bamha accused of setting fire to
Christian homes and shops the previous day in clashes over church
construction that underlined lingering sectarian tensions.
(Reuters, 5/12/07)
2007 May 13, The US said it is
willing to talk to Iran if discussions deal only with Iraq, where the
Bush administration says Tehran is undermining the Baghdad government
and exporting deadly roadside bombs. Iran's foreign ministry spokesman
said that Tehran has agreed to a formal request from the US to talk
about security in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney held talks with
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak toward the end of a regional tour,
focusing on ways to stem chaos in Iraq and on Iran's impact on security
in the Gulf.
(AP, 5/13/07)
2007 May 15, Mohammed Sayed Saber
(35). an Egyptian accused of spying for Israel praised the Jewish state
for its advanced technology and claimed documents he passed on were so
outdated they posed no threat to Egypt's security.
(AP, 5/15/07)
2007 May 19, Police arrested 14
members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood as part of Egypt's ongoing
campaign against the country's strongest opposition group.
(AP, 5/20/07)
2007 May 24, Egypt approved the
formation of a new liberal political party headed by a former member of
President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).
(AFP, 5/24/07)
2007 May 26, Egyptian Lieutenant
Colonel Ihab Ahmed, a UN peacekeeper, died after he was shot during a
robbery at his residence in El Fasher. Ahmed, part of a small group of
reinforcements sent to Darfur, became the UN's first casualty since its
arrival in the region.
(AP, 5/26/07)
2007 May 29, Egypt's parliament
voted to expel an MP and nephew of late President Anwar Sadat, after he
was declared bankrupt.
(AFP, 5/29/07)
2007 Jun 9, A Cairo court ruled
that a private Egyptian university can not ban a visiting student from
entering its premises in full Islamic veil.
(AFP, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 9, An Egyptian girl (10)
who contracted the H5N1 bird flu virus died, bringing the number of
fatalities from the disease in the most populous Arab country to 15.
(Reuters, 6/9/07)
2007 Jun 11, Police barred voters
from polling stations and arrested about 100 opposition members, as
Egyptians chose members of the upper chamber of parliament in an
election marred by violence that killed one person. President Hosni
Mubarak's ruling party won a majority of seats in elections for Egypt's
upper house of parliament. The Muslim Brotherhood condemned the
elections for their unprecedented fraud.
(AP, 6/11/07)(AP, 6/13/07)(Econ, 6/16/07, p.54)
2007 Jun 25, In Cairo a state
security court sentenced Mohammed Sayed Saber (35), an Egyptian nuclear
engineer, to life in prison after convicting him of spying for Israel.
He had been charged with harming the country's national security by
giving stolen documents to Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, in
exchange for $17,000.
(AP, 6/25/07)
2007 Jun 27, Egyptian
archaeologists said the mummy of an obese woman, who likely suffered
from diabetes and liver cancer, has been identified as that of Queen
Hatshepsut, Egypt's most powerful female pharaoh. Hatshepsut, who ruled
Egypt in the 15th century B.C., was known for dressing like a man and
wearing a false beard. But when her rule ended, all traces of her
mysteriously disappeared, including her mummy. Discovered in 1903 in
the Valley of the Kings, the mummy was left on site until two months
ago, when it was brought to the Cairo Museum for testing.
(AP, 6/27/07)
2007 Jun 27, A Egyptian state-run
news agency said Ashraf Marwan (62), the controversial son-in-law of
Egypt's late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, has died in London. Marwan
was suspected of being a double agent for Israel during the 1973 war.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 28, Egypt banned all
female circumcision, the widely-practiced removal of the clitoris,
which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.
(AP, 6/28/07)
2007 Jun 29, In Egypt 33 students
from Cairo's Ain Shams University were detained at a holiday camp in
Alexandria and charged with holding a meeting "aimed at propagating the
Muslim Brothers' ideology."
(AFP, 6/30/07)
2007 Jul 2, Egyptian security
sources said Sherif al-Filali, an Egyptian engineer who was convicted
in 2002 of spying for Israel, has died in jail of a possible heart
attack while serving a 15-year sentence.
(Reuters, 7/2/07)
2007 Jul 13, Some 4,000
Palestinians remained stuck on the Egyptian side of the border with
trouble finding food and shelter, shortages they blamed on local
authorities who are indifferent to their plight.
(AP, 7/13/07)
2007 Jul 14, Egyptian police said
authorities have arrested 35 men suspected of membership in an
al-Qaida- inspired group that planned to carry out attacks in Egypt.
(AP, 7/14/07)
2007 Jul 16, Orascom Construction
Industries S.A.E. of Cairo said it is investing $115 million to acquire
a 50% stake in a North Korean cement plant.
(WSJ, 1/16/07, p.A6)
2007 Jul 19, About 2,000 people
protested at the border terminal between Egypt and the Gaza Strip,
demanding the crossing be opened to allow thousands of Palestinians
trapped in Egypt to return.
(AP, 7/19/07)
2007 Jul 22, Egyptian police shot
and killed a Sudanese woman (28) and seriously wounded four others on
the Sinai Peninsula as they tried to sneak into Israel. They were among
27 Darfur refugees caught by border guards in the desert after paying
700 dollars (500 euros) to a Bedouin smuggler.
(AP, 7/22/07)(AFP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 25, The foreign ministers
of Egypt and Jordan, delegated by the 22-member Arab League, began a
historic visit to Israel to formally present an Arab peace plan, saying
they were extending "a hand of peace" on behalf of the region.
(AP, 7/25/07)(Econ, 7/28/07, p.48)
2007 Jul 30, Egyptian police
clashed with Bedouins protesting a government order to demolish their
houses along the Palestinian Gaza Strip's border, leaving dozens
injured. Egyptian media have reported a government plan to force the
Bedouins from a 500-foot-wide band of land along the border to prevent
traffickers from digging tunnels used to smuggle weapons and people
into Gaza.
(AP, 7/30/07)
2007 Jul 31, In Egypt US Sec. of
State Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates made a joint show of
diplomatic force during two days of meetings with Arab allies, part of
an 11th-hour effort to rally diplomatic and practical help for the
US-backed Shiite-led government in Baghdad. The tour opened talks on a
proposed US arms package for Arab states worth more than $20 billion.
US officials extended a 10-year pledge to continue $1.3 billion in
annual aid to Egypt’s military. Military aid to Israel was raised to $3
billion. Weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and 5 smaller monarchies was
said to be $20 billion. Total US military aid to the region over the
next decade amounted to $63 billion.
(AP, 7/31/07)(Econ, 8/4/07, p.39)
2007 Aug 8, A report by the
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights detailed 567 cases of police
torture in the last 14 years, of which 167 led to the victim’s death.
(Econ, 9/1/07, p.38)(www.eohr.org/)
2007 Aug 11, It was reported that
citizen’s in 5 of Egypt’s 26 governorates have been suffering a dire
shortage of drinking water.
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.40)
2007 Aug 20, In Egypt 4 terror
suspects were convicted by a security court and sentenced to life in
prison for their involvement in 3 attacks that killed two French
tourists and an American in April, 2005. Five other suspects, including
two women, received jail sentences that ranged from one to 10 years in
prison.
(AP, 8/21/07)
2007 Sep 6, Ayman Ismail Hassan,
one of the key witnesses and co-defendants in the trial of Egyptian
opposition leader Ayman Nour, was found hanged in his prison cell in
Cairo. "I confessed to forgery under pressure from officers from state
security," Hassan told reporters on June 30, 2005, after his lawyer
told the court he had changed his plea to not guilty.
(Reuters, 9/6/07)
2007 Sep 23, In Egypt thousands of
workers at Ghazl el-Mahalla started a strike, demanding 150-day shares
of annual profits, improved industrial safety, and raising the monthly
bonuses. The strike started by 10,000 workers, has gone up to 15,000.
Ghazl al-Mahallah is the biggest textile factory in the Middle East,
with over 27,000 workers comprising its total labor force.
(http://tinyurl.com/2o3aup)
2007 Sep 25, A jailed Egyptian
militant committed suicide in his cell. Sayed Ragab Abdullah (45) had
been jailed 15 days ago for alleged membership in an Islamic militant
group.
(AP, 9/25/07)
2007 Sep 29, Egypt’s government
and the striking workers in Mahalla el-Kobra announced a deal ending
the textile worker’s strike after officials agreed to demands for three
months' worth of profit-sharing bonuses.
(AP, 10/2/07)
2007 Sep, In Egypt the Muslim
Brotherhood circulated a draft of its first detailed political
platform. It would bar women and Christians from becoming president and
establish a board of Muslim clerics to oversee the government.
(SFC, 10/11/07, p.A14)
2007 Oct 7, Thousands of angry
demonstrators destroyed the regional headquarters of Egypt's ruling
party in El Arish, demanding government protection from lawlessness
after a downtown shootout between Bedouin tribesmen and local residents.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Oct 14, In Egypt at least six
people drowned and 15 others were reported missing after the gangplank
on their Nile ferry collapsed.
