Egypt

Capital Cairo (Al-Qahirah)

(largest city) 30°2′N 31°13′E
Official language Arabic, Masri (national)
Government Republic
- President ………………
- Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif
Establishment
- First Dynasty c.3150 BC
- Independence
February 28, 1922
granted
- Republic declared June 18, 1953
Area
1,001,449 km² (30th)
- Total
386,660 sq mi
- Water (%) 0.6
Population
- 2006 estimate 78,887,007 (15th)
- 1996 census 59,312,914
74/km² (120th)
- Density
192/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2004 estimate
- Total $305.253 billion (32nd)
- Per capita $4,317 (112th)
HDI (2006) 0.702 (medium) (111th)
Currency Egyptian pound (LE) (EGP)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Internet TLD .eg
Calling code +20

Egypt (Egyptian: Km.t, Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ Kīmi,

Arabic: ‫ مصر‬Miṣr; Egyptian Arabic: Máṣr),
officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a
country in North Africa that includes the Sinai
Peninsula, a land bridge to Asia. Covering an
area of about 1,001,450 square kilometers
(386,560 square miles), Egypt borders Libya to
the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel and the
Gaza Strip to the northeast; on the north and the
east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Red
Sea, respectively.
Egypt is the fifteenth most populous country in the world. The vast majority of its
78.8 million population (2006)[1] live near the banks of the Nile River (about
40,000 km² or 15,450 sq miles) where the only arable agricultural land is found.
Large areas of land form part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited.
Around half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across
the densely populated centres of greater Cairo (the largest city in Africa and the
Middle East), Alexandria and other major towns in the Nile Delta.
1
Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most ancient and
important monuments, including the Giza Pyramids and the Great Sphinx of Giza;
the southern city of Luxor contains a particularly large number of ancient artifacts
such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Today, Egypt is widely
regarded as the main political and cultural centre of the Middle East.

Etymology

 One of the ancient Egyptian names of the

country, km.t, or "black land," is derived from
the fertile black soils deposited by the Nile
floods, distinct from the 'red land' (dSr.t) of the
desert. The name is realized as kīmi and kīmə
in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian language,
and appeared in early Greek as Kymeía.

 Miṣr, the Arabic and official name for modern Egypt (Egyptian Arabic: Maṣr),
is of Semitic origin directly cognate with the Hebrew ‫( ִמ ְצ ַר ִים‬Mitzráyim),
meaning "the two straits" (a reference to the dynastic separation of upper and
lower Egypt), and possibly means "a country" or "a state".[2] Miṣr in Arabic
also means "a country" or "a state".

 The English name "Egypt" came via the Latin word Aegyptus derived from
the ancient Greek word Αίγυπτος (Aigyptos). According to Strabo, Αίγυπτος
(Aigyptos), in ancient Greek meant "below the Aegean" (Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως,
"Aegaeou uptiōs"), and was formed by the combination of the two words. It
has also been suggested that the word is a
corruption of the ancient Egyptian phrase
ḥwt-k3-ptḥ meaning "home of the Ka (Soul)
of Ptah", the name of a temple of the god
Ptah at Memphis.[3]

History

The Nile River in Egypt.

Main articles: History of Egypt, Ancient
Egypt, and Egyptians
The Nile Valley was site of continuous human
habitation since at least the Paleolithic. Traces of
these early peoples appear in the form of artifacts and rock carvings along the
terraces of the Nile and in the desert oases. In the 10th millennium BC, a grain-
grinding culture using the earliest type of sickle blades had been replaced by
another culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers using stone tools. Climate changes
and/or overgrazing around 8000 BC began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt,
eventually forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where
they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralized society.[4]
By about 6000 BC, organized agriculture and large building construction had
appeared in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic, several predynastic cultures
developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt. The Badarian culture and the
successor Naqada series are generally regarded as precursors to Dynastic
Egyptian civilization. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates

