Ancient Egypt looms large in popular culture, from Indiana Jones to The Prince of Egypt. The country is a treasure trove of pyramids, pharaohs, and nods to ancient cats. The country’s location at the nexus of its African home and of Asia and Europe has led to its fascinating contemporary history. Egypt, after the Ottoman Empire, played a key role in geopolitical affairs, developed a variety of national identities, and became the dramatic poster child for overthrowing and then replacing an autocrat.
Ottoman Consolidation
After centuries of being loosely ruled by a number of Muslim Caliphates, Egypt came under Ottoman control in 1517. From the end of the 18th century, French and British influence greatly eroded Ottoman power. In the intervening years, a number of Egyptian dynasties and Mamluks went to war with the Ottomans. Still, the empire exerted some level of cultural and social influence, doing everything from increasing trash collection infrastructure to hiring a record number of court historians and setting up zoos. Within this time period, society in spaces like Cairo that already had interactions with the world globally became even more cosmopolitan.
The Ottomans’ last century or so within Egypt was beset by conflict within the empire and with other would-be imperial powers. Eventually, Britain declared the country its protectorate, and Egypt entered World War I on the side of the Central Powers in 1914. The Ottoman Empire was dissolved as a result of the war, and Egypt as a protectorate came to exist within a relatively small geographic sphere outside of the big, sprawling space that had once included it.
French and British Arrival
Napoleon Bonaparte viewed Egypt as the key to cementing his own imperial status, rebuilding post-revolution France, and expanding his military prowess. In 1798, he invaded the area, ‘conquering’ small fishing villages and telling his troops that “From the pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.” Embedded in the expedition were more than 100 academics who studied everything from Egyptian fauna to pyramids and history, exoticizing the space and cementing its place in popular British and French—and later, global—imaginations.
The French hoped that the expedition would be successful in blocking British land routes to India. Unfortunately for Napoleon, his troops (and later historians) largely regarded the Egyptian campaign as a failure. In 1801, the French were forced out by joint British-Ottoman forces.
Held off for a few decades by competition with France, Britain earnestly engaged in the country beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, setting up railroad stations for a planned Cairo-to-Cape Town route. Later that century, the British army began training Egyptian troops in the quasi-protectorate. Egypt declared its independence from Britain in 1922, making it one of the first African countries to begin what would later be termed “decolonization.”
Egyptomania
Egyptomania has existed to a large degree since ancient times. Fascination with the country’s pyramids, mummies, and hieroglyphics drove Roman and Greek ambassadors to visit Egypt. Queen Cleopatra herself was of partial Greek descent and consorted with Greco-Roman ambassadors despite being thought of as quintessentially Egyptian.
The Egyptomania phenomenon’s modern version hit in the mid-nineteenth century following Napoleon’s campaign. He brought artifacts back to hold in the Louvre in Paris, and British agents ferried artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone back to public spaces such as the British Museum. Given the ability to see these novelties firsthand, as well as to gain knowledge of historical Egypt and hear reports from contemporary space, Europeans became fascinated with all things Egyptian. Many incorporated Egyptian designs into home décor, architecture, and more.
Though this phenomenon occurred largely outside of the country, it affected it through the subsequent invasion of tourists as well as an increased emphasis on preservation within the country. Americans later popularized Egyptian history through cinematic pieces that combined myth and sometimes reality. The phenomenon drove what much of the world today thinks of as “Egypt.”
Building the Canal
Egypt’s location in northeast Africa, close to Europe and Asia, has made it a throughway of Mediterranean and overland trade for millennia. Ancient pharaohs built canals as transportation mechanisms, and Ottoman and other authorities attempted to use them. The probable recession of the Red Sea made this possible over centuries.
British and French campaigns began during the Age of Imperialism, looking at canal building as a way of making their route to the Indian Ocean far shorter, bypassing the necessity for African circumnavigation. During World War II, the Third Reich also demonstrated an interest in possessing the area and making incursions through a proposed canal despite a heavy disinterest in all things African. French canal building began in 1859, and French and British companies received concessions to operate it for its first century. The Suez Canal allowed European and Asian trade to move through the Indian Ocean, Red Sea, and the Mediterranean without having to travel all the way around the southern tip of Africa. This cut shipping times and expenses considerably.
Nasser’s Arabization
Gamal Abdel Nasser remains perhaps Egypt’s most iconic leader. As the country’s second president, he nationalized the canal in 1956. In a diverse country emerging from colonialism, Nasser drove Arabization within Egypt and the wider Middle East, encouraging people at home and abroad to think of the region as a cohesive one built upon Arabic linguistic identity.
Though Muslim himself, Nasser remained committed to the idea that Egypt should not become a theocracy (perhaps especially after an assassination attempt by a Muslim Brotherhood member). He socialized many entities within the country, built the Aswan Dam, and eventually became more or less an autocrat. All of this has given him a mixed legacy within the country, though he generally retains “Founding Father” status. His efforts at Pan-Arabism are largely regarded as building a regional identity that remains important to this day.
Nasser’s status as a leader in Afro-Asian Solidarity efforts and non-alignment brought Egypt into the wider world while encouraging the country to retain a unique identity.
New Millennium
Following Nasser’s sudden death, Anwar Sadat took power and remained in power until his assassination in 1980. Sadat had begun negotiations with Israeli leaders just prior. He was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak, who ruled for the next three decades. As one of Egypt’s longest-serving leaders, Mubarak moved the Arab League headquarters back to Cairo, maintained power during a number of single-party elections, and was generally supportive of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts. His regime, however, became rife with corruption. Egypt became one of the first countries to participate in the Arab Spring in 2011, with Mubarak stepping down just over a week after protests began. Tahrir Square in Cairo became an iconic spot in the phenomenon, with organizers harnessing the power of Facebook to create mass gatherings.
Today
Egypt, after the Arab Spring, became the center of global discussion points as it rolled out a new constitution and rebuilt the country. For quite some time, it was hailed as a success story. The new constitution granted sweeping rights. Mohamed Morsi was democratically elected as president. He retained membership in the Freedom and Justice Party and was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, connecting him to powerful socio-political currents. His presidency did not last long, however, and he was overthrown in a coup in 2013, just one year after his election. Deputy Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi masterminded the coup and currently serves as president, winning re-election for the third time in 2023. He is often described as authoritarian, perhaps leading full circle back to Nasser, Mubarak, and other predecessors.
Egyptian society remains vibrant. Over the last few years, the country has seen an influx of people displaced from both Sudan and Palestine and has attempted to serve as a mediator in the current Middle East conflict. This, of course, results in varied perspectives on the country’s tenor and general shape. In an effort to rehabilitate tourism in the wake of the Arab Spring, administrators have restored a number of ancient sites, such as a tomb near the Great Sphinx. The National Archeological Museum recently reopened, and King Tutankhamun is set to go on display back home. This rounds out an effort to entice more tourists to see Egyptian artifacts in Egypt, though many of these, such as the Rosetta Stone, remain in the UK and France.
As one of the world’s oldest societies, Egypt fascinates in a unique way. Its present often seems eclipsed by stereotypes of the past, but that present and recent history has a colorful and unique dynamic of its own. With the return and restoration of many antiquities, tourists now have opportunities to enjoy seeing ancient Egyptian remnants as well as glimpsing daily contemporary life beyond the pyramids.
