6000-3200 BC

Pre-Dynastic Period. Different cultures separated-Merimdeon, Tasian, Badarian.

3000 BC

Menes unifies Upper and Lower Egypt, and a new capital is erected at Memphis.

C3100-2686 BC

Early dynastic period, with a succession of kings that strengthened the unification of the two Egypts.

2700 BC

365 -day calendar is invented (for Egyptians new year started with June)

Our present so-called Gregorian calendar is a poor imitation of the ancient Egyptian calendar.

The Egyptian calendar was superior to the Julian and Gregorian calendars, which would not come until much later.

When Julius Caesar came to Egypt in 48 BCE, he was impressed by the Egyptian calendar and he commissioned the astronomer Sosigenes (from Alexandria) to introduce a calendar into the Roman Empire. This resulted in the Julian calendar of 365 days a year and 366 days every leap year.

In their attempts to have a different looking calendar than the Egyptian system, both the Julian and the Gregorian calendars fell short of the precise/accurate system, as developed by the Egyptians. 

2686-2181 BC

OLD KINGDOM

2900 BC

First hieroglyphs

C2686-2613 BC

Third Dynasty

Zoser builds first pyramid, Step Pyramid at Sakkara, with the great help of the chief architect and priest Imhotep.

2600 BC

Kufu (Cheops) builds the great Pyramid at Giza, followed by Chephren with a second pyramid and the Sphinx and Mycerinus with another pyramid. 

The Pyramid of Chephren, often called the "Second Pyramid", is built next to the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops). Chephren is the son and successor of Khufu and Hensuten. Khufu's other son and also successor, Ra'djedef, started constructing his own pyramid at Abu Rawash, which is north of Giza. Chephren's pyramid is designed more modestly than Khufu's. The Chephren pyramid originally was 10 feet (3m) shorter and 48 feet (14.6m) more narrow at the base. The estimated weight of all the stones in the pyramid is 4,880,000 tons. Because it is built higher on the plateau, it looks taller from most angles than Khufu's pyramid. The slope of the angles is higher, 53 degrees compared to Khufu's 51 degrees.

The top of the pyramid still has some of the limestone casing that once covered the entire pyramid. There may have been a change in the method of positioning the blocks that has kept these pieces still intact. It gives the appearance of a white cap on top of the pyramid. As was Khufu's pyramid, the pyramid of Chephren had been looted before it was entered in 1818 by Belzoni.

C2494-2345 BC

During the 5th dynasty, worship of sun god Ra becomes the predominant religion.

C2181-2040 BC

FIRST INTERMEDIATE PERIOD- increases in power of provincial governors through the 6th dynasty, leads to breakdown of central authority and chaos throughout the country. This is the period of the upsurge of the cult of Osiris.

C2100 BC

Mentuhotep II, first king of the 11th dynasty reunites Egypt, and established the capital at Thebes.

C1700-1550 BC

SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD. 13th dynasty collapses after a succession of short-lived and little known kings.

C1674 BC

Memphis falls to Hyksos.

C1550-1085 BC

NEW KINGDOM-Ahmose completes defeat of Hyksos and unites Egypt under new dynasty.

1512-1448 BC

During Tuthmosis III, Egyptian rule is extended as far as the Euphrates River to the east and south to the Fourth Cataract of the Nile.

C1450 BC

Tuthmosis IV digs the Sphinx out of the sands.

The father of Tuthmosis IV was Amenhotep II and his mother was Queen Tio. His wife was given the Egyptian name of Mutemuya and became the mother of Amenhotep III, the next king of Egypt. It is believe that Tuthmosis IV was not the first in line for the throne. He had an older brother that met an early end before he got to the throne. 

As a young prince, Tuthmosis IV served in the northern army corps at Memphis. Tuthmosis IV lead an army unit known as ‘Menkheprure, Destroyer of Syria’, and as pharaoh at this time period holds the position of Commander-in –Chief of the Army. He made treaties with neighboring countries such as Babylonia that ushered in an era of peace and political stability lasting through the reign of his son Amenhotep III.