2
the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian
communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand
years, remaining somewhat culturally separate, but maintaining frequent contact
through trade. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions
appear during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about
3200 BC.[5]
A unified kingdom was founded circa 3150 BC by King Menes, giving rise to a
series of dynasties that ruled Egypt for the next three millennia. Egyptians
subsequently referred to their unified country as tAwy, meaning 'Two Lands';
and later km.t (Coptic: Kīmi), the 'Black Land', a reference to the fertile black
soil deposited by the Nile river. Egyptian culture flourished during this long
period and remained distinctively Egyptian in its religion, arts, language and
customs. The first two ruling dynasties of a unified Egypt set the stage for the
Old Kingdom period, c.2700−2200 BC., famous for its many pyramids, most
notably the Third Dynasty pyramid of Djoser and the Fourth Dynasty Giza
Pyramids.
The Great Sphinx and the Pyramids of Giza, built during the Old Kingdom, are
modern national icons that also lie at the heart of Egypt's thriving tourism industry.
The First Intermediate Period ushered in a time of political upheaval for about 150
years. Stronger Nile floods and stabilization of government, however, brought back
renewed prosperity for the country in the Middle Kingdom c. 2040 BC, reaching a
peak during the reign of Pharaoh Amenemhat III. A second period of disunity
heralded the arrival of the first alien ruling dynasty in Egypt, that of the Semitic
Hyksos. The Hyksos invaders took over much of Lower Egypt around 1650 BC, and
founded a new capital at Avaris. They were eventually driven out by an Upper
Egyptian force led by Ahmose I, who founded the Eighteenth Dynasty and
relocated the capital from Memphis to Thebes.
The New Kingdom (c.1550−1070 BC) began with the Eighteenth Dynasty,
marking the rise of Egypt as an international power that expanded during its
greatest extension to an empire as far south as Jebel Barkal in Nubia, and
included parts of the Levant in the east. This period is known for some of the
most well-known Pharaohs, including Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten and
his wife Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and Ramesses II. The first
known self-conscious expression of monotheism came
during this period in the form of Atenism. Frequent
contacts with other nations brought in new ideas in the
New Kingdom.
First built in the third or fourth century AD, the Hanging
Church is Cairo's most famous Coptic church.
The Thirtieth Dynasty was the last native ruling dynasty
during the Pharaonic epoch. It fell to the Persians in 343 BC
after the last native pharaoh, King Nectanebo II, was
defeated in battle. Later, Egypt fell to the Greeks and
Romans, beginning over two thousand years of foreign rule.
Before Egypt became part of the Byzantine realm,
Christianity had been brought by Saint Mark the Evangelist
in the AD first century. Diocletian's reign marks the transition from the Roman to the
Byzantine era in Egypt, when a great number of Egyptian Christians were
persecuted. The New Testament was by then translated into Egyptian, and after the
Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, a distinct Egyptian Coptic Church was firmly
established.[6]
3
The Byzantines were able to regain control of the country after a brief Persian
invasion early in the seventh century, until in AD 639, Egypt was invaded by the
Muslim Arabs. The form of Islam the Arabs brought to Egypt was Sunni, though
early in this period Egyptians began to blend their new faith with indigenous
beliefs and practices that had survived through Coptic Christianity, giving rise
to various Sufi orders that have flourished to this day.[7] Muslim rulers
nominated by the Islamic Caliphate remained in control of Egypt for the next six
centuries, including a period for which it was the seat of the Caliphate under
the Fatimids. With the end of the Ayyubid dynasty, a Turco-Circassian military
caste, the Mamluks, took control about AD 1250 and continued to govern even
after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman
Turks in 1517.
Mosque of Mohamed Ali built in the early
nineteenth cenutry within the Cairo Citadel.
The brief French Invasion of Egypt in 1801 had a
great social impact on the country and its culture,
as native Egyptians were introduced to the
principals of the French Revolution and were
invited to head their own government.[8] A series
of civil wars took place between the Ottoman
Turks, the Mamluks, and Albanian mercenaries following the evacuation of French
troops, resulting in the Albanian Muhammad Ali taking control of Egypt where he
was appointed as the Ottoman viceroy in 1805. He led a modernization campaign
of public works, including irrigation projects, agricultural reforms and increased
industrialization, which were then taken up and further expanded by his grandson
and successor Isma'il Pasha.
Following the completion of the Suez Canal by Ismail in 1869, Egypt became an
important world transportation hub. In 1866, the Assembly of Delegates was
founded to serve as an advisory body for the government. Its members were
elected from across Egypt and eventually they came to have an important
influence on governmental affairs.[9] The country also fell heavily into debt to
European powers. Ostensibly to protect its investments, the United Kingdom
seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the
Ottoman Empire continued until 1914 when as a result of the declaration of war
with the Ottoman Empire, Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt and deposed
the khedive, replacing him with his uncle who was appointed Sultan of Egypt.
Public riot during the 1919 Revolution sparked by the
British exile of nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul.
Between 1882 and 1906, a local nationalist movement
for independence was taking shape. The Dinshaway
Incident prompted Egyptian opposition to take a
stronger stand against British occupation and the first
political parties were founded. After the first World
War, Saad Zaghlul and the Wafd Party led the
Egyptian nationalist movement after gaining a majority
at the local Legislative Assembly. When the British
exiled Zaghlul and his associates to Malta on March 8, 1919, Egypt witnessed its
first modern revolution. Constant revolting by the Egyptian people throughout the
country led Great Britain to issue a unilateral declaration of Egypt's independence
on February 22, 1922.[10]

