History
modern Egypt
Guides covering the modern period.
Modern Egypt's 1952 Revolution: A Cairo History Guide
Naguib Mahfouz heard the tanks from his apartment window and kept writing. The revolution that ended 2,500 years of foreign rule lasted fewer than six hours.
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Mohamed Ali Pasha and the Modernizing of Egypt: Cairo's Living Record
He executed 470 Mamluk beys at a single dinner and used the proceeds to build a European-style army. Cairo still carries the evidence of both acts.
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Mohamed Ali Pasha and the Modernization of Egypt: A Cairo Guide
He executed 470 Mamluk lords at a single dinner party and used the proceeds to build a modern nation. The Citadel still holds both stories.
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Greco-Roman Alexandria: The City That Invented the Modern World
Alexandria was once home to 600,000 people and the world's only institution dedicated to total human knowledge. Almost none of it survived. Here is what did.
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British Colonial Egypt: The History Sites That Explain Modern Cairo
Britain occupied Egypt for 72 years but never officially called it a colony. The buildings they left behind tell a stranger story than the textbooks do.
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British Colonial Egypt: A Guide to the Sites That Shaped Modern Cairo
Britain occupied Egypt for 72 years without ever officially calling it a colony. The buildings they left behind are still in use. Most Egyptians walk past them daily without a second look.
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Mohamed Ali Pasha: Albanian Heritage and the Cairo That Built Modern Egypt
He was an Albanian tobacco merchant's son who never learned Arabic. He founded the dynasty that ruled Egypt until 1952. The mosque bearing his name is the least interesting thing about him.
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Mohamed Ali Mosque: Albanian History That Built Modern Egypt
An Albanian soldier who couldn't read built the mosque that still defines Cairo's skyline. His story is stranger than any pharaoh's.
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Mohamed Ali Pasha: Albania's Gift to Egypt's Modern History
An Albanian soldier who never learned Arabic fluently built modern Egypt, and his mosque sits on a citadel the Crusaders tried and failed to take. Here is the full story.
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