In ancient times the culture of Egypt was one of the technically most advanced in the world. Its economy benefitted greatly from the availability of the Nile River as a transportation system. It was not only a transportation system within Egypt but linked Egypt to the international economy of the Mediterranean Sea. However the Egyptians were aware of another trading world around the Red Sea and beyond. The Egyptian pharaoh Senwosret III, who ruled from 1845-1837 BCE: considered building a canal linking the Nile River Valley to the Red Sea, but decided not to do so out of fear that the Red Sea might flood Egypt with salt water through the canal. Circa 650 BCE: the Egyptian pharaoh Neccho II started building such a canal, but gave up to focus his resources on a war in the Levant. Herodotus said that 120,000 people died in the canal-building effort. •c. 500 BCE: The Persian emperor Darius the Great who conquered Egypt had a canal Circa 500 BCE the Persian emperor Darius the Great who had conquered Egypt had a canal built linking a tributary branch of the Nile River to the Red Sea. It was about 25 meters width. Herodotus rode on a barge on the canal and reported that it was a four day journey from its start in Egypt to the Red Sea.

Circa 100 CE the Roman emperor Trajan extended the canal of Darius upstream on the Nile to where a fortress existed. The location where this canal connected with the Nile developed into a settlement that eventually became the city of Cairo.

Timeline of the History of Cairo

• 641 CE: The Arab army under the command of Amir al-As conquers Egypt. The conquering Arabs establish a military encampment at site of Cairo near the port town of al-Fustat.
• 750: The Umayyads add the suburb of al-Askar to Cairo.
• 870: Ahmad ibn Tulun adds the suburb of Qatai to Cairo and built a mosque there.
• 969: The army of the dissident Islamic sect of the Fatmids from the west, Tunisia, conquers Egypt. The army creates a walled city northeast of the existing settlements.
• 978: The Fatimid caliph arrives to make the miltary settlement the capital. The settlement was name al-Qahirah, The Victorious. This established the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt.
• 1168: Crusaders from Europe invade Egypt. The unfortified settlement of al-Fustat is burned to thwart the Crusaders' invasion. The Crusaders were driven away by the armies of Saldin from Syria. Saladin takes control of Cairo and found a dynasty, the Ayyubid dynasty. Saladin had the walls of Cairo extended to incorporate parts of the burned port city of al-Fustat.
• 1260: Baybars I became the first Mamluk sultan of Egypt. The Mamluks originated as slave-soldiers of the sultan. They became a military caste with privileges above the free population,. Mamluks existed in many places and times in the Islamic world. In several places the Mamluks took control, as in Egypt, of the sultanship.
• 1348: The bubonic plaque hits Egypt.
• 1517: The Ottoman Turks conquer Egypt and make it a province of their empire.
• 1798: Napoleon and his army from France invade Egypt and capture Cairo.
• 1801: Napoleon's forces were defeated by the British and the Turks regained control of Egypt.
• 1805: Mohammid Ali with his troops from Albania gained control of Egypt and ruled as the pasha (governor) representing the Ottoman Empire.
• 1925: Farouk I was overthrown by Egyptian army units under the command of Abdel Nasser.
• (Tobe continued.)