4
The new Egyptian government drafted and
implemented a new constitution in 1923 based
on a parliamentary representative system. Saad
Zaghlul was popularly-elected as Prime Minister
of Egypt in 1924, and in 1936 the Anglo-Egyptian
Treaty was concluded. However, continued
instability in the government due to remaining
British control and increasing involvement by
the King in politics led to the eventual toppling
of the monarchy and the dissolution of the parliament through a coup d'état by
a group of army officers in 1952. They forced King Farouk I to abdicate in
support of his son King Ahmed Fouad II.
Evening view of Cairo, the largest city in Africa and the Middle East. The Cairo
Opera House (center) is the main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital.
The Egyptian Republic was declared on 18 June 1953 with General Muhammad
Naguib as the first President of the Republic. Naguib was forced to resign in 1954
by Gamal Abdel Nasser – the real architect of the 1952 movement – and was later
put under house arrest. Nasser assumed power as President and declared the full
independence of Egypt from the United Kingdom on June 18, 1956. His
nationalization of the Suez Canal on July 26, 1956 prompted the 1956 Suez Crisis.
Three years after the 1967 Six Day War, in which Egypt lost the Sinai to Israel,
Nasser died and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat. Sadat switched Egypt's Cold
War allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet
advisors in 1972, and launched the Infitah economic reform policy, while violently
clamping down on religious and secular opposition alike.
In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched a surprise attack on Israel in an attempt
to regain the occupied Sinai Penninsula. Both the US and the USSR intervened
and a cease-fire was reached between both sides. Despite not being a complete
military success, most historians agree that the Yom Kippur war presented Sadat
with a political victory that would later allow him to pursue peace with Israel. In
1977, Sadat made a historical visit to Israel which led to the 1978 peace treaty in
exchange for the complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. Sadat's initiative sparked
enormous controversy in the Arab world and led to Egypt's expulsion from the Arab
League, but was supported by the vast majority of Egyptians.[11] Sadat was
assassinated in Cairo by a fundamentalist military soldier in 1981 and was
succeeded by the incumbent Hosni Mubarak. In 2003, the Egyptian Movement for
Change, popularly known as Kifaya, was launched to seek a return to democracy
and greater civil liberties.

PoliticsNational

The Office of the President of Egypt at the Presidential Palace.

Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak
has been the President of the Republic since October 14, 1981, following the
assassination of former-President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat. Mubarak is
currently serving his fifth term in office. He is the leader of the ruling National
Democratic Party. Prime Minister Dr. Ahmed Nazif was sworn in as Prime Minister
on 9 July 2004, following the resignation of Dr. Atef Ebeid from his office.
Although power is ostensibly organized under a multi-party semi-presidential
system, whereby the executive power is theoretically divided between the President
and the Prime Minister, in practice it rests almost solely with the President who

5
traditionally has been elected in single-candidate elections for more than fifty years.
Egypt also holds regular multi-party parliamentary elections. The last presidential
election, in which Mubarak won a fifth consecutive term, was held in September
2005 (see below).
In late February 2005, President Mubarak
announced in a surprise television
broadcast that he had ordered the reform of
the country's presidential election law,
paving the way for multi-candidate polls in
the upcoming presidential election. For
the first time since the 1952 movement,
the Egyptian people had an apparent
chance to elect a leader from a list of
various candidates. The President said his
initiative came "out of my full conviction of
[12]
the need to consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy." However,
the new law placed draconian restrictions on the filing for presidential
candidacies, designed to prevent well-known candidates such as Ayman Nour
from standing against Mubarak, and paved the road for his easy re-election
victory.
The Egyptian Parliament.
Concerns were once again expressed after the 2005 elections about government
interference in the election process through fraud and vote-rigging. In addition,
violence by pro-Mubarak supporters against opposition demonstrators and police
brutality were evident during the elections. This poses major questions about the
government's purported commitment to democracy.
As a result, most Egyptians are skeptical about the process of democratisation and
the role of the elections. A very small proportion of those eligible to vote actually
turned out for the 2005 elections. Newspapers, however, have exhibited an
increasing degree of freedom in criticizing the president, and the results of the
recent parliamentary elections, which saw Islamist parties such as the banned
Muslim Brotherhood winning many seats, genuinely indicate that a change of some
sorts is underway.