(AFP, 10/14/07)
2007 Oct 15, An army minibus
slammed into a water tanker truck in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing
13 soldiers and the civilian driver.
(AP, 10/16/07)
2007 Oct 4, Egypt sent a
high-level protest to dozens of European nations expressing
"astonishment and regret" at their refusal to endorse Cairo's call for
a Middle East nuclear free zone at a conference last month. At last
month's IAEA session, 25 of the 27 EU nations abstained as did other
countries hoping to join the union. In all, 47 nations abstained.
Israeli objections forced a vote in which 53 countries, Muslim states
and their supporters from the developing world, backed the proposal.
(AP, 10/17/07)
2007 Oct 29, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak announced plans to build several nuclear power plants,
joining several Arab countries in the Middle East that recently have
broadcast their own atomic energy ambitions.
(AP, 10/29/07)
2007 Nov 3, Egypt's ruling party
appointed President Hosni Mubarak's son to an important new committee
in a move seen as further paving the way for the younger Mubarak to
succeed his father.
(AP, 11/3/07)
2007 Nov 4, Cairo, ranked one of
the most polluted cities in the world, was reported to be once again
under the shadow of a highly toxic black cloud which settles above the
huge city every autumn. Exhaust fumes belched by millions of cars mixed
with the hypertoxic emissions of the annual burning of rice stubble in
rural areas of the Nile Delta are a prime cause, along with the city's
ever-expanding population.
(AFP, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 4, In Egypt the face of
King Tut was unshrouded in public for the first time, 85 years after
the 3,000-year-old boy pharaoh's golden enshrined tomb and mummy were
discovered in Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings in 1922.
(AP, 11/4/07)
2007 Nov 5, An Egyptian court
convicted two police officers and sentenced them to three years in
prison for torturing a bus driver, in a case that came to light after a
video of the abuse was posted on the Internet.
(AP, 11/5/07)
2007 Nov 9, Egyptian border guards
opened fire on Hana Mohamed (24) of Eritrea after she failed to heed
their warnings to stop south of the Rafah border crossing. The young
woman bled to death after being shot in the legs.
(AFP, 11/10/07)
2007 Nov 12, The Egyptian
Initiative for Personal Rights and New York’s Human Rights Watch
released a report saying the Egyptian government refuses to recognize
minority religions and Christian converts in official state records.
(SFC, 11/16/07, p.A25)(www.eipr.org/en/)
2007 Nov 20, Israel’s PM Olmert
met with Egypt’s Pres. Mubarek and said a peace deal with the
Palestinians can be signed within a year.
(WSJ, 11/21/07, p.A1)
2007 Nov, In Egypt the film "Heya
Fawda" (Arabic for "It's Chaos") opened. It is a rare, frank look at
police torture, corruption and political oppression that rights groups
say is widespread in Egypt. It has been pulling in viewers and spurring
criticism since opening.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2007 Dec 3, Hundreds of civil
servants protested in front of Egypt's Cabinet, demanding wage
increases to cope with rising prices and inflation.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2007 Dec 3, Egypt opened its
border crossing with Gaza to let in Palestinian religious pilgrims
headed for Saudi Arabia, the first time Palestinians have been allowed
to enter Egyptian territory since Hamas militants seized Gaza in June.
(AP, 12/3/07)
2007 Dec 7, In Zagazig, Egypt, 3
students were killed and dozens injured when a fire broke inside an
Al-Azhar university campus building in the Nile Delta.
(AP, 12/8/07)
2007 Dec 14, Local newspapers
reported that nearly 2,000 Egyptian civil servants have ended a sit-in
outside government headquarters in Cairo after winning a battle to
change their status and increase their salaries.
(AP, 12/14/07)
2007 Dec 17, Nine Egyptians were
killed and seven injured when a car crashed into a group of people
celebrating a religious festival on Egypt's Red Sea coast.
(AP, 12/17/07)
2007 Dec 21, At least eight
Egyptians were killed and 24 others injured when a bus collided head-on
with another vehicle on an intercity road south of Cairo.
(AP, 12/21/07)
2007 Dec 22, In Egypt a policeman
was killed overnight in a shootout with Bedouin tribesmen smuggling
African immigrants into Israel. A minibus fell off a ferry and sank in
the Nile River in southern Egypt, killing 16 people including six
children.
(AFP, 12/22/07)(AP, 12/22/07)
2007 Dec 24, A 12-story building
collapsed in Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, killing at
least 35 people. Shoddy materials, illegal construction and a culture
of corruption were blamed for the deaths.
(AFP, 12/25/07)(AP, 12/30/07)
2007 Dec 25, In Egypt dozens of
Palestinian security men affiliated to Fatah staged a mass break-out
from the camp where they have been held in Rafah. Egyptian police were
able to recapture 40 of them, transferring them to police stations in
the coastal town of Arish.
(Reuters, 12/25/07)
2007 Dec 26, Israeli Defense
Minister Ehud Barak visited Egypt to discuss Israeli allegations that
Egypt was doing too little to prevent arms smuggling to the Islamist
movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Egypt rejected Israeli complaints
about weapons smuggling into Gaza.
(Reuters, 12/26/07)
2007 Dec 31, Palestinian pilgrims
broke windows and burned mattresses and blankets in temporary camps to
protest Egypt's refusal to let them return to Gaza through a crossing
controlled by Hamas. A Palestinian woman (67) died of a heart attack
when she was caught amid scuffles. The standoff over the pilgrims began
Dec 29, when some 3,060 Palestinians returning from the hajj in Saudi
Arabia arrived by ferry at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Nuweiba in
southern Sinai, heading back to Gaza.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 Dec 31, In Sudan the African
Union transferred authority to a new joint peacekeeping force with the
UN in Darfur. An AU official said Ethiopia and Egypt will each send 850
troops early in the new year to serve with a joint UN-AU force in the
Darfur region.
(AP, 12/31/07)(Reuters, 12/31/07)
2007 Dec 31, In southern Egypt a
bus plunged into a canal alongside the Nile River, killing 17
passengers and the driver.
(AP, 12/31/07)
2007 Egypt’s population stood at
about 75 million.
(Econ, 8/11/07, p.40)
2008 Jan 2, Egypt allowed more
than 2,000 Palestinian pilgrims to enter the Gaza Strip, drawing a
fierce rebuke from Israel, which had tried to prevent top members of
the militant Hamas from returning home.
(AP, 1/2/08)
2008 Jan 16, Pres. Bush visited
Egypt. Stalled reforms and bitterness over the jailing of hundreds of
dissidents haunted his visit. Bush promised to stay engaged in pulling
Israelis and Palestinians toward a peace pact by the end of his term.
(AP, 1/16/08)
2008 Jan 17, Members of the
European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Egypt's human
rights record, even after Cairo summoned EU ambassadors to complain
about the text.
(AFP, 1/17/08)
2008 Jan 18, Egypt angrily
rejected a European parliament resolution criticizing its human rights
record, with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit saying it revealed both
arrogance and ignorance.
(AP, 1/18/08)
2008 Jan 19, Egyptian police shot
dead a man from Ivory Coast and detained two other African migrants who
were trying to cross illegally into Israel.
(AP, 1/19/08)
2008 Jan 23, Tens of thousands of
Palestinians on foot and on donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza
after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier
dividing the border town of Rafah.
(AP, 1/23/08)
2008 Jan 24, A top Israeli defense
official said that Israel wants to relinquish all responsibility for
the Gaza Strip, including the supply of electricity and water, now that
the territory's southern border with Egypt has been opened.
(AP, 1/24/08)
2008 Jan 25, Egyptian guards with
riot shields formed human chains along the Egypt-Gaza border, but were
unable to stop hundreds of Palestinians from rushing into Egypt after a
bulldozer wrecked another section of fence along the frontier.
(AP, 1/25/08)
2008 Jan 26, Egyptian riot police
and armored vehicles restricted Gaza motorists to a small border area
of Egypt, in the second attempt in two days to restore control over the
chaotic frontier breached by Hamas militants. At least 36 Egyptian
security personnel have been hospitalized, including some in critical
condition, due to border incidents with Palestinians.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Jan 27, Egyptian forces
brandishing electrified batons stopped Gaza cars from crossing the
breached border and tightened security at checkpoints to try to confine
Palestinians who moved freely into Egypt for a fifth straight day.
(AP, 1/27/08)
2008 Jan 28, Egyptian security
forces and Hamas militants strung barbed wire across one of the
openings in the Egypt-Gaza border, a sign that a days-long breaching of
the frontier may be nearing an end.
(AP, 1/28/08)
2008 Jan 29, A Cairo court ruled
to allow Egyptian Bahais to leave their religion blank on official
documents, in effect restoring their access to jobs, schools and
medical and financial services.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Jan 29, Cars and trucks
traveled freely across the border from Gaza to Egypt for a seventh day.
