Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip (Palestine) and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast, whose maximum width is 24 km (15 mi), separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the country’s capital and largest city. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government.Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain a significant focus of scientific and popular interest. Egypt’s long and rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, which reflects its unique transcontinental location being simultaneously Mediterranean,Middle Eastern and North African.Egypt was an early and important centre of Christianity, but was largely Islamised in the seventh century and remains a predominantly Muslim country, albeit with a significant Christian minority. Modern Egypt dates back to 1922, when it gained independence from the British Empire as a monarchy. Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt declared itself a republic, and in 1958 it merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which dissolved in 1961. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Egypt endured social and religious strife and political instability, fighting several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948,1956,1967and1973, and occupying theGaza Strip intermittently until 1967. In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, officially withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and recognising Israel. The country continues to face challenges, from political unrest, including the recent 2011 revolution and its aftermath, to terrorism and economic underdevelopment. Egypt’s current government, a semi-presidential republic led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has been described by a number of watchdogs as authoritarian or heading an authoritarian regime, responsible for perpetuating the country’s problematic human rights record. Islam is the official religion of Egypt and Arabic is its official language.With over 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia), and the fourteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt’s territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt’s residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo ,Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
Egypt is considered to be a regional power in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world, and a middle power worldwide.It is a developing country, ranking 116th on the Human Development Index. It has a diversified economy, which is the second-largest in Africa, the 33rd-largest economy by nominal GDP, and the 20th-largest globally by PPP. Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, the African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the World Youth Forum.
The English name “Egypt” is derived from the Ancient Greek “Aígyptos” (“Αἴγυπτος“), via Middle French “Egypte” and Latin “Aegyptus“.The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah or “Memphis”, a corruption of the earlierEgyptian nameEgypt lies primarily between latitudes 22° and 32°N, and longitudes 25°and35°E. At 1,001,450 square kilometres (386,660sq mi),it is the world’s 30th-largest country. Due to the extreme aridity of Egypt’s climate, population centres are concentrated along the narrow Nile Valley and Delta, meaning that about 99% of the population uses about 5.5% of the total land area.98% of Egyptians live on 3% of the territory.Egypt is bordered by Libya to the west, the Sudan to the south, and the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. 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, traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean by way of the Red Sea.Apart from the Nile Valley, the majority of Egypt’s landscape is desert, with a few oases scattered about. Winds create prolific sand dunes that peak at more than 30 metres (100ft) high. Egypt includes parts of the Sahara desert and of the Libyan Desert. These deserts protected the Kingdom of the Pharaohs from western threats and were referred to as the “red land” in ancient Egypt.
Towns and cities include Alexandria, the second largest city, Aswan,Asyut,Cairo, the modern Egyptian capital and largest city,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 south end of the Suez Canal is located,Zagazig,and Minya. Oases include Bahariya, Dakhla, Farafra, Kharga and Siwa.Protectorates include Ras Mohamed National Park, Zaranik Protectorate and Siwa .
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt considered the most important centre of the maritime transport in the Middle East, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows ship transport between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa. The northern terminus is Port Said and the southern terminus is Port Tawfiq at the city of Suez. Ismailia lies on its west bank, 3 kilometres ( 1/ 8 miles) from the half-way point. The canal is 193.30 km (120 1⁄8mi) long, 24 metres (79 feet) deep and 205 m (673 ft) wide as of 2010. It consists of the northern access channel of 22 km (14 mi), the canal itself of 162.25 km (100 7⁄8 mi) and the southern access channel of 9 km (5 1⁄2 mi). The canal is a single lane with passing places in the Ballah By-Pass and the Great Bitter Lake. It contains no locks seawater flows freely through the canal. In general, the canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. The current south of the lakes changes with the tide at Suez. On 26 August 2014 a proposal was made for opening a New Suez Canal. Work on the New Suez Canal was completed in July 2015.The channel was officially inaugurated with a ceremony attended by foreign leaders and featuring military flyovers on 6 August 2015, in accordance with the budgets laid out for the project.
Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world. The Greater Cairo metropolitan area, with a population of 21.3 million,is the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the largest in the Arab world and the Middle East, and the sixth-largest in the world by population. Cairo is associated with ancient Egypt, as the Giza pyramid complex and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis are located in its geographical area. Located near the Nile Delta,the city first developed as Fustat, a settlement founded byArab conquerors in 640 next to an existing ancient fortress. Under the Fatimid dynasty a new city, al-Qāhirah, was founded nearby in 969. It later superseded Fustat as the main urban centre during the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods (12th–16th centuries).Cairo has long been a centre of the region’s political and cultural life, and is titled “the city of a thousand minarets” for its preponderance of Islamic architecture. Cairo’s historic center was awarded World Heritage Site-status in 1979.Cairo is considered a World City with a “Beta +” classification according to GaWC.Today, Cairo has the oldest and largest Arab film and music industry, as well as the world’s second-oldest institution of higher learning,Al-Azhar University. Many international media, businesses, and organizations have regional headquarters in the city the Arab League has had its headquarters in Cairo for most of its existence. With a population of over 10 million spread over 453 km2 (175sq mi), Cairo is by far the largest city in Egypt. An additional 9.5 million inhabitants live in close proximity to the city. Cairo, like many other megacities, suffers from high levels of pollution and traffic. The Cairo Metro is one of only two metro systems in Africa (the other being in Algiers,Algeria), and ranks amongst the fifteen busiest in the world,with over 1 billion annual passenger rides. The economy of Cairo was ranked first in the Middle East in 2005,and 43rd globally on Foreign Policy‘s 2010 Global Cities Index.
Alexandria Αλεξάνδρεια Alexándria) is the third-largest city in Egypt after Cairo and Giza, the ninth-largest city in Africa, and a major economic centre. Called the “Bride of the Mediterranean” by locals,Alexandria is the largest city on the Mediterranean, the fourth-largest city in the Arab world, and the ninth-largest urban area in Africa as well as the 79th largest urban area by population on Earth. The city extends about 40 km (25 mi) at the northern coast of Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea. Alexandria is a popular tourist destination, and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas andoil pipelines from Suez. Alexandria was founded in c. 331 BC by Alexander the Great in the vicinity of an Egyptian settlement named Rhacotis (that became the Egyptian quarter of the city). Alexandria grew rapidly, becoming a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, and replacing Memphis as Egypt’s capital during the reign of the Ptolemaic pharaohs who succeeded Alexander. It retained this status for almost a millennium, through the period of Roman and Eastern Roman (Byzantine) rule until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, when a new capital was founded at Fustat(later absorbed into Cairo). Alexandria was best known for the Lighthouse of Alexandria (Pharos), one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, its Great Library (the largest in the ancient world), and the Necropolis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages. Alexandria was the intellectual and cultural centre of the ancient Mediterranean for much of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity.It was at one time the largest city in the ancient world before being eventually overtaken by Rome. The city was a major centre of early Christianity, and was the centre of the Patriarchate of Alexandria, which was one of the major centres of Christianity in the Eastern Roman Empire. In the modern world, the Coptic Orthodox Church, and the Greek Orthodox Church of Alexandria both lay claim to this ancient heritage.By the time of the Arab conquest of Egypt in 641 AD, the city had already been largely plundered and lost its significance before re-emerging in the modern era.From the late 18th century, Alexandria became a major centre of the international shipping industry and one of the most important trading centres in the world, both because it profited from the easy overland connection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and the lucrative trade in Egyptian cotton.
