AD 1800-2000 Modern

In AD 1805 Muhammad Ali, commander of the Ottoman Janissaries, became governor of Egypt. During his rule he eliminated the Mamluks as a potential threat and modernised Egypt. He also built up an army of native Egyptian conscripts to protect the country against the Ottoman sultans, and sent an invading force to seize power in Sudan.

By 1885 a religious leader, Muhammed Ahmad El Mahdi, had united the Muslim people of northern Sudan and set up an independent state. In 1898, an Anglo-Egyptian force sent to safeguard British interests in the Nile Valley defeated the Mahdists and established an Anglo-Egyptian condominium (joint authority) to rule Sudan.

During the reign of Tawfik (1879-72) there was a nationalist uprising in Egypt. Defending their commercial interests, the British fleet bombarded Alexandria in 1882 and troops occupied the Suez Canal zone. Egypt became a British Protectorate.

Egypt claimed its independence under King Fuad I in 1922 but his successor Faruq was forced to abdicate and in 1953 Egypt was declared a Republic, which it has remained to this day. In 1956 Sudan also became a Republic. However, for the last 50 years Sudan has been politically unstable, with a number of armed uprisings and military governments.