What is the history of Ancient Egypt ?

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Egyptian civilization has flourished continuously since prehistoric times.

While the civilization's rulers, writing, natural climate, religion and borders have changed many times over the millennia, Egypt still exists as a modern-day country. 

The civilization has always been strongly connected with other parts of the world, bringing in and exporting goods, religions, food, people and ideas.

At times ancient Egypt ruled territory outside the modern-day country's border, controlling territory in what is now Sudan, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Palestine. 

The country was also occupied by other powers — the Persians, Nubians, Greeks and Romans all conquered the country at different points in time. 

A number of names were used for Egypt in ancient times. A popular ancient name for Egypt was "Kemet," which means the "black land.

Scholars generally believe that this name derives from the fertile soil that is left over when the Nile flood recedes in August.

The flooding of the Nile occurred between June and August and the fertile soil it created was vital to ancient Egypt's survival, with fertility playing an important role in Egyptian religion.

The burial of Tutankhamun — in which his penis was mummified erect — is but one example of how important fertility was in the rituals and beliefs of the ancient Egyptians.  

The country's ancient rulers are referred to today as "pharaohs," although in ancient times they each used a series of names as part of a royal titular

in his book "The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary" (Society of Biblical Literature, 2013).

(Society of Biblical Literature, 2013). The word pharaoh actually originates from the term "per-aa" which means "the Great House," Leprohon wrote.

The term was first incorporated into a royal titulary during the rule of Thutmose III (reign ca. 1479–1425 B.C.) wrote Leprohon.

When exactly early hominids first arrived in Egypt is unclear. The earliest migration of hominids out of Africa took place almost 2 million years ago, with modern humans dispersing out of Africa about 100,000 years ago. Egypt may have been used to reach Asia in some of these migrations. 

almost 30 centuries—from its unification around 3100 B.C. to its conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.—ancient Egypt was the preeminent civilization in the Mediterranean world.

The main sources of information about ancient Egypt are the many monuments, objects and artifacts that have been recovered from archaeological sites, covered with hieroglyphs that have only recently been deciphered. The picture that emerges is of a culture with few equals in the beauty of its art, the accomplishment of its architecture or the richness of its religious traditions.

Few written records or artifacts have been found from the Predynastic Period, which encompassed at least 2,000 years of gradual development of the Egyptian civilization.

Neolithic (late Stone Age) communities in northeastern Africa exchanged hunting for agriculture and made early advances that paved the way for the later development of Egyptian arts and crafts, technology, politics and religion (including a great reverence for the dead and possibly a belief in life after death).

Around 3400 B.C., two separate kingdoms were established: the Red Land to the north, based in the Nile River Delta and extending along the Nile perhaps to Atfih; and the White Land in the south, stretching from Atfih to Gebel es-Silsila.

King Menes founded the capital of ancient Egypt at White Walls (later known as Memphis), in the north, near the apex of the Nile River delta. The capital would grow into a great metropolis that dominated Egyptian society during the Old Kingdom period. The Archaic Period saw the development of the foundations of Egyptian society, including the all-important ideology of kingship. To the ancient Egyptians, the king was a godlike being, closely identified with the all-powerful god Horus. The earliest known hieroglyphic writing also dates to this period.

In the Archaic Period, as in all other periods, most ancient Egyptians were farmers living in small villages, and agriculture (largely wheat and barley) formed the economic base of the Egyptian state. The annual flooding of the great Nile River provided the necessary irrigation and fertilization each year; farmers sowed the wheat after the flooding receded and harvested it before the season of high temperatures and drought returned.

The Old Kingdom began with the third dynasty of pharaohs. Around 2630 B.C., the third dynasty’s King Djoser asked Imhotep, an architect, priest and healer, to design a funerary monument for him; the result was the world’s first major stone building, the Step-Pyramid at Saqqara, near Memphis. Pyramid-building reached its zenith with the construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo.

During the third and fourth dynasties, Egypt enjoyed a golden age of peace and prosperity. The pharaohs held absolute power and provided a stable central government; the kingdom faced no serious threats from abroad; and successful military campaigns in foreign countries like Nubia and Libya added to its considerable economic prosperity.

Villages dependent on agriculture began to appear in Egypt about 7,000 years ago,