The area of the Arab Republic of Egypt stretches from the Mediterranean in the north, where the Nile meets the sea, to the borders of Sudan, Libya and over the Sinai Peninsula to the borders of Israel and, by sea, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The Nile (the world's longest river with its 6,600 km) has created, through tens of thousands of years, a fantastic fertile landscape on its banks where approximately 95 % of Egypt's population lives. Remains dating from the Egyptian Paleolithic period are some of the oldest in the world but it is of course the Pharaohs' era that made Egypt famous and unique. Egypt, or Kemet as it was called in pharaohs' time, has lived through various periods. The Old Kingdom, starting around 3000 B.C.. The Pyramid Age, from 2650 - 2200 B.C..The Middle Kingdom, 2000-1700 B.C. The New Kingdom, 1550-1000 B.C.. In 332 B.C. Alexander the Great came to Egypt starting the Greek-Ptolemaic Era. The Romans and later Bysantium took over. Christianity founded one of its earliest communities in the world in 642 A.D. The Arabs overruled Egypt. During the coming hundreds of years Cairo and Egypt were alternately controlled from Damascus, Baghdad and from different clans like the Tulun family, the Fatimides, the Ayoub family and the Mamelouks. By 1517, Egypt became a part of the Ottoman Empire until the invasion of Napoleon in 1798. From 1805 begins modern Egyptian history under the reign of the Mohamed Ali. Family. By coming to Egypt however, you will hear more about Cheops, Ramses, Saladin, Nefertiti, and Amon personalities than anything else.