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering present-day Giza in Greater Cairo,Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact.Egyptologists conclude that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and estimate that it was built in the 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years.Initially standing at 146.5 metres (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years. Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid’s height to the present 138.5 metres (454.4 ft). What is seen today is the underlying core structure. The base was measured to be about 230.3 metres (755.6 ft) square, giving a volume of roughly 2.6 million cubic metres (92 million cubic feet), which includes an internal hillock.The dimensions of the pyramid were 280 royal cubits (146.7 m 481.4 ft) high, a base length of 440 cubits (230.6 m 756.4 ft), with a seked of 5/1/2 palms (a slope of 51°50’40”).The Great Pyramid was built by quarrying an estimated 2.3 million large blocks weighing 6 million tonnes in total. The majority of stones are not uniform in size or shape and are only roughly dressed.The outside layers were bound together by mortar. Primarily local limestone from the Giza Plateau was used. Other blocks were imported by boat down the Nile White limestone from Tura for the casing, and granite blocks from Aswan, weighing up to 80 tonnes, for the King’s Chamber structure.There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest was cut into the bedrock, upon which the pyramid was built, but remained unfinished. The so-called Queen’s Chamber and King’s Chamber, that contains a granite sarcophagus, are higher up, within the pyramid structure. Khufu’s vizier, Hemiunu (also called Hemon), is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid.Many varying scientific and alternative hypotheses attempt to explain the exact construction techniques. The funerary complex around the pyramid consisted of two mortuary temples connected by a causeway (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), tombs for the immediate family and court of Khufu, including three smaller pyramids for Khufu’s wives, an even smaller “satellite pyramid” and five buried solar barges.
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The longest river in Africa, it has historically been considered the longest river in the world, though this has been contested by research suggesting that the Amazon River is slightly longer.The Nile is amongst the smallest of the major world rivers by measure of cubic metres flowing annually.About 6,650 km (4,130 mi)long, its drainage basin covers eleven countries Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Republic of the Sudan, and Egypt.In particular, the Nile is the primary water source of Egypt, Sudan and South Sudan.Additionally, the Nile is an important economic river, supporting agriculture and fishing. The Nile has two major tributaries – the White Nile, which begins at Jinja, Lake Victoria,and the Blue Nile. The White Nile is traditionally considered to be the headwaters stream. However, the Blue Nile is the source of most of the water of Nile downstream, containing 80% of the water and silt. The White Nile is longer and rises in the Great Lakes region. It begins from Uganda Lake Victoria, Uganda and South Sudan. The Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast. The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.The northern section of the river flows north almost entirely through the Sudanese desert to Egypt, where Cairo is located on its large delta and the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea at Alexandria. Egyptian civilization and Sudanese kingdoms have depended on the river and its annual flooding since ancient times. Most of the population and cities of Egypt lie along those parts of the Nile valley north of Aswan dam. Nearly all the cultural and historical sites of Ancient Egypt developed and are found along river banks Below the Aswan High Dam, at the northern limit of Lake Nasser, the Nile resumes its historic course. North of Cairo, the Nile splits into two branches (or distributaries) that feed the Mediterranean the Rosetta Branch to the west and the Damietta to the east, forming the Nile Delta.
Saint Catherine’s Monastery Greek: Μονὴ τῆς Ἁγίας Αἰκατερίνης), officially Sacred Autonomous Royal Monastery of Saint Katherine of the Holy and God-Trodden Mount Sinai (Greek:Ιερά Αυτόνομος Βασιλική Μονή Αγίας Αικατερίνης του Αγίου και Θεοβαδίστου Όρους Σινά), is an Eastern Orthodox monastery located on the Sinai Peninsula, at the mouth of a gorge at the foot of Mount Sinai, near the town of Saint Catherine, Egypt. The monastery is named after Catherine of Alexandria.The monastery is controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance in the traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.The Saint Catherine monastery is located in the shadow of a group of three mountains Ras Sufsafeh (possibly “Mount Horeb” .1km west), Jebel Arrenziyeb and Jebel Musa, the “Biblical Mount Sinai”Built between 548 and 565, the monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world.The site contains the world’s oldest continually operating library, possessing many unique books such as the Codex Sinaiticus until 1859, of which recently new folios have come to light,including the Syriac Sinaiticus.
