Egypt

=== Prehistory and Ancient Egypt ===
{{Main|Prehistoric Egypt|Ancient Egypt}}
[[File:Derr ( 125 miles south of Aswan, right bank). Temple dedicated to Pa - Horakhti.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|right|[[Temple of Derr]] ruins in 1960]]
There is evidence of [[rock carvings]] along the [[Nile]] terraces and in desert oases. In the [[10th millennium BCE]], a culture of [[hunter-gatherer]]s and [[fishing|fishers]] was replaced by a [[cereal|grain]]-grinding [[culture]]. Climate changes or [[overgrazing]] around 8000 [[before common era|BCE]] began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the [[Sahara]]. Early [[tribal people]]s migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural [[Economic system|economy]] and more centralised [[society]].<ref>Midant-Reynes, Béatrix. ''The Prehistory of Egypt: From the First Egyptians to the First Kings''. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.</ref>

By about 6000 BCE, a [[Neolithic]] culture took root in the Nile Valley.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/world/africa/nile_valley/6000-4000BC |title=The Nile Valley 6000–4000 BCE Neolithic |publisher=The British Museum |year=2005 |access-date=21 August 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214084636/http://www.worldtimelines.org.uk/world/africa/nile_valley/6000-4000BC |archive-date=14 February 2009 }}</ref> During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in [[Upper and Lower Egypt]]. The [[Badarian]] culture and the successor [[Naqada]] series are generally regarded as precursors to [[Ancient Egypt|dynastic Egypt]]. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade. The earliest known evidence of [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|Egyptian hieroglyphic]] inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BCE.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Shaw|editor-first=Ian|title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-19-280458-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofa00shaw/page/69 69]|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofa00shaw/page/69}}</ref>

[[File:All Gizah Pyramids.jpg|thumb|The [[Giza Necropolis]] is the oldest of the [[Seven Wonders of the Ancient World|ancient Wonders]] and the only one still in existence.]]
A unified kingdom was founded {{circa|3150}} BCE by King [[Menes]], leading to a [[List of Egyptian dynasties|series of dynasties]] that ruled Egypt for the next three millennia. [[Culture of Egypt|Egyptian culture]] flourished during this long period and remained distinctively Egyptian in its [[Ancient Egyptian religion|religion]], [[Art of Ancient Egypt|arts]], [[Egyptian language|language]] and customs. The [[Protodynastic Period of Egypt|first two ruling dynasties]] of a unified Egypt set the stage for the [[Old Kingdom]] period, {{circa|2700–2200}} BCE, which constructed many [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]], most notably the [[Third dynasty of Egypt|Third Dynasty]] [[pyramid of Djoser]] and the [[Fourth dynasty of Egypt|Fourth Dynasty]] [[Giza Necropolis|Giza pyramids]].

The [[First Intermediate Period of Egypt|First Intermediate Period]] ushered in a time of political upheaval for about 150 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/apocalypse_egypt_01.shtml |title=The Fall of the Egyptian Old Kingdom |publisher=BBC |date=17 February 2011 |access-date=3 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111117133705/http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/egyptians/apocalypse_egypt_01.shtml |archive-date=17 November 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> Stronger Nile floods and stabilisation of government, however, brought back renewed prosperity for the country in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] {{circa|2040}} BCE, reaching a peak during the reign of Pharaoh [[Amenemhat III]]. A [[Second Intermediate Period of Egypt|second period of disunity]] heralded the arrival of the first foreign ruling dynasty in Egypt, that of the Semitic [[Hyksos]]. The Hyksos invaders took over much of Lower Egypt around 1650 BCE and founded a new capital at [[Avaris]]. They were driven out by an Upper Egyptian force led by [[Ahmose I]], who founded the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth Dynasty]] and relocated the capital from [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] to [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]].

The [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]] {{circa|1550–1070}} BCE began with the Eighteenth Dynasty, marking the rise of Egypt as an [[Power in international relations|international power]] that expanded during its greatest extension to an empire as far south as [[Tombos (Nubia)|Tombos]] in [[Nubia]], and included parts of the [[Levant]] in the east. This period is noted for some of the most well known [[Pharaoh]]s, including [[Hatshepsut]], [[Thutmose III]], [[Akhenaten]] and his wife [[Nefertiti]], [[Tutankhamun]] and [[Ramesses II]]. The first historically attested expression of [[monotheism]] came during this period as [[Atenism]]. Frequent contacts with other nations brought new ideas to the New Kingdom. The country was later invaded and conquered by [[Ancient Libya|Libyans]], [[Kingdom of Kush|Nubians]] and [[Assyria]]ns, but native Egyptians eventually drove them out and regained control of their country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ancientsudan.org/history_06_nubconegypt.htm |title=The Kushite Conquest of Egypt |publisher=Ancientsudan.org |access-date=25 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201014554/http://www.ancientsudan.org/history_06_nubconegypt.htm |archive-date=1 February 2011}}</ref>

[[File:BD Weighing of the Heart.jpg|thumb|The Weighing of the Heart from the ''[[Papyrus of Ani|Book of the Dead of Ani]]'']]
In 525&nbsp;BCE, the [[Achaemenid Empire]], led by [[Cambyses II of Persia|Cambyses II]], began their conquest of Egypt, eventually capturing the pharaoh [[Psamtik III]] at the battle of [[Pelusium]]. Cambyses II then assumed the formal title of [[pharaoh]], but ruled Egypt from his home of [[Susa]] in Persia (modern [[Iran]]), leaving Egypt under the control of a [[satrap]]y. The entire [[Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egypt]], from 525 to 402 BCE, save for [[Petubastis III]], was an entirely Achaemenid-ruled period, with the Achaemenid emperors all being granted the title of pharaoh. A few temporarily successful revolts against the Achaemenids marked the fifth century BCE, but Egypt was never able to permanently overthrow the Achaemenids.<ref>{{Cite book|editor-last=Shaw|editor-first=Ian|title=The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|location=Oxford|isbn=0-19-280458-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofa00shaw/page/383 383]|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofa00shaw/page/383}}</ref>

The [[Thirtieth dynasty of Egypt|Thirtieth Dynasty]] was the last native ruling dynasty during the Pharaonic epoch. It [[History of Achaemenid Egypt|fell to the Achaemenids again]] in 343 BCE after the last native Pharaoh, King [[Nectanebo II]], was defeated in battle. This [[Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt]], however, did not last long, as the Achaemenids were toppled several decades later by [[Alexander the Great]]. The Macedonian Greek general of Alexander, [[Ptolemy I Soter]], founded the [[Ptolemaic dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Prudence J.|title=Cleopatra: A Sourcebook|url=https://archive.org/details/cleopatrasourceb0000jone|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/cleopatrasourceb0000jone/page/14 14]|location=Norman|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0806137414|quote=They were members of the Ptolemaic dynasty of Macedonian Greeks, who ruled Egypt after the death of its conqueror, Alexander the Great.}}</ref>
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