Egyptians living near the breached border with Gaza warned that chaos
was brewing and demanded the crisis be resolved.
(AP, 1/29/08)
2008 Feb 1, Hundreds of Hamas
supporters protested on the breached Gaza-Egypt border to demand it
remain open, while Egyptian troops poured cement and laid down metal
spikes in a new attempt to halt the influx of Gazans.
(AP, 2/1/08)
2008 Feb 2, Hamas agreed to
Egyptian calls to control the flow of Palestinians through the breached
Gaza border and expects Egypt to seal remaining gaps in the frontier
wall.
(AP, 2/2/08)
2008 Feb 3, Egyptian troops closed
the last breach in Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip, ending 11 days
of free movement for Palestinian residents of the blockaded territory.
(AP, 2/3/08)
2008 Feb 4, Egyptian forces and
Palestinian gunmen exchanged fire at the Gaza-Egypt border, killing one
person and wounding 59 others a day after Cairo closed the breached
frontier with the Hamas-run enclave.
(Reuters, 2/4/08)
2008 Feb 7, In Egypt at least 29
people, including children, were killed and 16 injured in a traffic
pileup blamed on early morning fog southeast of Cairo.
(AP, 2/7/08)
2008 Feb 9, Egypt's highest civil
court ruled that 12 Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam could
return to their old faith, ending a yearlong legal battle over the
predominantly Muslim state's tolerance for conversion.
(AP, 2/9/08)
2008 Feb 11, A Cairo appeals court
acquitted Howayda Taha, an Al-Jazeera journalist sentenced to six
months over a film that highlighted torture in Egyptian police
stations, but it still upheld a fine against her.
(AFP, 2/11/08)
2008 Feb 15, Two international
rights groups said Egyptian police have stepped up arrests of persons
suspected of having HIV, detaining four men this month in a crackdown
that violates basic human rights.
(AP, 2/15/08)
2008 Feb 16, Egyptian border
guards shot and killed an Eritrean woman and arrested her two young
daughters after they tried to cross illegally into Israel.
(AP, 2/16/08)
2008 Feb 18, Egyptian security
sources said police have rounded up some 500 Palestinians in north
Sinai in the past four days and plan to deport them back into Gaza
shortly.
(AP, 2/18/08)
2008 Mar 3, Egyptian security
forces detained at least 36 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's
strongest opposition group, including some likely candidates in local
elections next month. The men were accused of belonging to a banned
group, possessing anti-government literature and organizing
unauthorized meetings. Egypt has arrested more than 230 members of the
Islamist group since mid-February, taking the total number in detention
to well over 550.
(Reuters, 3/3/08)
2008 Mar 4, In Cairo US Sec. of
State Condoleezza Rice said she has released $100 million in military
aid to Egypt after telling the US Congress the money was necessary for
national security reasons. Police arrested 54 members of Egypt's
largest opposition movement, the first day for registration of
candidates for key local council elections.
(Reuters, 3/4/08)(AP, 3/4/08)
2008 Mar 5, In Egypt police
arrested 86 Brotherhood members in several provinces. All faced charges
of belonging to an illegal group and possessing Brotherhood-related
promotional leaflets.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 6, In Egypt police
arrested 26 members of the Muslim Brotherhood in an ongoing crackdown
on Egypt's largest Islamic opposition group ahead of next month's local
election.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 6, Palestinian militants
ambushed an Israeli army jeep on the border with Gaza, killing one
soldier and wounding three. Deputies of Egypt's intelligence chief Omar
Suleiman met with officials from the Islamic militant Hamas and the
smaller Islamic Jihad in the Egyptian Sinai city of el-Arish to
persuade Hamas to accept a truce that would halt rocket attacks.
(AP, 3/6/08)
2008 Mar 7, An official said Egypt
is building a 13-foot high concrete and rock wall interspersed with
watch towers along its narrow boundary with the Gaza Strip to prevent
Hamas militants from breaching the border.
(AP, 3/7/08)
2008 Mar 9, In Tanta, Egypt, at
least 5,000 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood demonstrated
against government attempts to block members from registering their
candidacy in April's key local elections.
(AP, 3/9/08)
2008 Mar 13, In Egypt A Muslim
Brotherhood leader said more than 90 percent of Egyptian Islamist
candidates have been prevented from registering for April local
elections due to a crackdown by the regime and a campaign of
obstruction.
(AFP, 3/13/08)
2008 Mar 16, In Egypt 23 people,
mostly policemen, were killed when their vehicle smashed into a truck
on the highway between Cairo and Alexandria.
(AP, 3/16/08)
2008 Mar 18, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak, amid rising public discontent at sky-rocketing food
prices, said in the official Al-Ahram daily that uncontrolled
population explosion is draining the state's budget. A baby is born
every 23 seconds in Egypt, which is the Arab world's most populous
nation with a population of 78 million.
(AFP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 18, Egyptian police
fatally shot a Sudanese woman and arrested a second one who was with an
infant as they tried to cross into Israel.
(AP, 3/18/08)
2008 Mar 20, Israeli defense
officials announced they've worked out a tentative deal for Egypt to
become the main electricity supplier to the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 3/20/08)
2008 Mar 22, Egyptian and European
archeologists announced they had discovered a giant statue of Queen
Tiy, the wife of 18th dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III, on the south Egypt
site of the Colossi of Memnon.
(AFP, 3/22/08)
2008 Mar 24, An American cargo
ship under contract to the US Navy opened fire on a small Egyptian boat
while moving through the Suez Canal. Egyptian authorities said at least
one man was killed. On Aug 28 the US ambassador met with the family
Mohammed Fouad, the man killed, and offered an apology and 750,000
Egyptian pounds, or about US$140,000. In return, the family agreed not
to sue the US government.
(AP, 3/25/08)(AP, 8/29/08)
2008 Mar 28, A commerce ministry
official said Egypt is to suspend rice exports for six months to try to
meet the demands of its own people hit by soaring food prices. Hundreds
of residents of the ancient city of Luxor clashed with riot police
during a protest against government attempts to move them to make room
for an open-air museum free of modern buildings.
(AP, 3/28/08)(AP, 3/29/08)
2008 Apr 2, Newspapers reported
that Egypt has ordered the seizure of the March 25 special edition of
the German news magazine Der Spiegel after it was deemed to be
insulting to Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.
(AFP, 4/2/08)
2008 Apr 6, In Egypt thousands of
demonstrators angry about rising prices and stagnant salaries torched
buildings, looted shops and hurled bricks at police who responded with
tear gas in a northern industrial town as part of a nationwide strike.
Three people were killed and more than 150 injured over two days of
unrest in Mahalla, the culmination of more than a year of strikes by
workers at a giant state-run textile factory.
(AP, 4/7/08)(AP, 4/4/09)
2008 Apr 7, The Muslim
Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition force, called on Egyptians to
boycott local council elections due on Tuesday in protest at the
disqualification of most of its candidates.
(Reuters, 4/7/08)
2008 Apr 8, Egypt rushed to grant
bonuses to workers amid riots over food costs. Turnout for local
elections was later reckoned at under 5% under a boycott by the Muslim
Brotherhood.
(WSJ, 4/9/08, p.A1)(Econ, 9/13/08, p.32)
2008 Apr 8, In Palestine’s Hamas
threatened to burst across the Israeli border to end Israel's blockade
of Gaza if Egypt and Israel do not lift their blockade.
(AP, 4/9/08)(WSJ, 4/9/08, p.A1)
2008 Apr 15, In Egypt a security
official said 25 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood have been
sentenced to up to 10 years in jail.
(AP, 4/15/08)
2008 Apr 16, A security official
said Egypt's ruling party has won 92 percent of the votes in April 8
municipal elections boycotted by the main opposition group the Muslim
Brotherhood.
(AP, 4/16/08)
2008 Apr 17, In Egypt former
President Carter met with a Hamas delegation from Gaza, part of a
series of talks with the Islamic militant group that has drawn sharp
criticism from US and Israeli officials. Carter said he urged Hamas
leaders from the Gaza Strip to stop militants from firing rockets into
southern Israel.
(AP, 4/17/08)(AP, 4/18/08)
2008 Apr 28, Egypt’s official MENA
news agency reported that PM Ahmed Nazif has urged anyone who can
resolve the nationwide problem of price rises to come forward with
ideas.
(AFP, 4/28/08)
2008 Apr 30, In Egypt state news
agency MENA said Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo for talks with
Egyptian security officials have agreed to an Egyptian proposal for a
truce with Israel starting in the Gaza Strip.
(AP, 4/30/08)
2008 May 1, A speeding tourist bus
carrying dozens of Europeans and Canadians overturned, rolled off an
embankment and burst into flames on a desert highway in Egypt's Sinai
peninsula. At least nine passengers were killed and about 30 wounded.
