All but one of 300 Mameluke guests are assassinated during an entertainment by Muhammad Ali in Cairo

An Egyptian army makes its camp at Khartoum, subsequently the capital of an Egyptian province in the Sudan

Egyptian hieroglyphs are deciphered by French Egyptologist Jean François Champollion, using the Rosetta stone

Britain, France and Russia, supporting Greek independence, defeat the Turkish and Egyptian fleets at Navarino

Muhammad Ali, officially viceroy for the Turkish sultan, establishes his own ruling dynasty on the throne of Egypt

Scottish painter David Roberts completes publication of his 6-volume The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia

Ferdinand de Lesseps is granted the concession to construct a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea

British explorer Samuel Baker annexes the southern Sudan, or Equatoria, on behalf of the khedive of Egypt

Thousands of distinguished guests assemble at Port Said for the opening of the Suez Canal

The Afghan philosopher Jamal al-Din, moving to Cairo, urges drastic and violent measures against western influence

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida, is commissioned for the Cairo opera house, part of the process of Egypt becoming westernized

The chaotic government finances of Egypt are placed under joint French and British control

Anti-western riots in Alexandria result in many deaths and provoke a British invasion

Mohammed Ahmed, proclaiming himself the Mahdi, defeats three Egyptian armies in the Sudan

Constantine Cavafy begins a 30-year career as a civil servant in Alexandria's Irrigation Service

The Sudan begins half a century of supposedly joint rule by Britain and Egypt

The first Aswan dam, at this time the world's largest, is completed on the Nile

Istanbul cedes the Sinai Peninsula to British-controlled Egypt

The British government changes the status of Egypt from a Turkish province to a British protectorate

Wafd, a national party, is formed in Cairo with the purpose of ending Egypt's enforced link with Britain

Egypt becomes an independent kingdom, subject to a British military presence to protect the Suez canal

Howard Carter exposes a flight of steps in the Valley of the Kings and comes to a barrier bearing the name Tutankhamun

Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher in Ismailia, founds the Muslim Brotherhood – to campaign for a society based on the Qu'ran with the sharia as its legal system

A collection of Constantine Cavafy's poems is published in Alexandria in an undated edition

On the death of his father, Fuad I, the 16-year-old Farouk becomes king of Egypt