Timeline / 1890 to After 1930 / EGYPT
Date Country Theme
1890 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
The Alexandria Sporting Club is built; it is one of the oldest clubs in Egypt.
1892 Egypt Travelling
The Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria is created.
1892 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
Muntazah Palace is constructed for Khedive ‘Abbas, which he uses as both a hunting lodge and residence for his companion.
1894 - 1900 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Qasim Amin publishes his book Les Egyptiens in French in 1894. In it he rejects the negative claims against the traditions of Oriental society made by Duke Drocom in his book, L’Egypte et les Egyptiens. In defence of Islam, Amin compares the rights of women according to Islam with those of civilized European women. In 1899, he then publishes The Emancipation of Women, which is severely criticized. In 1900, Amin refutes the arguments of his critics with The New Woman, a work that provides fresh fuel to his ardent battle for the emancipation of women.
1898 - 1902 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
The British begin construction of the first Dam across the Nile in 1898 and work continues to 1902. Opened on 10 December 1902, the Aswan Low Dam is a gravity (masonry) buttress dam on the Nile in Aswan.
1898 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
Shahin Pasha Aqueduct, constructed under Muhammad ‘Ali and located between the Omar Shah and Tukuz Tamar (Darb el-Jamamiz) aqueducts, is infilled with earth.
1899 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
Prince Muhammad ‘Ali Tawfiq is responsible for opening the Al-Manyal Palace Museum in 1899, which is set in a large garden of thirty feddans (approx 31 acres).
1899 Egypt Economy And Trade
The National Bank of Egypt introduces notes in denominations of 50 piasters, and one, five, ten, 50 and 100 Egyptian pounds.
1899 Egypt Migrations
British diplomat Alfred Mitchell-Innes was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Finance in Egypt. Date Country Theme
1899 Egypt Travelling
British diplomat Alfred Mitchell-Innes is appointed Undersecretary of State for Finance in Egypt.
1900 Egypt Travelling
On a visit to Britain, ‘Abbas Hilmi II tells the authorities that he thinks the British have carried out good work in Egypt. He declares himself ready to cooperate with British officials administering Egypt and Sudan.
1903 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
The House of Arab Antiquities opens on 28 December 1903, located on Bab al- Khalq Square which is famous for its Islamic infrastructure: the mosques of Ahmad ibn Tulun and Muhammad ‘Ali, and the Citadel of Saladin. The Museum is only the second concrete-iron building to be constructed after the Egyptian Museum.
1904 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
The Egyptian Geological Museum (EGM) is established and opened to the public as part of the Egyptian Geological Survey (EGS), founded earlier in 1896. The Museum supports the theses that Egyptians are pioneers in extraction and utilization of metals and stones, the essential basics of civilization, and that they were the first to discover gold and copper and mine them from the Eastern Desert and Sinai.
1905 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
The Egyptian Olympic Athletes Club is built in Alexandria.
1909 Egypt Economy And Trade
Trading had hardly started that day (30 April) at Shari‘ al-Borsa al-Jadida or New Bourse Street when it was announced that Raphael Suares, the leading laissez- faire banker-industrialist in Egypt, had passed away. The Bourse closed for the rest of the day. It was largely thanks to Saures’ efforts that Cairo had a bourse in the first place. His unexpected and early death meant that Suares missed by only a few months the imposition of the first ever bourse regulations.
1912 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
Bulaq Abu-l-‘Ala Bridge is inaugurated during the reign of Khedive ‘Abbas Hilmi II. It is seen as an architectural marvel that will link Cairo with Zamalek Island.
1912 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Muhammad Husayn Haykal publishes the first volume of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. He intended the book to create a cultural intermarriage between the East and West and hoped it would lead to a new intellectual revolution by providing an example to the West.
1914 Egypt Political Context Date Country Theme
On 25 July, at the onset of World War I, ‘Abbas Hilmi II is in Constantinople where he suffers wounds to his hands and cheeks during a failed assassination attempt. On 5 November of that same year, when Britain declares war on Turkey, ‘Abbas is accused of deserting his country because he did not return home forthwith. In addition, because the British believe that he has been plotting against their rule, when the Ottoman Empire joins the central powers in the war, Britain declares Egypt an independent Sultanate under British Protectorate on 18 December, and ‘Abbas is deposed.
1914 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
Laying of the Foundation Stone of the University of Fuad I.
1916 - 1917 Egypt Economy And Trade
More paper currency enters circulation: the 25 piaster together with the five and 10 piaster.
1917 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Strong cultural pressure at this time puts constraints on female performers. When the singer Munira al-Mahdiyya begins her career, she is the first female Muslim performer to appear onstage.
1918 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Najib al-Rihani introduces a new type of theatre known as Musical Theatre or Operette. Cooperating with the famous Egyptian singer and composer Sayyid Darwish and the actor and writer Badi‘ Khayri, together, they produce several successful Operettes.
1918 Egypt Migrations
George Park begins building work on Alexandria Opera House, known also as Sayyid Darwish Theatre, which opens in 1921.
1919 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Taha Husayn is appointed Professor of History at Fuad I University, where, through his own will and craving for knowledge, he becomes the leader of the Arab cultural renaissance.
1919 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
The 1919 Egyptian Revolution is a milestone, not only in terms of the nationalist struggle, but also in the history of popular revolutions in general. Its overall influence, extending well beyond the politics and political parties of Egypt, exceeds the impact of the earlier ’Urabi Revolution.
1920 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
Tal‘at Harb Pasha founds Banque Misr. Date Country Theme
1922 Egypt Political Context
Britain declares Egyptian independence, but retains control of Egyptian foreign policy and the basic administration of the country. On 15 March of this year, Fuad I issues a decree changing his title from Sultan of Egypt to King of Egypt.
1922 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Mrs Dawlat Abyad writes a play to address the various problems experienced by Egyptian women in the early 20th century.
1923 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes
Huda Sha‘rawi becomes the first president of the Egyptian Feminist Union having returned from the International Woman Suffrage Alliance Congress in Rome.
1926 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century
On 4 December, in the city of Luxor, the Minister of Transportation, Muhammad Mahmud along with a group of Ministers inaugurates the Luxor–Aswan Railway. The railway is considered one of Mahmud Pasha’s greatest accomplishments as Minister of Transportation.
1927 Egypt Travelling
King Fuad I of Egypt’s visit to Italy.
1934 - 1940 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces
The Post Museum is established in February 1934; it opens to the public in January 1940.
1938 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Abbas Mahmud al-Akkad writes his only novel Sarah in which he relates a personal experience with the only woman he loved. According to al-Akkad’s view women were to be respected and admired, and this appreciation for women is expressed in three books he wrote where he demands the full participation of women in building Egyptian society.
1939 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Zaki Najib Mahmud receives a Literary Distinction Award.
1946 Egypt Migrations
Zog I, King of the Albanians, and most of his family, leave England and settle in Egypt at the behest of King Faruq.
1952 Egypt Migrations Date Country Theme
Having been forced to abdicate, On 26 July, Faruq leaves Egypt for Italy. He passes away in Rome in 1965 and his body is brought back to Egypt to be buried in al-Rifa‘i Mosque.
1960 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion
Egyptian television begins to broadcast six hours daily on 21 July 1960.