6
International

The permanent headquarters for the League of Arab States (The Arab League) is
located in Cairo. The Secretary General of the League has traditionally been an
Egyptian. Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is the current Secretary
General of the Arab League. The Arab League briefly moved out of Egypt to Tunis
in 1978 as a protest at the peace treaty with Israel, but returned in 1989.
Egypt was the first Arab state to establish diplomatic relations with the state of
Israel, after the signing of the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty at the Camp David
Accords. Egypt has a major influence amongst other Arab states, and has
historically played an important role as a mediator in resolving disputes between
various Arab nations, and in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Most Arab nations still
give credence to Egypt playing that role, though its effects are often limited.
Former Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali served as Secretary
General of the United Nations from 1991 to 1996.
A territorial dispute with Sudan over an area known as the Hala'ib Triangle, has
meant that diplomatic relations between the two remain strained.

Human Rights

Main article: Human rights in Egypt

Several local and international human rights organizations, including Amnesty
International and Human Rights Watch, have reported on Egypt's poor human
rights record for many years. In 2005, the government of Egypt faced
unprecedented public criticism as Egyptian democracy activists challenged
President Hosni Mubarak's quarter century of authoritarian rule. Some of the
numerous and most serious violations include routine torture; arbitrary detentions
and trials before military and state security courts; discriminatory personal status
laws governing marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance with respect to women;
and discriminatory laws against religious minorities–particularly Christians and
Bahá'ís–which place severe restriction on church building and renovation among
other violations.[13]
Approximately fifteen thousand people remain in prolonged detention without
charge under the Emergency Law, according to the Cairo-based Human Rights
Association for Assistance to Prisoners.[14] The Egyptian government last renewed
the Emergency Law (Law No. 162 of 1958) in May 2006 for another term.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) is one of the longest-
standing bodies for the defense of human rights in Egypt.[15]

Military

Main article: Military of Egypt

The Egyptian military is one of the largest and strongest military power on the
African continent and the Middle East. The Egyptian Armed forces have also had
more battle-field experience than most armies in the region, with a combined troop
strength of around 450,000 active personnel.
Conscription is compulsory for Egyptian men of 18 years of age who are not the
only male child. Full-time students may defer their service until the age of 28. The
length of the service depends on the level and kind of education achieved by the
conscript and needs of the army at the time of conscription.

7
Egypt continues to contribute regularly to United Nations peacekeeping missions,
most recently in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

Administrative divisions

Map of Egypt
Main article: Governorates of Egypt
Egypt is divided into twenty-seven governorates (muhafazat, singular muhafazah).

