Egypt Events

2560BC Great Pyramid of Giza Built
Standing at the base of the Great Pyramid, it is hard to imagine that this monument—which remained the tallest building in the world until early in this century—was built in just under 30...
280BC
to 247BC
Lighthouse of Alexandria Built
The Lighthouse of Alexandria, also known as the Pharos of Alexandria, was a tower built between 280 and 247 BC on the island of Pharos at Alexandria, Egypt. Its purpose was to guide sailo...
969 The Fatimids conquer Egypt
In 969 the Fatimid general Jawhar as-Siqilli was placed at the head of an army said to number 100,000 men and attempted to seize Egypt. He had little difficulty defeating the Egyptian arm...
1250
to 1382
Mamluk Bahri Dynasty of Egypt
The Bahri dynasty or Bahriyya Mamluks (al-Mamalik al-Bahariyya المماليك البحرية ) was a Mamluk dynasty of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin that ruled Egypt from 1250 to 1382 when they were su...
1382
to 1517
Mamluk Burji Dynasty of Egypt
The Burji dynasty المماليك البرجية ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517. It proved especially turbulent, with short-lived sultans. Political power-plays often became important in designating ...
1798 Jul 21 Battle of the Pyramids
The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a battle fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. I...
1849
to 1905
Muhammad Abduh is born
The Egyptian reformer and Muslim apologist Muhammad 'Abduh was a pupil and friend of al-Afghani. Although deeply influenced by him, 'Abduh was less inclined to political activism and conc...
1869 Nov 17 The Suez Canal Opens
After ten years of construction and costs more than double the original estimate, the Suez Canal opened on November 17, 1869. Stretching 101 miles across Egypt's Isthmus of Suez, from Por...
1898 Winston Churchill Is Transferred To Egypt
The 21st Lancers were then ordered to cut the Dervish line of retreat into the city. As the Regiment advanced, they came under rifle fire from what appeared to be a few hundred skirmisher...
1942 Oct 23
to 1942 Nov 5
 Second Battle of El Alamein
The Second Battle of El Alamein marked a major turning point in the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The battle lasted from 23 October to 5 November 1942. The First Battle of El A...
1948 May 15
to 1949 Apr 4
 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known by the Israelis as the War of Independence and War of Liberation, and by Palestinians as the Catastrophe, was the first in a series of wars fought between...
1949 Feb
to 1949 Jul
Armistice agreements signed, West Bank/Gaza divided between Jordan and Egypt
The 1949 Armistice Agreements are a set of agreements signed during 1949 between Israel and neighboring Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. The agreements ended the official hostilities of...
1950 Sep 1 TWA Flight 903 Crashes
TWA Flight 903 from Bombay, India to New York was carried out by TWA's Constellation "Star of Maryland". Departure from Bombay was at 08:34, August 30 and arrival at Cairo at 22:17. A com...
1956 Oct 29 Operation Kadesh Begins
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, (Arabic: أزمة السويس - العدوان الثلاثي‎ ʾAzmat al-Sūwais/Al-ʿIdwān al-Thalāthī; French: Crise du canal de Suez; Hebrew: מבצ...
1967
to 1970
War of Attrition
The War of Attrition was a limited war fought between Israel and forces of Egypt and the Palestine Liberation Organization from 1967 to 1970. It was initiated by Egypt as a way to force I...
1967 Jun 5
to 1967 Jun 10
 The Six-Day War
The Six-Day War of June 5-10, 1967 was a war between the Israel army and the armies of the neighboring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. It is also known as the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, t...
1967 Sep 1 Khartoum Resolution issued
Following the 6-day war of 1967, the Israel unity government declared on June 19, 1967 that it was ready to return the Golan Heights to Syria, Sinai to Egypt and most of the West Bank to ...
1978 Sep 17 Camp David Accords signed
The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Ca...
1978 Dec 10 Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat and Menachem Begin are Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Never previously in the history of the Peace Prize, stretching back over a period of almost eighty years, have we witnessed an award ceremony such as this in King Haukon V's medieval cast...
1979 Mar 26 Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty signed
"The treaty demonstrated that Middle East leaders, and not just foreign powers, have the power to transform regional politics." —Kenneth Stein, professor at Emory University and a long-time aid to Jimmy Carter
1981 Oct 6 Muhammad Anwar El Sadat, third President of Egypt, is Assassinated
Islamic extremists assassinate Anwar Sadat, the president of Egypt, as he reviews troops on the anniversary of the Yom Kippur War. Led by Khaled el Islambouli, a lieutenant in the Egyptia...