(AP, 5/1/08)
2008 May 5, Egypt's parliament
endorsed a government bill to raise taxes and fuel prices less than a
week after President Hosni Mubarak announced a 30 percent salary
increase for all government employees.
(AP, 5/5/08)
2008 May 6, Egyptian border police
fatally shot a Nigerian man who was trying to cross illegally into
Israel. Guards also shot three Sudanese men and one woman who were also
trying to sneak into Israel.
(AP, 5/6/08)
2008 May 10, The main border
crossing between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Egypt was
temporarily opened under a deal between the Islamist group and Cairo.
(Reuters, 5/10/08)
2008 May 12, The Arab Network for
Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said that an Egyptian government-owned
Internet service provider on May 4 blocked the Egyptian Movement for
Change - Kefaya website, in the latest crackdown on the country's cyber
dissidents.
(AFP, 5/12/08)
2008 May 15, In Egypt Abdullah
Kamel Mohammed (42) man was sentenced to 1,000 years behind bars after
scamming hundreds of people out of 280 million pounds (around 52
million dollars).
(AFP, 5/15/08)
2008 May 17, In Egypt Pres. Bush
opened two days of talks with a string of leaders in Sharm El-Sheik by
sitting down with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
(AP, 5/17/08)
2008 May 18, In Egypt Pres. Bush
lectured the Arab world about everything from political repression to
the denial of women's rights but ran into Palestinian complaints he is
favoring Israel in stalled Mideast peace talks. His message was aimed
at the countries in the region where the political and civil systems
are far from free as he ended a five-day Mideast trip.
(AP, 5/18/08)
2008 May 26, Egypt's parliament at
the request of the government extended emergency law for another two
years or until the government prepares an anti-terrorism law.
(www.ikhwanweb.com/Article.asp?ID=17228&SectionID=0)
2008 May 31, An Egyptian police
official said boxes of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and
anti-aircraft missiles have been found in a mountain in the northern
Sinai peninsula. He said the weapons were to be smuggled into the
neighboring Gaza Strip.
(AP, 5/31/08)
2008 Jun 5, Egyptian
archaeologists unveiled a 4,000-year-old "missing pyramid" that they
believed to have been discovered by an archaeologist almost 200 years
ago and never seen again. The pyramid was thought to have been built by
King Menkauhor, an obscure pharaoh who ruled for only eight years. The
style of the pyramid indicates it was from the Fifth Dynasty, a period
that began in 2,465 B.C. and ended in 2,325 B.C.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 7, In Egypt thousands of
demonstrators fought with police after a protest over flour rations in
a town on the Mediterranean coast. Mustafa Khalil (88), a former
Egyptian prime minister (1978-1980), died. He was an architect of the
1979 Camp David peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
(AP, 6/8/08)
2008 Jun 7, A boat carrying 150
African migrants en route to Europe sank off the Libyan coast. The
Libyan authorities later recovered 40 bodies. The Libyan government
informed the Egyptian government of the incident on June 13 because
they believe that 12 of the passengers were Egyptians.
(AFP, 6/16/08)
2008 Jun 9, Egypt's President
Hosni Mubarak warned that the population could more than double to
reach 160 million by 2050, hindering social and economic development
unless something is done about the "urgent" problem.
(AP, 6/9/08)
2008 Jun 13, Amnesty International
said Egypt has deported 400 Eritrean asylum seekers back to Asmara and
plans to forcibly return 1,200 more who are being held in detention in
Egypt, putting them at serious risk of torture.
(AP, 6/13/08)
2008 Jun 15, An Islamic ruling
that Egypt should give some of its oil and gas wealth to the people has
ratcheted up the pressure on the government, already faced with rising
popular discontent over food prices. The Islamic Research Centre of
Cairo's Al-Azhar University, Sunni Islam's highest authority, issued a
fatwa or religious edict saying it is a sacred duty to pay 20 percent
of oil, gas and mineral revenues in the form of alms to the poor known
as zakat.
(AFP, 6/15/08)
2008 Jun 17, Egypt's state-owned
news agency said Israel and Hamas have agreed on a truce to begin June
19.
(AP, 6/17/08)
2008 Jun 24, A lawyer said prison
guards at an Egyptian jail near the Mediterranean city of Alexandria
beat up 17 inmates to force them to end a hunger strike. An Egyptian
security official denied a beating had taken place.
(AFP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jun 30, In Egypt African
Union Commission chief Jean Ping told African leaders at a summit that
Africa must assume its responsibility in crisis-riven Zimbabwe.
(AFP, 6/30/08)
2008 Jul 1, The African Union,
meeting in Egypt, announced that it was extending the mandate of its
force in Somalia for another six months but urged the UN to take over
the peacekeeping mission. The African leaders also called for dialogue
between Zimbabwe's political foes and a national unity government
following President Robert Mugabe's widely discredited reelection.
(AFP, 7/1/08)(AP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 7, In Egypt smugglers
killed a police officer during a shootout on the border with Israel.
(AP, 7/7/08)
2008 Jul 12, French President
Nicolas Sarkozy met his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak, kicking off
a round of diplomacy with Middle East leaders ahead of an
EU-Mediterranean summit. Sarkozy said that Syria and Lebanon will open
embassies in each other's countries for the first time. Syria's leader
cautioned there was still work to be done before that could happen.
(AP, 7/12/08)(AP, 7/13/08)
2008 Jul 16, In Egypt a truck
ploughed into traffic at a closed level crossing, pushing a bus, truck
and several cars into the path of a passenger train. Four people died
from their injuries overnight bringing the total number of dead to 41.
(AFP, 7/17/08)
2008 Jul 17, Wikimania 2008 opened
in to Alexandria, Egypt, for a 3-day tradecraft meeting. The gathering
of online encyclopedia creators drew some 650 Wikipedians from 45
countries.
(WSJ, 8/8/08,
p.W1)(http://wikimania2008.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
2008 Jul 21, Egyptian police
arrested 39 members of the country's largest opposition group, the
banned Muslim Brotherhood during a raid on a camp north of Cairo. The
men, aged 18 to 35, said they were only on vacation. Egyptian
authorities shut down the Cairo office of an Iranian TV network, as the
two nations spar over "Assassination of a Pharaoh," a film that
justifies the killing of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat by
Islamic militants.
(AP, 7/21/08)(AP, 7/24/08)
2008 Jul 27, In Egypt Youssef
Chahine (1926), filmmaker, died in Cairo. His 28 films included “The
Blazing Sun” (1954) with Omar Sharif. His 1994 film “The Emigrant,”
about the Old Testament figure of Joseph, was denounced by militant
Islamists and banned.
(SFC, 7/29/08, p.B5)
2008 Jul 28, Lebanese singer
Suzanne Tamim (30) was found stabbed and her throat slashed in Dubai.
On August 8 Egypt banned news coverage of the brutal slaying following
media reports in other papers that said a wealthy Egyptian businessman
ordered 3 men to carry out the killing. On Sep 2 Hisham Talaat
Moustafa, an Egyptian lawmaker and business tycoon, was arrested in the
death Tamim. He was accused of paying a former police officer $2
million to kill her. On May 21, 2009, Moustafa was sentenced to death
for ordering Tamim’s death. Former officer, Mohsen el-Sukkary, was also
convicted and sentenced to death.
(AP,
8/13/08)(www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=21342)(AP, 9/2/08)(AP,
5/21/09)
2008 Aug 1, In southern Egypt 12
people were killed and 16 others wounded when two speeding passenger
buses rammed into a truck.
(AFP, 8/1/08)
2008 Aug 1, Hamas forces seized
about 15 leaders of Fatah in Gaza, upping the stakes in a week of
tit-for-tat arrests between the bitter Palestinian rivals. Fatah said
more than 200 of its men have been seized over the past week. Five
Palestinians died and 18 were wounded in a smuggling tunnel under the
Gaza-Egypt border after Egyptian troops blew up the entrance.
(AP, 8/1/08)(AP, 8/2/08)
2008 Aug 2, Saad Eddin Ibrahim
(69), an exiled Egyptian human rights activist who also holds US
nationality, was sentenced in abstentia to two years in prison for
defaming Egypt. He was accused him of defaming the country after a
series of articles and speeches on citizenship and democracy in which
he criticized the Egyptian regime. Ibrahim, who founded the Ibn
Khaldoun Centre for Development Studies, was sentenced in 2001 to seven
years for "tarnishing Egypt's reputation," before being freed on appeal
after spending 10 months behind bars.
(AFP, 8/2/08)
2008 Aug 30, Egypt opened its
Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, allowing more than 2,500
people to leave the Hamas-controlled territory and about 1,000 to enter
in a goodwill gesture before the holy Muslim month of Ramadan begins.