Governorate English name Type Governorate English name Type

Ad Daqahliyah Dakahlia lower Kafr ash Shaykh Kafr El-Sheikh lower

Aswan Aswan upper Matruh Matrouh frontier

Asyut Assyout upper Al-Monufiyah Menoufia lower

Al-Bahr Al-Ahmar Red Sea frontier Al-Minya Menia upper

Bani Suwayf Beni-Suef upper Al-Qahirah Cairo urban

El-Beheirah Behera lower Al-Qalyubiyah Kalyoubia lower

Bur Sa'id Port Said urban Qina Quena upper

Dumyat Damietta lower Shamal Sina' North Sinai frontier

Al-Fayyum Fayoum upper Al-Sharqiyah Sharkia lower

Al-Gharbiyah Gharbia lower Suhaj Suhag upper

8
Al Iskandariyah Alexandria urban Al-Suways Suez urban

Al-Isma'iliyah Ismailia lower El Wadi El-Gedid New Valley frontier

Janub Sina' South Sinai frontier Al-Uqsur Luxor upper

El Gizah Giza upper

9
Economy

Lions guard the Kasr-el-Nil Bridge which traverses the Nile at Tahrir Square. The
construction of the bridge served as a catalyst for the development of the affluent
commercial district Zamalek (Gezira Island).
Main article: Economy of Egypt
Egypt's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum exports, and
tourism; there are also more than five million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in
Saudi Arabia, the Persian Gulf and Europe. The United States as well has a large
population of Egyptian immigrants.
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 the
economy.
The government has struggled to prepare the economy for the new millennium
through economic reform and massive investments in communications and physical
infrastructure. Egypt has been receiving U.S. foreign aid (since 1979, an average of
$2.2 billion per year) and is the third-largest recipient of such funds from the United
States following the Iraq war. Its main revenues however come from tourism as well
as traffic that goes through the Suez Canal.
Economic conditions are starting to improve considerably after a period of
stagnation from the adoption of more liberal economic policies by the government,
as well as increased revenues from tourism and a booming stock market. In its
annual report, the IMF has rated Egypt as one of the top countries in the world
undertaking economic reforms.

10
Demographics

Egyptian farm.
Main articles: Demographics of Egypt and Egyptians
Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East and the second-most
populous on the African continent, with nearly 79 million people. Almost all the
population is concentrated along the banks of the Nile (notably Alexandria and
Cairo), in the Delta and near the Suez Canal. Approximately 90% of the population
adheres to Islam and most of the remainder to Christianity (primarily the Coptic
Orthodox denomination).[1] Apart from religious affiliation, Egyptians can be divided
demographically into those who live in the major urban centers and the fellahin or
farmers of rural villages.
Egyptians are by the far the largest ethnic group in Egypt at 97-98% (about 76.4
million) of the total population.[1] Ethnic minorities include the Bedouin Arab tribes
living in the eastern deserts and the Sinai Peninsula, the Berber-speaking Siwis of
the Siwa Oasis, and the ancient Nubian communities clustered along the Nile in the
southernmost part of Egypt. Egypt also hosts some 90,000 refugees and asylum
seekers, made up mostly of 70,000 Palestinian refugees and 20,000 Sudanese
refugees. The once-vibrant Jewish community in Egypt has virtually disappeared,
with only a small number remaining in Egypt and those who visit on religious
occasions. Several important Jewish archaeological and historical sites remain.

11
Religion

Cairo's unique city scape with its ancient mosques.

Main article: Religion in Egypt
Religion plays a central role in most Egyptians' lives as visitors to the country
quickly discover. The rolling calls to prayer that are heard five times a day have the
informal effect of regulating the pace of everything from business to entertainment.
Cairo is famous for its numerous mosque minarets and church towers.
Egypt is predominantly Muslim, at approximately 90% of the population, with the
majority being adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam.[1] A significant number of
Muslim Egyptians also follow native Sufi orders.[16] Christians represent about 10%
of the population, with the largest being the Coptic denomination (primarily Coptic
Orthodox, but also Coptic Catholic and Coptic Protestant) at 9%, while the
remaining 1% include Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, and
Armenian Orthodox, largely found in Alexandria and Cairo.[1]
According to the constitution, any new legislation must implicitly agree with Islamic
laws. The mainstream Hanafi school of Sunni Islam is largely organised by the
state, through Wizaret Al-Awkaf (Ministry of Religious Affairs). Al-Awkaf controls all
mosques and overviews Muslim clerics. Imams are trained in Imam vocational
schools and at Al-Azhar University. The department supports Sunni Islam and has
commissions authorised to give Fatwa judgements on Islamic issues.
Egypt hosts two major religious institutions. Al-Azhar University (Arabic: ‫جامعة‬
‫ )األزهر‬is the oldest Islamic institution of higher studies (founded around 970 A.D)
and considered by many to be the oldest extant university. Egypt also has a strong
Christian heritage as evidenced by the existence of the Coptic Orthodox Church
headed by the Patriarch of Alexandria, which has a following of approximately 50
million Christians worldwide, most importantly in Ethiopia and Eritrea (one of the
famous Coptic Orthodox Churches is Saint Takla Haimanot Church in Alexandria).
[17]