1985 Nov 23 EgyptAir Flight 648 is Hijacked by the Terrorist Abu Nidal Organization
On November 23, at 19:35 the EgyptAir Boeing 737 was hijacked by 3 men. The Egyptian security guard who was onboard shot and killed one of the hijackers before being shot and wounded hims...
1995 Sep 28 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (Oslo II) signed
Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip or Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, or simply the Interim Agreement, also known as Oslo 2 (or Oslo II), and alternately known a...
1995 Nov 19 The bombing of the Egyptian Embassy
In Islamabad, Pakistan on November 19, 1995 Zawahiri's men from his al-jihad operation bombed the Egyptian Embassy. Two men with Samsonite briefcases, one filled with weapons approache...
1996 Oct 27 Fourteen-Story Apartment Building Collapses in Cairo, Egypt
A 14-story apartment building collapsed in Cairo Sunday, killing at least four people. More than 100 people were still missing. Rescue workers were trying to free five people trapped b...
2005 Dec 10 Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
This year's prize to the IAEA and ElBaradei links together the two principal major lines of thought that have governed selections for the award throughout its history. Again and again, th...
2008 Jan 23 Thousands of Palestinians Cross into Egypt, as the Border Wall With Gaza in Rafah is Blown up by Militants
The breach of the Gaza-Egypt border began on January 23, 2008, after Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip set off an explosion near the Rafah Border Crossing, destroying part of the Israeli ...
2011 Jan 25 "Day of Rage" large-scale protest erupts in Egypt
Egyptian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets and beat protesters to clear thousands of people from a central Cairo square Wednesday after the biggest demonstrations in years against ...
2011 Jan 26 Egyptian stock market drops sharply amid popular uprising
Egypt's benchmark index recorded its biggest drop in over two years Thursday, plummeting more than 10 percent as anti-government protests rattled investor confidence and left Hosni Mubara...
2011 Jan 27 Egyptian Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei returns home to assume opposition leadership role
Egypt's most prominent democracy advocate took up a bullhorn Sunday and called for President Hosni Mubarak to resign, speaking to thousands of protesters who defied a curfew for a third n...
2011 Jan 28 Egyptian government cuts off internet and cell phone service
In its effort to silence protesters, Egypt took a step that's rare even among authoritarian governments: It cut off the Internet across the entire country. The nation's four main Inter...
2011 Feb 1 President Hosni Mubarak vows not to seek another term
President Hosni Mubarak defied a quarter-million protesters demanding he step down immediately, announcing Tuesday he would serve out the last months of his term and "die on Egyptian soil...
2011 Feb 3 Protests become increasingly violent, including attacks on reporters and human rights activists
Menacing gangs backing President Hosni Mubarak attacked journalists and human rights activists Thursday in an ugly turn in Egypt's crisis as government opponents pushed supporters out of ...
2011 Feb 6 Egyptian VP meets with Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups, offers sweeping concessions
Egypt's vice president met with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups for the first time Sunday and offered sweeping concessions, including granting press freedom an...
2011 Feb 8 Freed opposition leader Wael Ghonim appears before hundreds of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square
A young Google executive who helped ignite Egypt's uprising energized a cheering crowd of hundreds of thousands Tuesday with his first appearance in their midst after being released from ...
2011 Feb 10 Mubarak agrees to power transfer, refuses to step down
Nobel Peace laureate and leading democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei is predicting "Egypt will explode" after President Hosni Mubarak refused to step down and is calling on the military ...
2011 Feb 11 Mubarak resigns, military assumes control of country
Egypt exploded with joy, tears, and relief after President Hosni Mubarak resigned as president, forced out by 18 days of mass protests that culminated in huge marches Friday on his presid...
2011 Feb 12 Egypt army commits to power transfer, Israel peace
On Egypt's first day in nearly 30 years without Hosni Mubarak as president, its new military rulers pledged Saturday to eventually hand power to an elected civilian government and outline...
2011 Mar 8 International Women's Day Rally in Cairo Marred by Rival Protests
“We fought side by side with men during the revolution, and now we’re not represented,” said Passat Rabie, a young woman who came with friends, after men aggressively dispersed the protes...
2012 Jan 5 Prosecution Seeks Death Penalty for Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
he prosecutor in the trial of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak is seeking a death sentence for the former president and his security chief for killing protesters, the Associated Press reports.