A Little Background

1.   Egypt has about 80 million people, about 20 million live in Cairo and about 80% live in the Nile Valley.  To the East is the Sinai and Arabian Deserts and to the west is the Western Desert, all part of the Sahara.  From the air, Egypt is green in the Nile Valley and desert every where else.
   

2.   The Nile is considered the longest river in the world and is the only major river in the world that flows North.   Even today there is some question as to the origin of the Nile since it starts out as two major tributaries that eventually merge into a single river that flows to the Med.  Historically Lake Victoria is considered the beginning, but recent surveys have show that water flows into the Nile from locations even further south. 
   

3.   Egypt is usually considered the first major civilization, running from around 5000 B.C. up through the time of the Romans.  Initially there were two major kingdoms, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt, their unification giving rise to the first know major civilization.
   

4. Egyptologist tend to break ancient Egypt down into 30 Dynasties and at least four major periods (The Old Kingdom, 3100-2180 BC a period of unification, the first great pharos and the construction of the Great Pyramids; Middle Kingdom, 2180-1550 BC, a period of fragmentation and the New Kingdom, 1550-1070 BC a period of reunification and expansion under a series of warrior pharos).
   

5. Periods after this saw Egypt both a powerful entity and one over run by the likes of Alexander the Great, the Greeks and Romans, the Ottomans, etc.
   

6. A romp through Egyptian history shows the many influences they had on both Eastern and Western culture.  A lot of what we think of today (or at least what I thought) that originated with the Greeks and Romans (philosophy, religion, architecture....) can be traced back to early Egypt.  A visit to Egypt is a trip through the earliest history of mankind.