(AP, 8/30/08)(Reuters, 8/31/08)
2008 Sep 3, An Egyptian cargo ship
with 25 crew was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia,
making it the 10th vessel to be hijacked in the area since July 20.
(AP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 6, In Egypt massive
boulders fell from the towering Muqattam cliffs onto a shanty town
outside Cairo and buried dozens of homes. The death toll rose on a
daily basis and reached 103 on Sep 19. According to residents, there
could be up to 500 people buried under the hundreds of tons of rock
that fell.
(AP, 9/6/08)(AP, 9/13/08)(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 11, Amnesty Int’l.
reported that Egyptian security forces have killed at least 28
immigrants leaving Egypt for Israel, since the first killing in the
summer of 2007.
(SFC, 9/12/08, p.A12)
2008 Sep 15, In Egypt a speeding
truck collided with a tourist bus in Egypt's Sinai peninsula, killing
12 people and injuring 33.
(AP, 9/15/08)
2008 Sep 19, Masked kidnappers in
Egypt seized 19 hostages including German, Italian and Romanian
tourists in a remote desert area near the Sudanese and Libyan borders.
The kidnappers demanded $15 million in ransom. On Sep 29 Egyptian and
Sudanese forces rescued the captives near the Sudanese-Chadian border.
(Reuters, 9/22/08)(AP, 9/29/08)
2008 Sep 20, A Palestinian was
shot and killed by Israeli soldiers who said they saw him light a
firebomb near a Jewish settlement. Suhayeb Saleh was later identified
by his parents, who said he was 14 years old. Egypt opened its Gaza
border terminal to allow passage of students and medical patients for 2
days.
(AP, 9/20/08)
2008 Sep 21, Egypt's foreign
ministry said an illegal migrant boat carrying 83 Egyptians headed for
Europe has gone missing off the coast of Greece after leaving Egypt 3
days ago.
(AP, 9/21/08)
2008 Sep 23, The bodies of 2
Palestinian smugglers were pulled from a tunnel that collapsed along
the Gaza-Egypt border. 3 more bodies were removed the next day. The
five were bringing contraband goods from Egypt into Gaza when an
explosion collapsed the tunnel. Three smugglers survived and were
arrested on the Egyptian side.
(AP, 9/24/08)
2008 Sep 28, Sudanese forces
engaged a group of kidnappers in a gunbattle in northwest Sudan who had
been sent out to get gas and food. Six kidnappers were killed in the
fight, and two captured. The two told the authorities where the rest of
the kidnappers and their captives were hiding. The kidnappers were
believed to be armed desert tribesmen. Kidnappers released the
19-member European tour group, abducted on Sep 19, into one car near
the Sudanese-Chadian border. The group drove some 200 miles before
encountering Egyptian special forces and returning safely to Cairo.
(AP, 9/29/08)(AP, 9/30/08)
2008 Sep, Egypt’s overall
inflation rate stood at about 23%. The average wage was under $100 per
months and some 2.6 million people were unable to cover their basic
food needs.
(Econ, 9/13/08, p.31)
2008 Oct 5, Ahmed Abul Gheit, the
first Egyptian foreign minister to visit Iraq in nearly two decades,
arrived in Baghdad and promised to help Iraq face its challenges. 11
people, including women and children, were killed after US forces came
under attack by gunfire and a suicide bomber during a raid in Mosul.
There were no casualties among American forces. Elsewhere in the
northern city, gunmen opened fire on mourners in a funeral tent,
killing 5 people and wounding 7 others. American troops acting on a tip
killed Abu Qaswarah (also known as Abu Sara), the No. 2 leader of
al-Qaida in Iraq in a raid in the northern city of Mosul. The Moroccan
was known for his ability to recruit and motivate foreign fighters.
(AP, 10/5/08)(SFC, 10/6/08, p.A3)(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 5, In Egypt 13 people
were killed and 24 injured when a bus and a truck collided head-on
south of Cairo.
(AP, 10/5/08)
2008 Oct 8, In Egypt at least 11
people died when an apartment building collapsed in the port city of
Alexandria.
(AFP, 10/8/08)
2008 Oct 14, Egyptian police shot
dead an African migrant and wounded another as they tried to cross
illegally into Israel.
(AP, 10/14/08)
2008 Oct 20, Sister Emmanuelle
(b.1908), a Belgian-born nun who devoted her life to helping the poor
in North Africa and in France, died in France. Madeleine Cinquin had
spent 20 years working with children in a slum in Cairo as part of a
lengthy career helping the dispossessed.
(AFP, 10/20/08)
2008 Oct 25, The United States
announced a pledge of an additional $320 million to the global fight
against bird flu at a conference in Egypt. The US also warned against
complacency in combating the virus, which could mutate and cause a
deadly pandemic.
(Reuters, 10/25/08)
2008 Oct 26, An Egyptian news
agency that transmitted footage of protesters tearing down a portrait
of the president was fined $27,000 for operating unlicensed equipment,
and its owner said he was targeted as a warning to other media. A judge
upheld a complaint by the government against Nader Gohar, head of the
Cairo News Company. The complaint came shortly after CNC broadcast
footage from Al-Jazeera English in April showing the anti-government
protesters.
(AP, 10/26/08)
2008 Oct 31, In southern Egypt
tourist bus overturned, killing six Belgian tourists and injuring 26
other Belgian passengers.
(AP, 10/31/08)
2008 Nov 1, Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak promised to push ahead with economic reform and step up
efforts to combat poverty, despite the impact of the international
financial crisis on Egypt's economy.
(AP, 11/2/08)
2008 Nov 2, Ahmed Al-Mirghani (67)
former head of Sudan’s last democratically elected government
(1986-1989), died in Egypt. In 1989 a military coup led by current
President Omar al-Bashir unseated him.
(AP, 11/3/08)
2008 Nov 7, Egyptian police
arrested 25 Muslim Brotherhood members at a meeting at Faous, in the
eastern Nile Delta.
(AFP, 11/8/08)
2008 Nov 9, Egyptian authorities
denied entry to one of Osama bin Laden's sons and put him on a plane to
Qatar, becoming the third country to reject the self-proclaimed
"ambassador for peace." Omar Osama bin Laden (27) and his British wife,
Zaina Alsabah (52), arrived at Cairo International Airport over the
weekend after he unsuccessfully tried to seek political asylum in Spain.
(AP, 11/9/08)
2008 Nov 11, Egypt's chief
archaeologist has announced the discovery of a 4,300-year-old pyramid
in Saqqara, the sprawling necropolis and burial site of the rulers of
ancient Memphis. The new pyramid is the 118th discovered so far in
Egypt.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 11, Armed Bedouin
attacked a security checkpoint in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula and seized 11
policemen in a restive area near the border with Israel. The Bedouin
tribesmen were angered by a police shooting a day earlier that killed a
suspected Bedouin smuggler in the area.
(AP, 11/11/08)
2008 Nov 20, Egypt held emergency
talks with nations bordering the Red Sea on how to stop Somali gunmen
from hijacking ships. Somali pirates had already seized at least 80
ships off the Horn of Africa this year.
(SFC, 11/21/08, p.A13)
2008 Nov 23, In Egypt police fired
tear-gas at about 2,000 rioters in the southern town of Aswan as they
protested the police shooting to death of a bird-seller.
(AFP, 11/23/08)
2008 Nov 25, In Egypt the state
news agency MENA reported that Coptic Pope Shenuda III has banned
Egyptian Christians from praying in a church-owned building in Cairo
after sectarian clashes there with Muslims.
(AFP, 11/25/08)
2008 Dec 14, Orascom Telecom, an
Egyptian company, said it will launch 3G mobile telephone service in
North Korea on Dec 15, after winning the contract to build the advanced
network in a country where private cell phones are banned.
(AP, 12/14/08)
2008 Dec 14, Eva Habil (53) became
Egypt's first female mayor. The Christian lawyer, beat five male
candidates, including her younger brother, to become mayor of the
predominantly Coptic Christian town of Komboha in southern Egypt.
(AFP, 12/14/08)
2008 Dec 14, An Egyptian bus
crowded with passengers, many of them students, veered off the road
into a canal south of Cairo, killing 59 passengers.
(AP, 12/14/08)(AP, 12/15/08)
2008 Dec 19, Egypt's
communications ministry says Internet cables in the Mediterranean Sea
have been cut, causing massive Internet outages.
(AP, 12/19/08)
2008 Dec 22, In Egypt 7 Russian
tourists died when their bus flipped over along the winding mountain
roads north of the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.
(AFP, 12/23/08)
2008 Dec 24, In Egypt an
Australian teacher (61), who allegedly stuffed his luggage with
2,000-year old animal mummies and religious figurines wrapped as gifts,
was arrested and charged with smuggling antiquities.
