Vintage photos show what it was like to visit Egypt 100 years ago

Tourists ride camels in the 1920s.

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• Egypt has been a tourist destination for hundreds of years.
• But once the Suez Canal was completed in 1869 and Egyptology became popular, tourism skyrocketed.
• Here's what it was like to visit the land of the pharaohs in the 1920s.

Egypt has been a nation in some capacity since 3150 BCE, and the land has changed hands many times in the thousands of years since. Modern Egypt as we know it was officially founded in 1954, when the British occupation of the territory finally ended.

When the British took over the region in the 1800s, they oversaw the completion of the Suez Canal. According to the journal The Suez Canal: Past Lessons and Future Challenges, the canal made it much easier for tourists to make their way to Egypt after it opened in 1869.

At the turn of the 20th century, other developments continued to make Egypt an attractive destination for visitors. After the 1919 Egyptian Revolution against the British occupation, the British Empire recognized the Kingdom of Egypt in 1922, while still keeping it under British control. That same year, the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered, sparking a new wave of tourism.

The rise of the study of ancient Egypt, known as Egyptology, has long inspired people to visit the country, as seen in films like 1999's "The Mummy." Tourism has remained a huge part of Egypt's economy, although it was badly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2011 uprising that toppled then-President Hosni Mubarak.

However, it's bouncing back. According to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, a record-breaking 14.9 million tourists visited Egypt in 2023, a number that could be surpassed this year. More than 8 million visited in the first seven months of 2024, and revenue brought in from tourism in the first half of 2024 reached $6.6 billion.

Here's what it was like to visit Egypt 100 years ago.

1918: A boat on the shores of Imbaba, an area of northern Giza.

The shore of Imbaba, Egypt.

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1920: A view of a railway station in Alexandria, the first of its kind in Egypt.

A railway station in Alexandria, Egypt, circa 1920. The station was the first to be built in Egypt.

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1920: A group of tourists gaze at the Sahara Desert from the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza, which is the tomb of pharaoh Khufu.

Looking across the Sahara Desert from the top of the pyramid.

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Circa 1920s: A camel rider basks by an oasis near Cairo, with the pyramids behind.

An oasis near Cairo, Egypt, circa 1920s.

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Circa 1920s: A photo shows a bustling street in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo.

A street scene in Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo, circa 1920s.

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1922: A group of American, English, and French tourists try riding camels in the Sahara.

American, English, and French tourists in Egypt.

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1922: An image taken by a plane shows an aerial view of Cairo.

An aerial View of Cairo, June 9, 1922.

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1922: The tomb of Tutankhamun, or King Tut, was discovered in 1922, 3,300 years after his death. An image shows objects in its antechamber.

The antechamber of the Tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings in November 1922.

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1923: American tourists visit the Great Sphinx and Great Pyramid of Giza.

A group of American tourists visit the Great Pyramid and Sphinx at Giza in April 1923.

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1925: Archaeologists work on the site of the Great Sphinx of Giza. It was first excavated in 1817.

The excavation of sand from around the body of the Great Sphinx of Giza, 1925.

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1925: A group of visitors arrives at the entrance of KV62, another name for King Tut's tomb, in the Valley of the Kings outside of Thebes.

The entrance to the newly discovered tomb of Tutankhamun.

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1925: A tourist poses outside of the Temple of Ramesses III, a pharaoh who ruled from 1186 to 1155 BCE, in Medinet Habu.

A western tourist poses by his car at the temple of Pharaoh Ramesses III, circa 1925.

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1925: A group of archaeologists photograph a funerary stele, which is a monument to the deceased.

Archaeologists photographing an ancient Egyptian funerary stele, circa 1925.

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1926: A view of Port Said, a city at the northern end of the Suez Canal.

The Suez Canal Offices at Port Said, Egypt, in July 1926.

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1927: A view of the flooded Nile River. The Nile floods every year in the summer, and it has been a huge part of Egypt's agriculture since ancient times.

The flood of the Nile, with the background showing the Giza pyramid complex, in 1927.

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Source: BBC

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