In today’s modern, multi-media obsessed world in which the marketing men are the new kings and emperors, few things have flourished quite like the sound bite. A few years ago, global corporations began pushing their mottos even more strongly than their actual brand names and, faster than you could say “The real thing” or “I’m lovin’ it,” tourist boards, eager to increase their countries’ profiles on the international stage, cottoned on to the trick.

Turkey, Cyprus and Greece may all hang their diversity on the ‘Crossroads of civilisation’ slogan, while Dubai now easily beats the USA to the ‘Bigger, better, faster, more’ tag, but Egypt can trump them all: ‘The birthplace of modern civilisation’ is a tough motto to beat.

Today, tourists and investors flock to the Northern African country for monuments, beaches, water sports, exceptional properties at even more extraordinary prices and, above all, increased accessibility, but it was the difficulty of leaving the area that led to mankind’s first great civilisation.

Each year, the Nile would burst its banks and that, coupled with the surrounding deserts to the east and west, isolated the people, acting as a catalyst for growth and progress. The first unified kingdom appeared in around 3200BC and, for the next 3000 years, various Egyptian dynasties ruled the land. Finally overthrown by the Persians in 341BC, they left an indelible legacy – not only in terms of their monuments but also the blueprint as to how future nations would be arranged and ruled.