(AP, 12/25/08)
2008 Dec 27, Israel began
“Operation Cast Lead” as its warplanes retaliating for rocket fire from
the Gaza Strip pounded dozens of security compounds across the
Hamas-ruled territory in waves of airstrikes, killing nearly 200 people
and wounding 270 others in the single bloodiest day of fighting in
years. Gaza militants fired 30 rockets and mortars after the air
offensive began. A missile hit the town of Netivot, killing an Israeli
man and wounding four people.
(AP, 12/27/08)(Econ, 1/10/09, p.24)
2008 Dec 27-2009 Jan 21, In Egypt
security forces arrested at least 860 activists of the Muslim
Brotherhood as public demonstrations mounted during the Israeli assault
on Gaza.
(Econ, 1/17/09, p.48)
2009 Jan 1, Somali pirates seized
the Blue Star, an Egyptian cargo ship, and its 28 crewmembers. A
Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being
hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in the dangerous
Gulf of Aden. A crew of the French warship "PM L'Her" dispatch boat
intercepted two speedboats carrying 8 Somali pirates as they were
preparing to board a Panamanian cargo ship. The Blue Star and its crew
of 28 were freed on March 5 after a ransom was dropped from a plane.
(AP, 1/1/09)(AP, 1/2/09)(AP, 3/5/09)
2008 John R. Bradley, British
writer, authored "Inside Egypt: The Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink
of a Revolution."
(AFP, 7/27/08)
2009 Jan 10, Israeli forces
pounded rocket-launching sites and smuggling tunnels in Gaza and planes
dropped leaflets warning of an escalation in attacks, as Palestinian
militants fired at least 10 more rockets at Israel. The Israeli
military said more than 15 militants were killed in overnight fighting.
An Israeli tank shell killed nine people in a garden outside a home in
the northern Gaza town of Jebaliya. In Cairo, Egypt, Palestinian
Authority Pres. Mahmoud Abbas urged both Israel and Hamas to agree to
an Egypt-brokered truce. Syria-based Palestinian militant groups
including Hamas rejected the idea of deploying international observers
or troops in Gaza.
(AP, 1/10/09)
2009 Jan 13, Israeli ground troops
closed in on downtown Gaza City, battling Palestinian militants in the
streets of a densely populated neighborhood, destroying dozens of homes
and sending terrified residents running for cover as gunfire and
explosions echoed in the distance. Some 15 rockets and mortar shells
were fired toward Israel, causing no injuries. Egyptian mediators
pushed the militant Palestinian Hamas group to accept a truce proposal
for the embattled Gaza Strip in talks. The UN secretary-general headed
to the region to join the multitrack diplomatic efforts for a
cease-fire in Israel’s 18-day offensive, in which more than 900
Palestinians have been killed, half of them civilians.
(AP, 1/13/09)
2009 Jan 31, Security sources said
Egypt has begun installing cameras and motion sensors along its border
with the Gaza Strip to try to combat smuggling to the Hamas-run
territory.
(Reuters, 1/31/09)
2009 Feb 12, An Egyptian security
official said police have arrested 40 suspected smugglers and seized
goods in a new crackdown on smuggling into the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in
a crackdown that started last weekend.
(AP, 2/12/09)
2009 Feb 11, In Egypt archeologist
revealed the discovery of a burial chamber 36 feet below ground at the
necropolis of Saqqara dating back to about 640BC.
(WSJ, 2/12/09, p.A9)
2009 Feb 12, Hamas deputy leader
Moussa Abu Marzouk told Egypt's official MENA news agency that the
Islamic militant group has agreed to an 18-month truce with Israel.
(AP, 2/13/09)
2009 Feb 14, Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit held talks with Sudanese President Omar
al-Beshir amid reports that the International Criminal Court has
decided to issue a warrant for his arrest..
(AFP, 2/14/09)
2009 Feb 18, A leading Egyptian
dissident, Ayman Nour (44), who was jailed after challenging the
country's longtime president in the 2005 elections, was unexpectedly
freed after years of pressure from the United States.
(AP, 2/18/09)
2009 Feb 20, In Egypt 5 crew
members died when a Ukrainian cargo plane crashed during takeoff, burst
into flames and slid down the runway in the city of Luxor.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Feb 22, In Egypt a group of
French teenagers on a school trip was hit hard by a bombing at Cairo’s
famed 14th century Khan al-Khalili bazaar. The attack killed a
17-year-old French girl and wounded another 24 people: 17 French, three
Saudis, three Egyptians and a German. Egyptian police soon arrested
three suspects. On May 23 Egyptian authorities said they had arrested
seven people for being part of an al-Qaida linked group accused of
carrying out the attack. They included two Palestinians, two Egyptians,
a British-Egyptian, a Belgian-Tunisian and a French-Albanian woman,
some of whom had entered Egypt as students.
(AP, 2/23/09)(AP, 5/23/09)
2009 Feb 22, The bodies of four
people were found in a smuggling tunnel under the Gaza-Egypt border, a
day after another body was discovered in the area. Border officials
said about 1,000 university students and holders of foreign residency
permits were eligible to cross, and by mid-afternoon, about 600 people
had made the trip.
(AP, 2/22/09)
2009 Mar 2, At a donor’s
conference in Egypt Palestinian Pres. Mahmoud Abbas, seeking to shore
up his position against rival Hamas, asked international donors to
funnel millions of dollars through his government to rebuild the
devastated Gaza Strip. The gathering aimed to raise at least $2.8
billion from 80 donor nations and international organizations.
(AP, 3/2/09)
2009 Mar 9, A group of Egyptian
army cadets stormed a police station in a southern suburb of Cairo,
leaving at least five policemen and three cadets injured. The attack
came after a local police chief arrested a cadet on March 5 for
loitering on a street corner and refusing to show any ID. The cadet was
taken to the police station, beaten and held overnight.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 9, A cargo ship sank off
the Red Sea coast of Egypt shortly after leaving port, leaving 14
sailors missing. At least 2 crew members drowned. 10 people were
rescued when the 5,600-tonne Ibn al-Battuta went down in the sea off
the port of Abu Dhunaima in Egypt’s Safaga region.
(AP, 3/9/09)
2009 Mar 10, In Egypt rival
Palestinian factions opened talks aimed at coming up with a
power-sharing agreement, hearing a call to forget their contentious and
sometimes bloody past.
(AP, 3/10/09)
2009 Mar 11, Saudi Arabia hosted
the leaders of Egypt and Syria in an effort to persuade Damascus to
move away from Iran and join with US-allied Arab countries in working
to blunt Tehran's influence.
(AP, 3/11/09)
2009 Mar 16, Amr Moussa (b.1936),
former Egyptian Foreign Minister and head of the Arab League, said AL
countries will not carry out an International Criminal Court request to
arrest Sudan's president on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
(AP,
3/17/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amr_Moussa)
2009 Mar 17, Egyptian security
officials caught 2 Hamas officials returning to Gaza with nearly
$850,000 stuffed into candy tins.
(SFC, 3/18/09, p.A2)
2009 Mar 18, Egypt opened its
border crossing with the Gaza Strip for the second time in two months
to allow medical aid and Palestinians to enter the coastal territory.
(AP, 3/18/09)
2009 Mar 25, Egypt, one of the
strongest US allies in the Middle East, welcomed Sudan's president
despite an international warrant seeking his arrest on charges of war
crimes in Darfur. Egypt is not an ICC signatory and both it and the
Arab League have backed al-Bashir.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Mar 28, An Egyptian health
ministry spokesman said a two-year-old girl has contracted bird flu,
the 60th reported case since the first outbreak of the disease in the
country in 2006.
(AP, 3/28/09)
2009 Mar 31, Twelve Egyptian
laborers headed for jobs in Jordan were killed and 35 others injured
when their bus overturned in the Sinai peninsula.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 4, Egyptian police beat
and detained at least 18 members of an anti-government protest group
during a demonstration to demand the release of two activists, Sarah
Rezk and Amina Taha. The two 19-year-olds detained April 2 for
allegedly distributing leaflets calling for a national day of protest
on April 6.
(AP, 4/4/09)
2009 Apr 6, Egyptian police were
out in force to deal with a nationwide protest called by pro-democracy
groups, arresting Islamists and seeking to contain small demonstrations
in the capital, Cairo.
(AFP, 4/6/09)
2009 Apr 11, Egypt's Coptic
Orthodox Church for the first time issued a certificate of conversion
to a Muslim-born Christian. It was only the second time that such a
request has been formally made in a country where converting to
Christianity, while not illegal, is practically impossible. Egypt's
Copts, the largest Christian community in the Middle East, account for
an estimated six to 10% of the country's 80 million inhabitants.
(AFP, 4/11/09)
2009 Apr 13, It was reported that
Egypt has cracked a major Hezbollah network and arrested 49 Hezbollah
members and sympathizers between November and January.
(WSJ, 4/13/09, p.A8)
2009 Apr 15, Egyptian police
detained three teenage Palestinian men on suspicion of crossing
illegally into Egypt and also found explosives near the border with
Gaza.
