Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilisation of Northeastern Africa, which formed a long, thin empire on both banks of the River Nile.

It began about 3150 BC when the former kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt came together under the first king (also called pharaoh).

Ancient Egypt had two very long periods of greatness. One was called the Old Kingdom, about four thousand years ago, and during it the Great Pyramids at Giza were built. Then there was a period of weakness, followed by another period of greatness called the New Kingdom, about three thousand years ago. At this time some of the most famous of the pharaohs, such as Ramesses II and Tutankhamun lived. They also built great temples from the mouth of the Nile (the Nile Delta) as far upriver as Abu Simbel.

Later on the kingdoms became weak again and Egypt was eventually conquered by Greeks under Alexander the Great and the Romans. One of the last pharaohs was Queen Cleopatra, who lived in Roman times.

The Ancient Egyptians are famous for pyramids, hieroglyphs, mummification, grave goods, papyrus and much more. People still remain fascinated by Ancient Egypt.