Tuthmosis IV is known for being the first king in battle on a chariot against foreign enemies. He followed in his father's footsteps by freeing the Sphinx from its sand tomb.

Tuthmosis IV was found in a small additional room between the sepulchral hall and the antechamber in the Valley of the Kings.

Reference: http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/egypt/history/people/tuthmosi.html

1391-1358 BC

Amenhotep IV changes name to Akhenaten and tries to institute a monotheistic religion by worshipping only the sun-disk god Aten.

1368-1349 BC

Tutankhamen restores the old cults at Thebes, but shortly after is assassinated.

C1299 BC

Ramesses II fights Hitties at the Battle of Kadesh. Builds temples at Thebes and Abu Simbel. He is considered the most prolific pharaoh to construct temples.

1224-1165 BC

Ramesses III repulses invasion of Seas Peoples. He is considered the last great Egyptian pharaoh.

C1070-712 BC

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD- Ephemeral kings whom little is known. It is a period of overlapping rulers, with no strong central power. Invasion by Assyrians.

C712-332 BC

LATE DYNASTIC PERIOD

C671-667 BC

Assyrians invade Egypt, "sacking" Thebes and Memphis.

736-656 BC

25th dynasty. Egypt ruled by Kushite pharaohs.

The first African civilization after Egypt was built by an Egyptianized people who lived between the Nile River's first and third cataracts and spoke Nilo-Saharan languages. This region around the first cataract, called Nubia, had been conquered and colonized by Egypt in the fourth millenium BC. Because of this, Egyptian civilization diffused southward and a new African kingdom was built up in the floodplain around the Nile's third cataract: the Kush. 

   Kush attained its greatest power and cultural energy between 1700 and 1500 BC during the Third Intermediate period in Egypt. The domination of Egypt by the Hyksos allowed Kush to come out from under the hegemony of Egypt and flower as a culture; this period ended, however, when the New Kingdom kings, having thrown the Hyksos out of Egypt, reconquered Kush and brought it under Egyptian colonial rule.

   However, when the New Kingdom collapsed in 1000 BC, Kush again arose as a major power by conquering all of Nubia. 

   Following the reassertion of Kushite independence in 1000 BC, the Kushites moved their capital city farther up the Nile to Napata. The Kushites by and large considered themselves to be Egyptians and the proper inheritors of the pharoanic titles and tradition. They organized their society along Egyptian lines, assumed all the Egyptian royal titles, and their architecture and art was based on Egyptian architectural and artistic models. 

   The Kushites even invaded and conquered Egypt in a magnificent irony of history. The Napatan kings formed the twenty-fifth pharaonic dyansty in the eighth century; this dynasty came to an end with the Assyrian invasion of Egypt in the seventh century BC.

   The Assyrians, and later the Persians, forced the Kushites to retreat farther south. When Napata was conquered in 591, the Kushites moved their capital to Meroe right in the heart of the Kushite kingdom. For most of its prosperous life, the Meroitic empire served as the middle term in the trade of African goods to northern Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. 

   Many of these innovations occurred in the realm of government. The king was elected, but he was elected from the royal family. As in Egypt, descent was reckoned through the mother's line. Eventually, however, this descent model produced a series of monarchs who were women, an innovation not seen in any other major civilization.

   The Kushite religion was polytheistic and contained all the major Egyptian gods. There are some non-Egyptian gods, such as a lion warrior god, which the Meroites probably derived from southern African cultures, but these gods were few.

   After three centuries of decline, the Meroitic Empire was finally defeated by the Nuba people. 

Reference:  http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/KUSH.HTM

525-404 BC

27th dynasty. Conquered by the King Conlyses who establishes first Persian domination of Egypt.

332 BC

Alexander the Great of Macedonia defeats Persians at Issus in 333 BC and is given Egypt by the Persian Satrap. He builds a capital at Alexandria.

332-395 AD

Graeco-Roman Period.

304-30 BC

The Ptolemies.

 641 AD

Arab conquest.