12
Over seven million Egyptians follow the Christian faith as members of the Coptic
Church.
Religious freedom for Egypt's Coptic Christian community is hampered to varying
degrees by extremist Islamist groups and by discriminatory and restrictive
government policies. Until recently, Christians were required to obtain presidential
approval for even minor repairs in churches, but the law was recently eased.[18]
Copts have faced increased marginalization after the 1952 coup d'état. That
however changed to some degree when President Sadat appointed Boutros
Boutros-Ghali, as the Egyptian Foreign Minister. Prominent Copts on the cabinet
now include Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and Environment Minister
Maged George. In addition, Naguib Sawiris, an extremely successful businessman
and one of the wealthiest people internationally is an Egyptian Copt. Under the
Mubarak government, Coptic Christmas (January 7) was recognized as an official
holiday in 2002.[19] The Coptic community however has occassionally been the
target of hate crimes and physical assault, most recently during attacks on three
churches in Alexandria.[20] In addition, many Copts continue to complain of being
minimally represented in law enforcement, state security and public office, and of
being discriminated against in the workforce on the basis of their religion.[21]
Egypt was once home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world. Jews
partook of all aspects of Egypt's social and political life; one of the most ardent
Egyptian nationalists, Yaqub Sanu' (Abu Naddara), was a Jew, as was popular
singer Leila Mourad. After the 1956 Suez Crisis, some 25,000 Egyptian Jews were
expelled by Gamal Abdel Nasser, their Egyptian citizenship was revoked and their
property was confiscated. A steady stream of migration of Egyptian Jews followed,
reaching a peak after the Six-Day War with Israel in 1967. Today, Jews in Egypt
number less than 200.[22]
Bahá'ís in Egypt, whose population ranges between several hundred and a few
thousand, have their institutions and community activities banned. Since their faith
is not officially recognized by the state, they are also not allowed to use it on their
national identity cards (conversely, Islam, Christianity, & Judaism are officially
recognized); hence most of them do not hold national identity cards. In April 2006 a
court case recognized the Bahá'í Faith, but the government appealed the court
decision and succeeded in having it suspended on 15 May.[23]
There are Egyptians who identify as atheist and agnostic, but their numbers are
largely unknown as openly advocating such positions risks legal sanction. In 2000,
an openly atheist Egyptian writer, who called for the establishment of a local
association for atheists, was tried on charges of insulting Islam in four of his books.
[24]

Geography

13
White Desert, Farafra.
Main article: Geography of Egypt
At 386,636 mi² (1,001,450 km² [1]), Egypt is the world's thirtieth-largest country
(after Mauritania). It is comparable in size to Tanzania, and is more than half the
size of the US state of Alaska.
Egypt is bordered by Libya on the west, Sudan on the south, and on Israel and
Gaza Strip on the northeast. Egypt's important role in geopolitics stems from its
strategic position: a transcontinental nation, it possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus
of Suez) between Africa and Asia, which in turn is traversed by a navigable
waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian
Ocean via the Red Sea.
Apart from the Nile Valley, the majority of Egypt's landscape is a big, sandy desert.
The winds blowing can create sand dunes over one hundred feet high. Egypt
includes parts of the Sahara Desert and of the Libyan Desert. These deserts were
referred to as the "red land" in ancient Egypt, and they protected the Kingdom of
the Pharaohs from western threats.
Towns and cities include Alexandria, one of the greatest ancient cities, Aswan,
Asyut, Cairo, the modern Egyptian capital, El-Mahalla El-Kubra, Giza, the site of the
Pyramid of Khufu, Hurghada, Luxor, Kom Ombo, Port Safaga, Port Said, Sharm el
Sheikh, Suez, where the Suez Canal is located, Zagazig, and Al-Minya. Oases
include Bahariya, el Dakhla, Farafra, el Kharga and Siwa.

Satellite image of Egypt, generated from raster graphics data supplied by The Map
Library
Protectorates include Ras Mohamed National Park, Zaranik Protectorate and Siwa.
See Egyptian Protectorates for more information.

14
Climate

Egypt has a dry climate. It is hot in the summer, with temperatures averaging
between 80 and 90°F. Winters are warm, with temperatures averaging between 55
and 70°F. A steady wind from the northwest helps hold down the temperature near
the coast. The Khamaseen is a wind that blows from the south in Egypt, usually in
spring or summer, bringing sand and dust, and sometimes raises the temperature
in the desert to more than 100°F. Rain seldom falls in Egypt. Along the
Mediterranean Coast, the average yearly rainfall is 8 inches. Farther south, only
about one inch of rain falls every year.