(AP, 4/15/09)
2009 Apr 18, In Egypt the
state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported that an Egyptian woman has
contracted bird flu in the second case in the country in as many days.
(AFP, 4/18/09)
2009 Apr 18, In southern
Egypt Muslim gunmen shot dead two Coptic Christians as they left church
after an Easter vigil, in an apparent five-year-old vendetta.
(AFP, 4/19/09)
2009 Apr 21, Egyptian antiquities
authorities announced that archaeologists exploring the "Way of Horus,”
an old military road in the Sinai, have unearthed four new temples
amidst the 3,000-year-old remains of an ancient fortified city that
could have been used to impress foreign delegations visiting Egypt.
Early studies suggested the fortified city had been Egypt's military
headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 BC) until the Ptolemaic
era, a period lasting about 1500 years.
(AP, 4/21/09)
2009 Apr 24, In Egypt a woman (33)
died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the third death from the disease
in Egypt this week.
(AFP, 4/24/09)
2009 Apr 29, Egypt began
slaughtering the roughly 300,000 pigs in the country as a precautionary
measure against the spread of swine flu even though no cases have been
reported here yet.
(AP, 4/29/09)
2009 May 3, Egyptian police fired
tear gas and clashed with irate pig farmers, leaving 12 people injured
as owners resisted the government's attempt to slaughter all the
nation's pigs to guard against swine flu.
(AP, 5/3/09)
2009 May 5, A restricted UN report
said IAEA inspectors detected nuclear particles in Egypt last year and
in 2007. A senior diplomat accredited to the agency said that it was
the first time the traces were reported by the Vienna-based nuclear
monitor.
(AP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 11, Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu was in Egypt for talks seen aimed at showing he can be a true
Middle East peace partner before he heads to the White House on May 18.
Progress in peace negotiations must come before Arab recognition of
Israel, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview with
Israel TV.
(Reuters, 5/11/09)(AP, 5/12/09)
2009 May 14, Egyptian security
forces arrested 14 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood in dawn
raids at their homes.
(AFP, 5/14/09)
2009 May 15, In Egypt a
three-year-old boy from north Egypt tested positive for the deadly H5N1
strain of bird flu in the second such case in two days. This brought to
71 the number of bird flu infections in Egypt.
(AFP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 16, In Egypt 13 factory
workers were killed when their small pickup truck crashed head on into
a large lorry in southern Egypt.
(AFP, 5/16/09)
2009 May 18, In Egypt a 4-year-old
girl died of bird flu, making her the country's 27th death from the
virus since 2006.
(AP, 5/19/09)
2009 May 18, A leading animal
rights group criticized Egypt for using "shocking and cruel" methods to
slaughter the country's pigs over swine flu fears, responding to a
YouTube video that showed men skewering squealing piglets with large
kitchen knives and hitting others with crowbars.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 21, In Egypt a real
estate mogul with ties to Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's son was
sentenced to death for ordering the slaying of a Lebanese pop star in a
case that sparked a media frenzy in a country where the elite is often
perceived as being above the law. Hisham Talaat Moustafa, a member of
the ruling National Democratic Party, was accused of paying a former
Egyptian police officer $2 million to kill Suzanne Tamim while she was
in Dubai. Former officer, Mohsen el-Sukkary, was also convicted and
sentenced to death.
(AP, 5/21/09)
2009 May 22, In Egypt Ayman Nour,
a prominent Egyptian dissident, was attacked by an assailant on a
motorcycle who ignited a flammable substance in his face, leaving his
head burned. Nour accused elements within the ruling party of being
behind the attack.
(AP, 5/23/09)
2009 May 25, In Egypt a judge
overturned the conviction and two-year prison sentence of Saad Eddin
Ibrahim, an exiled Egyptian-American academic and outspoken critic of
the regime, paving the way for his return home.
(AP, 5/25/09)
2009 Jun 4, Pres. Obama spoke in
Cairo and touched on many themes Muslims wanted to hear in the highly
anticipated speech broadcast live across much of the Middle East and
elsewhere across the Muslim world. Muslims praised Obama's address as a
positive shift in US attitude and tone. But hard-liners criticized it
as style over substance and said it lacked concrete proposals to turn
the words into action.
(AP, 6/4/09)
2009 Jun 7, Egypt's public
prosecutor ordered the return of a shipment of Russian wheat impounded
last month on health grounds. The decision to ship back the 52,000 tons
of wheat, worth 9.6 million dollars (6.8 million euros), came after an
investigation found the grain was contaminated with insects and
unspecified heavy metals.
(AFP, 6/7/09)
2009 Jun 8, In Egypt at least 18
factory workers were killed when their bus collided with a truck in the
Nile Delta.
(AFP, 6/8/09)
2009 Jun 28, Egyptian security
forces arrested a leading member of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood
and three others in pre-dawn raids. Egyptian police shot dead a migrant
and wounded two others as they tried to enter Israel illegally.
(AFP, 6/28/09)
2009 Jun, In Egypt 75 people were
sentenced to death this month in comparison to just 86 for all of 2008.
In July the Cairo-based Arab Center for the Independence of the
Judiciary and Legal Profession issued a report expressing concern that
the "extravagance" with which the penalty was being used meant that
defendants were not receiving a fair trial. According to the UN 43% of
Egyptians lived on less than $2 a day.
(AP, 7/29/09)
2009 Jul 1, In Germany Marwa
al-Sherbini (32), a pregnant Muslim woman from Egypt, was stabbed to
death in a Dresden courtroom as her young son watched. She was involved
in a court case against her neighbor for calling her a terrorist and
was set to testify against him when he stabbed her 18 times inside the
courtroom in front of her 3-year-old son. Her husband, who was in
Germany on a research fellowship, came to her aid and was also stabbed
by the neighbor and shot in the leg by a security guard who initially
mistook him for the attacker.
(AP, 7/6/09)
2009 Jul 7, In Egypt 22 people
were killed in two separate accidents on the notoriously dangerous road
between the capital Cairo and the southern city of Minya.
(AP, 7/7/09)
2009 Jul 9, Egypt’s Interior
Ministry said authorities have arrested 25 militants with links to
al-Qaida on suspicion of plotting attacks on oil pipelines and ships in
the Suez Canal.
(AP, 7/9/09)
2009 Jul 15, In Egypt the two-day
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) opened in Sharm-El-Sheik. 50 leaders from
the 118-nation grouping of mostly of African, Asian and Latin American
nations gathered for their 15th meeting to address the world's biggest
problems, such as terrorism and financial instability. Cuba's Pres.
Raul Castro called for an international financial system that better
takes into account developing countries interests.
(AP, 7/15/09)
2009 Jul 16, In Egypt 8 Serb
tourists and 3 Egyptians were killed when a truck on the wrong side of
the road hit their coach head-on along Egypt's Red Sea coast.
(AP, 7/16/09)
2009 Jul 26, Egypt's prosecutor
general officially charged 26 suspects, including two Lebanese and five
Palestinians, for spying for the militant group Hezbollah, as well as
plotting terrorist attacks and aiding militants in the Gaza strip. Some
were accused of planning to attack ships on the Suez canal and tourists
in Egypt.
(Reuters, 7/26/09)(AP, 7/26/09)
2009 Aug 13, The crew of two
Egyptian fishing vessels overpowered Somali pirates after being held
hostage for four months and, with machetes and tools, killed at least
two pirates before sailing to freedom. The fight took place near the
coastal town of Las Qorey off the Gulf of Aden. The pirates had
demanded a ransom of $1.5 million.
(AP, 8/14/09)
2009 Aug 15, Somali pirates found
seven dead colleagues floating in the ocean and vowed to take revenge
against Egyptian fishermen they say killed them during an August 13
escape.
(Reuters, 8/15/09)
2009 Aug 17, Israeli soldiers
mistakenly shot and wounded an Egyptian policeman near Eilat along the
border between the two countries.
(AP, 8/17/09)
2009 Aug 25, An Israeli air strike
on a smuggling tunnel between the Gaza Strip and Egypt killed three
Palestinians and wounded seven.
(AP, 8/25/09)
2009 Aug 31, Egyptian police found
the entrances to four tunnels and two tons of explosives hidden near
the border with Gaza. A day earlier they had thwarted an attempt to
smuggle 500 kg (1,100 lb) of explosives into Gaza.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Sep 8, A security official
said Egyptian border guards shot dead four sub-Saharan migrants as they
tried to illegally enter Israel.
(AFP, 9/8/09)
2009 Sep 17, An Egyptian judge
convicted two American couples of human trafficking in an illegal
adoptions case and sentenced them to two years in prison. The trial
highlighted bureaucratic entanglements and murky legislation on
adopting children in the predominantly Muslim country.
