Egypt: A Short History

404 Pages·2011·2.61 MB·English

by  Robert L. Tignor

EGYPT
Egypt Administrative Divisions
Mediterranean Sea
L
E
A
Port R
BYA MMaat,rrsu-a,h, Alexandria Said ‘AAr-islh IS RDAN
LI SHAMA-L JO
- -
SINA’
-
MAT,RUH, Cairo
-
JA-NU-B SAUDI
SINA’
ARABIA
Al Minya-
Sharm ash
- - Shaykh
ALWADI Al Ghardaqah
AL JAD-ID Asyu-t,
International boundary National capital Su-h-aj Qina- Red Sea
Governorate boundary Governorate capital
Governorates (muh,a-faz,at) have the same names AL BAH,R
as their capitals except where noted Al Kha-rijah AL AH,MAR
0 50 100 150 kilometers
0 50 100 150 miles
Aswa-n
Damietta
Kafr ash 10 Port Said
Shaykh 1 9
3AlexanDdarmiaanhu-r T,ant,2a- AAl zM Zaanqs,a-u8-zr-iaqh 4 BAsotdurmantdiinvaeir-y
Shib-in al Kawm SUDAN
AL BUH,AYRAH 5 Banha- Ismailia -
7 1. AD DAQAHLIYAH
-
Al J-izah Cairo6 Suez 2. AL GHARBIYA-H
3. AL ISKANDARIYAH
-- -
4. AL ISMA’ILIYAH
- -
5. AL MINUFIYAH
AS 6. AL QA-HIRAH
Al Fayyu-m SUWAYS 7. AL QALYU-B-IYAH
-
Ban-i Suwayf 8. AS-H SHA-RQIYAH
9. BUR SA’ID
-
10. DUMY,AT
Map 1. Map of Egypt
E G Y P T
A S H O R T H I S T O R Y
With a new afterword by the author
R O B E R T L . T I G N O R
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS PRINCETON & OXFORD
Copyright © 2010 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press,
41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,
6Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
AllRightsReserved
Second printing, and first paperback printing, 2011
PaperbackISBN 978-0-691-15307-0
The Library of Congress has cataloged the cloth edition of this book as follows
Tignor, Robert L.
Egypt : a short history / Robert L. Tignor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-14763-5 (alk. paper)
1. Egypt—History. I.Title.
DT77.T54 010
962—dc22 2010017939
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in ITC Mendoza & Penumbra HalfSerif
Printed on acid-free paper. (cid:100)
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations vii
Credits ix
Preface xi
CHAPTERONE The Land and People 1
CHAPTERTWO Egypt during the Old Kingdom 26
CHAPTERTHREE The Middle and New Kingdoms 51
CHAPTERFOUR Nubians, Greeks, and Romans,
circa 1200 BCE–632 CE 80
CHAPTERFIVE Christian Egypt 105
CHAPTERSIX Egypt within Islamic Empires, 639–969 122
CHAPTERSEVEN Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks,
969–1517 146
CHAPTEREIGHT Ottoman Egypt, 1517–1798 174
CHAPTERNINE Napoleon Bonaparte, Muhammad
Ali, and Ismail:Egypt in the Nineteenth Century 196
CHAPTERTEN The British Period, 1882–1952 228
CHAPTERELEVEN Egypt for the Egyptians,
1952–1981:Nasser and Sadat 256
CHAPTERTWELVE Mubarak’s Egypt 282
CONCLUSION Egypt through the Millennia 311
Afterword to the Paperback Edition 321
Notes 329
Bibliography 335
Index 355
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ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOR PLATES
Following page 174
PLATE1 The pyramids during the Nile flood
PLATE 2 Ashaduf
PLATE 3 Asaqia or buffalo-driven water wheel
PLATE 4 The step pyramid
PLATE 5 The bent pyramid
PLATE 6 TheSphinx with the pyramid of Khafra behind
PLATE 7 The great pyramid of Giza
PLATE 8 Avenue of the sphinxes at Luxor
PLATE 9 Queen Hatshepsut’s mortuary temple
PLATE 10 Bust of Queen Nefertiti
PLATE 11 Statue of Akhenaten
PLATE 12 The solar disk god, Aten
PLATE 13 AbuSimbel
PLATE 14 Mask of King Tutankhamen
PLATE 15 The royal chair of King Tutankhamen
PLATE 16 Philae temple
PLATE 17 Roman amphitheater in Alexandria
PLATE 18 SaintCatherine’s monastery in Sinai
PLATE 19 Muhammad Ali mosque
PLATE 20 Ahmad ibn Tulun mosque
PLATE 21 Al-Azhar mosque
PLATE 22 The citadel
PLATE 23 Sultan Hasan mosque
PLATE 24 Artist’s rendition of Napoleon in Egypt
PLATE 25 Egyptian school girls, wearing head scarves and standing
in front of ruins of the temple of Dendera
ILLUSTRATIONS
MAPS
MAP 1 Map of Egypt ii
MAP 2 Map of the NileRiver basin xvi
FIGURES
FIGURE 1 Narmer palette 20
FIGURE 2 Wall painting of Nebamun, who died around 1350 33
FIGURE 3 Al-Azhar mosque 157
FIGURE 4 TheSphinx as seen by the French during their
invasion of Egypt 207
FIGURE 5 Nasser, Sadat, and Neguib and other FreeOfficers 258
FIGURE 6 Anwar al-Sadat and his wife, Jihan 275
vIII
CREDITS
I would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for
permission to reproduce photographic materials in their possession:
Laura Cobb (plate 23); Mary Cross (plates 18 and 20 from Cross,
Egypt); Joel Gordon (figure 5); Simon Hayter (figure 2 and plate
11); The Princeton Art Museum (plate 24); RichardSeaman (plates
4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, and 15); Sandra and Trevor Selby (plates 6, 8, 9,
19, and 25); Darius Sitek (figure 1); The Victoria and Albert Mu-
seum (plate 1); and John Waterbury (plates 17 and 22 and figure
3). Map 1, Egypt, administrative divisions. Scale: ca. [1:8,100,00].
Lambert conformal conic projection. [Washington, D.C. : Central
Intelligence Agency]. 1997. Publisher’s no.: “Base 802526 (R00622)
5-97.”