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Egypt.
Egypt
This article is about the country Egypt. For other uses of the word, see Egypt (disambiguation).
Egypt (Arabic: مصر, Misr or Masr) is the most populous nation of northeastern Africa. It covers about 1,020,000 km². Although it includes the Sinai Peninsula, which is considered part of Southwest Asia, the rest of the country is in North Africa.
The main area of habitation is along the Nile river (about 40,000 km²). Large areas of land are part of the Sahara Desert and very sparsely inhabited. The country is also famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most stunning ancient monuments, including Khufu's pyramid, Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings.
Egypt's population is over 70 million, and, though considered a low-income country, it has a thriving media and arts industry, with more than 30 satellite channels and more than 100 motion pictures produced a year. The capital city, Cairo, is Africa's largest city and has been renowned for centuries as a center of learning, culture and commerce. Today, Egypt is widely considered the main political and cultural center of the Arab world.
Egypt's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum exports, and tourism; there are also more than 5 million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf area, and Europe.
Some famous Egyptians include:
Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize-winning novelist),
Omar Sharif (actor),
Ahmed Zewail (Nobel Prize-winning chemist),
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (former Secretary General of the United Nations),
Mohamed ElBaradei (Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency), and
Anwar Sadat (former president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.)
جمهوريّة مصرالعربيّةJumhuriyat Misr al-ArabiyahArab Republic of Egypt
(In Detail)
Official language Arabic
Capital Cairo
Largest City Cairo
President Hosni Mubarak
Prime MinisterAtef Ebeid
Area - Total - % waterRanked 29th 1,001,450 km² 0.6%
Population
- Total (2002)
- DensityRanked 15th
70,712,345
71/km²
Independence
- Granted by the United Kingdom
February 28, 1922
(Year)
Currency Egyptian pound (EGP)
Time zone UTC +2 (EET)
National anthem Bilady, Bilady, Bilady
Internet TLD.EG
Calling Code20
Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide")
1 History
2 Politics
3 Governorates
4 Geography
5 Economy
6 Demographics
7 Culture
8 Miscellaneous topics
History
Main articles: History of Egypt
For the origin of the name Egypt, see Aegyptus.
The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. A unified kingdom arose circa 3200 BC and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The last native dynasty fell to the Persians in 341 BC, who in turn were replaced by the Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines.
It was the Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the 7th century and who ruled for the next six centuries. A local military caste, the Mamluks took control about 1250 and continued to govern after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517.
Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub, but also fell heavily into debt. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914.
Partially independent from the UK in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty following World War II.
See also:
Politics
Main article: Politics of Egypt
Egypt is a republic. Hosni Mubarak, has been President since October 14, 1981.
Governorates
Main article: Governorates of Egypt
Egypt is divided into 26 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah):
Ad Daqahliyah, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrah, Al Fayyum, Al Gharbiyah, Al Iskandariyah, Al Isma'iliyah, Al Jizah, Al Minufiyah, Al Minya, Al Qahirah, Al Qalyubiyah, Al Wadi al Jadid, Ash Sharqiyah, As Suways, Aswan, Asyut, Bani Suwayf, Bur Sa'id, Dumyat, Janub Sina', Kafr ash Shaykh, Matruh, Qina, Shamal Sina', Suhaj.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Egypt
Other towns and cities include Alexandria, Aswan, Asyut, El-Mahalla El-Kubra, Giza, Hurghada, Luxor, Kom Ombo, Port Safaga, Port Said, Sharm el Sheikh, Shubra-El-Khema, Suez, Zagazig.
Rivers include: Nile
Deserts: Egypt includes parts of the Sahara Desert and of the Libyan Desert
Oases include: Siwa Oasis, Dakhleh Oasis
Egypt borders on Libya on the west, on Sudan on the south and on Israel on the northeast. It controls the Suez Canal between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Egypt
The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 and the resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honored place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. A rapidly growing population (the largest in the Arab world), limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile all continue to overtax resources and stress society.
The government has struggled to ready the economy for the new millennium through economic reform and massive investment in communications and physical infrastructure.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Egypt
Egypt is the most populous Arab country, at about 70,000,000 people. Nearly all the population is concentrated along the River Nile, notably Alexandria and Cairo, and along the Nile Delta and near the Suez Canal.
Culture
Main article: Culture of Egypt
Miscellaneous topics
Africa
Algeria | Angola | Benin | Botswana | Burkina Faso | Burundi | Cameroon | Cape Verde | Central African Republic | Chad | Comoros | Côte d'Ivoire | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Djibouti | Egypt | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Ethiopia | Gabon | The Gambia | Ghana | Guinea | Guinea-Bissau | Kenya | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Madagascar | Malawi | Mali | Mauritania | Mauritius | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Niger | Nigeria | Republic of the Congo | Rwanda | São Tomé and Príncipe | Senegal | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Somalia | South Africa | Sudan | Swaziland | Tanzania | Togo | Tunisia | Uganda | Zambia | Zimbabwe
Dependencies
Canary Islands | Ceuta, Melilla, and other Spanish possessions | Madeira Islands | Mayotte | Réunion | Saint Helena | Western Sahara
Southwest Asia
Afghanistan | Armenia | Azerbaijan | Bahrain | Cyprus | Egypt | Gaza Strip | Georgia | Iran | Iraq | Israel | Jordan | Kuwait | Lebanon | Oman | Qatar | Saudi Arabia | Syria | Turkey | United Arab Emirates | West Bank | Yemen
The above article is adapted from from Wikipedia All Wikipedia article text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium by Elizabeth Peters
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
The Linguist and the Emperor : Napoleon and Champollion's Quest to Decipher the Rosetta Stone by DANIEL MEYERSON
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Wadjet Eye by Jill Rubalcaba
The Map of Love : A Novel by Ahdaf Soueif
Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece by Three Initiates
River God : A Novel of Ancient Egypt by Wilbur Smith
Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters
Alexandria: In Which the Extraordinary Correspondence of Griffin & Sabine Unfolds by Nick Bantock
Anaximander and the Architects: The Contributions of Egyptian and Greek Architectural Technologies to the Origins of Greek Philosophy (Suny Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy (Paper)) by Robert Hahn
The Judgment of Caesar : A Novel of Ancient Rome by Steven Saylor
The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (Oxford Illustrated Histories) by Ian Shaw
Egypt (Culture Shock!) by Susan L. Wilson
Tut's Mummy: Lost...and Found (Step into Reading, Step 4, paper) by Judy Donnelly
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