(AP, 9/17/09)
2009 Sep 28, In Cairo, Egypt, a
2-day meeting of the International Commission on Nuclear
Nonproliferation and Disarmament (ICNND) opened. It was set up by the
governments of Australia and Japan to probe ideas on how to cut the
world's nuclear arms stockpile ahead of a UN conference on the subject
next year. Iran and Israel stated their positions on disarmament
separately during the gathering.
(AP, 10/22/09)
2009 Oct 5, It was reported that
conservative Egyptian lawmakers have called for a ban on imports of a
Chinese-made kit meant to help women fake their virginity and one
scholar has even called for the "exile" of anyone who imports or uses
it. The Artificial Virginity Hymen kit, distributed by the Chinese
company Gigimo, costs about $30. It is intended to help newly married
women fool their husbands into believing they are virgins.
(AP, 10/5/09)
2009 Oct 7, Egypt's antiquities
department severed its ties with France's Louvre museum because it has
refused to return what are described as stolen artifacts,
(AP, 10/7/09)
2009 Oct 9, Egypt's top Islamic
cleric said that students and teachers will not be allowed to wear face
veils in classrooms and dormitories of Sunni Islam's premier institute
of learning, al-Azhar, part of a government effort to curb radical
Islamic practices.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 9, France's culture
minister agreed to return painted wall fragments to Egypt after a row
over their ownership prompted the country to cut ties with the Louvre
Museum.
(AP, 10/9/09)
2009 Oct 15, It was reported that
the Taj network, funded by the National Science Foundation, now
connects India, Singapore, Vietnam and Egypt to the larger Global Ring
Network for Advanced Application Development (GLORIAD) global
infrastructure, and "dramatically improves existing US network links
with China and the Nordic region," according to an NSF statement.
(www.livescience.com/technology/091015-global-gloraid-taj-cyber-net.html)
2009 Oct 21, Security guards
thwarted an attempted hijacking on an EgyptAir flight from Istanbul to
Cairo by overpowering a Sudanese man who threatened crew members with a
plastic knife. The man told flight attendants he wanted to "liberate
Jerusalem."
(AP, 10/21/09)
2009 Oct 24, In Egypt two
passenger trains collided at high speed south of Cairo, killing 18
people and wounding 39. An initial inquiry found that a signalman had
left work early and failed to warn drivers of delays because of a water
buffalo on the track. Later analysis of a blood sample from the driver
of the first train revealed the presence of traces of hashish.
(AFP, 10/25/09)(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 6, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao headed to Egypt for a summit with African leaders as Beijing
bids to expand its diplomatic and economic influence on the
resource-rich continent.
(AP, 11/6/09)
2009 Nov 7, China’s PM Wen Jiaobao
sought to reassure the world's Muslims about his country's goodwill
towards them in Cairo, at a time when Beijing is criticized for the
treatment of its own Muslim minority.
(AFP, 11/7/09)
2009 Nov 8, At the start of the
two-day Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt China's Premier Wen
Jiabao pledged $10 billion in low interest loans to African nations
over the next three years and said Beijing would cancel the government
debts of some of the poorest of those countries.
(AP, 11/8/09)
2009 Nov 15, An Egyptian judicial
source said 2 Egyptian Christians, Rami Atef Khella and Raafat Khella,
have been condemned to death for the murder of a Muslim man who married
one of their relatives after she converted to Islam. Mariam Atef Khella
and the couple's daughter Nur were wounded at the time of the attack
more than a year ago.
(AFP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 15, Egypt’s information
technology minister said Egypt will apply for the first Internet domain
written in Arabic. The announcement was made at a conference grouping
Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss boosting online access in
emerging nations.
(AP, 11/15/09)
2009 Nov 18, Egyptian fans were
attacked after Algeria won (1-0) a make-or-break World Cup qualifying
game in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, and offices of Egyptian
companies in Algeria were ransacked after a matchup in Cairo over the
weekend.
(AP, 11/19/09)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.52)
2009 Nov 20, Egyptian police shot
and killed a Bedouin in north Sinai after the arrest of fellow
tribesmen prompted clashes. Protesters injured dozens of police near
the Algerian embassy in Cairo, fanning the flames of a diplomatic spat
that erupted after Algeria won a football World Cup qualifier.
(AFP, 11/20/09)
2009 Dec 10, Egyptian security
officials said a project is under way along the Gaza border to stem
smuggling into the Palestinian territory through underground tunnels. A
border guard with Hamas' Gaza rulers said the Egyptians are digging
during the day and putting sheets of metal into the trenches at night.
(AP, 12/10/09)
2009 Dec 11, The Canadian
government said that it has approved a request from Egyptian-backed
telecom Globalive Wireless Management Corp. to launch its mobile phone
service in Canada.
(AP, 12/11/09)
2009 Dec 14, In Egypt a 2-day
regional conference ended addressing for the first time the once taboo
topic of sexual harassment. Activists said the sexual harassment of
women in the streets, schools and work places of the Arab world was
driving them to cover up and confine themselves to their homes.
(AP, 12/15/09)
2009 Dec 16, Egypt's antiquities
chief said the wall paintings that caused a feud between Egypt and the
Louvre Museum will be returned to their original location in a tomb in
Luxor.
(AP, 12/16/09)
2009 Dec 20, Iraq's PM Nouri
al-Maliki opened a landmark visit to Egypt in what aides described as
an ambitious attempt to improve relations with one of the Arab world's
most powerful players.
(AP, 12/20/09)
2009 Dec 22, Egypt confirmed it is
engaged in construction along its border with Gaza but said it is not
building what some reports have said is a steel wall to block
cross-border smuggling.
(Reuters, 12/22/09)
2009 Dec 27, In Lebanon Hezbollah
leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Egypt to stop building a steel
wall along the Gaza border that could obstruct tunnels which provide a
lifeline for the blockaded enclave.
(Reuters, 12/27/09)
2009 Dec 29, Egypt's top diplomat
said Israel's PM Netanyahu presented Egypt with ideas for restarting
Mideast peace talks, impressing his hosts with proposals that go
further than past Israeli positions.
(AP, 12/29/09)
2009 Dec 31, Hundreds of
demonstrators rallied on opposite sides of an Israeli-Gaza border
crossing to protest the blockade of the seaside territory imposed by
Egypt and Israel.
(AP, 12/31/09)
2009 Egypt’s population stood at
about 82 million. Most of the people lived in the Nile Valley, an area
smaller than Denmark.
(Econ, 10/3/09, p.58)
2010 Jan 3, National Bank of Egypt
(NBE) and Banque Misr, the country's first and second biggest banks by
assets, said they had agreed to accept real estate in exchange for
hundreds of millions of dollars in public sector debt.
(Reuters, 1/3/10)
2010 Jan 6, Egyptian security
forces and Palestinians clashed at the Gaza border over the delay of an
international aid convoy, killing one Egyptian border guard and
wounding 15 Palestinians. 3 gunmen in a car sprayed automatic gunfire
into a crowd leaving a church in the town of Nag Hamadi, about 40 miles
from the ancient ruins of Luxor. The lead attacker was identified as a
Muslim. 6 male churchgoers and one security guard were killed on the
Coptic Christmas Eve. The 3 suspects in the drive-by shooting gave
themselves up to police on Jan 8 after being surrounded by security
forces.
(AP, 1/6/10)(AP, 1/7/10)(AP, 1/8/10)
2010 Jan 7, In Egypt thousands
clashed with police during a funeral procession for the seven people
killed in an attack on churchgoers leaving a midnight Mass for Coptic
Christians.
(AP, 1/7/10)
2010 Jan 9, In Egypt Muslims and
Christians set fire to each others' homes and shops near the southern
town of Nagaa Hamady, three days after a gunman killed six Coptic
Christians in a drive-by shooting there.
(Reuters, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 12, Texas-based Apache
Corp. said it made its sixth oil and gas discovery in the Faghur Basin
play in Egypt's far Western Desert near the Libyan border.
(AP, 1/12/10)
2010 Jan 16, Egypt's largest
opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood announced its new leader,
Mohammed Badie (66), a member of the group's conservative faction. He
was chosen by the movement's 30-member international council and
becomes the group's eighth supreme leader since its foundation in 1928.
(AP, 1/16/10)
2010 Jan 18, In Egypt and Israel
heavy rains and flash floods left seven people dead, including a
British tourist who was killed when a sailboat capsized on the Nile
River.
(AP, 1/18/10)
2010 Jan 20, Three more Egyptians
died in flooding in the southern Sinai Desert, bringing the toll for
three days of unseasonably heavy rains to 10.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2017 A $7.2 billion set of
reclamation mega projects was scheduled for completion. The Toshka land
reclamation project aimed to create 540,000 acres of new agricultural
land.
(SFC, 12/25/00, p.A16)
2028 It was feared in 1998 that
the oasis at the Siwa depression would drown due to the increase in
private wells. The 35 square mile area is 142 feet below sea level.
(SFC, 7/11/98, p.A12)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Egypt
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