Culture

Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a commemoration of the ancient Library of Alexandria in

Egypt's second largest city.
Main article: Culture of Egypt
Egyptian culture has five thousand years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was
among the earliest civilizations and for millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly
complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East
and Africa. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself came under the influence of
Hellenism, Christianity, and Islamic culture. Today, many aspects of Egypt's ancient
culture exist in interaction with newer elements, including the influence of modern
Western culture, itself with roots in ancient Egypt.
Egypt's capital city, Cairo, is Africa's largest city and has been renowned for
centuries as a center of learning, culture and commerce. Egypt has the highest
number of Nobel Laureates in Africa and the Arab World. Some Egyptian born
politicians were or are currently at the helm of major international organizations like
Boutros Boutros-Ghali of the United Nations and Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA.

Renaissance

In the mid-nineteenth century, Rifa'a et-Tahtawi started the Egyptian Renaissance,

which renewed interest in Egyptian antiquity and exposed Egypt to Enlightenment

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principals. Tahtawi co-founded with education reformer Ali Mubarak a native
Egyptology school that looked for inspiration to medieval Egyptian scholars, such
as Suyuti and Maqrizi, who themselves studied the history, language and
antiquities of Egypt.[25] Egypt's renaissance reached a peak through the work of
people like Muhammad Abduh, Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, Qasim Amin, Salama
Moussa and Taha Hussein. They forged a liberal path for Egypt expressed as a
commitment to individual freedom, secularism and faith in science to bring
progress.[26]

Arts

The Egyptians were one of the first major civilizations to codify design elements in
art. The wall paintings done in the service of the Pharaohs followed a rigid code of
visual rules and meanings. Modern and contemporary Egyptian art can be as
diverse as any works in the world art scene. The Cairo Opera House serves as the
main performing arts venue in the Egyptian capital. Egypt's media and arts industry
has flourished since the late nineteenth century, today with more than thirty satellite
channels and over one hundred motion pictures produced each year. Cairo in fact
has long been known as the "Hollywood of the Middle East." To bolster its media
industry further, especially with the keen competition from the Persian Gulf Arab
States and Lebanon, a large media city was built. Some Egyptian actors, like Omar
Sharif, have achieved world-wide fame.

Literature

Literature constitutes an important cultural element in the life of Egypt. Egyptian

novelists and poets were among the first to experiment with modern styles of Arabic
literature, and the forms they developed have been widely imitated throughout the
Middle East. The first modern Egyptian novel Zaynab by Muhammad Husayn
Haykal was published in 1913 in the Egyptian vernacular.[27] Egyptian novelist
Naguib Mahfouz was the first Arabic-language writer to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature. Egyptian women writers include Nawal El Saadawi, well known for her
feminist activism, and Alifa Rifaat who also writes about women and tradition.
Vernacular poetry is perhaps the most popular literary genre amongst Egyptians,
represented by such luminaries as Ahmed Fuad Nigm (Fagumi), Salah Jaheen and
Abdel Rahman el-Abnudi.

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Music

Upper Egyptian folk musicians from Kom Ombo.

Main article: Music of Egypt
Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous, Mediterranean, African and Western
elements. In antiquity, Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, including two
indigenous instruments: the ney and the oud. Percussion and vocal music also
became an important part of the local music tradition ever since. Contemporary
Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of people such as Abdu-l
Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who influenced the later work of Egyptian
music giants such as Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab
and Abdel Halim Hafez. From the 1970s onwards, Egyptian pop music has become
increasingly important in Egyptian culture, while Egyptian folk music continues to be
played during weddings and other festivities.

Festivals

Egypt is famous for its many festivals and religious carnivals, also known as mulids.
They are usually associated with a particular Coptic or Sufi saint, but are often
celebrated by all Egyptians irrespective of creed or religion. Ramadan has a special
flavor in Egypt, celebrated with sounds, lights (local lanterns known as fawanees)
and much flare that many Muslim tourists from the region flock to Egypt during
Ramadan to witness the spectacle. The ancient spring festival of Sham en Nisim
(Copto-Egyptian: Ϭⲱⲙ‘ⲛⲛⲓⲥⲓⲙ shom en nisim) has been celebrated by
Egyptians for thousands of years, typically between the Egyptian months of
Baramouda (April) and Bashans (May) following Easter Sunday.[28]

Sports

Football (soccer) is the de facto national sport of Egypt. Egyptian Soccer clubs El
Ahly and El Zamalek are the two most popular teams and enjoy the reputation of
long-time champions of the sport regionally. Squash and tennis are other close
favorites among Egyptians. The Egyptian Squash team has been known for its
fierce competition in world-wide championships since 1930s.

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