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The Arab Republic of Egypt, commonly known as Egypt, (in Arabic: مصر, romanized Mişr or Maşr, in Egyptian dialect) is a republic mostly located in northeastern Africa.
Covering an area of about 1,020,000 km², it includes the Sinai Peninsula (considered part of Southwest Asia), whilst the majority of the country is located in North Africa. It shares land borders with Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, Israel to the North East. It is bordered to the North and East by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea respectively.
The vast majority of Egypt's population inhabit the banks along the length of the Nile river (about 40,000 km²) and the Suez Canal. Large areas of land are part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited.
The country is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most stunning ancient monuments, including pyramids, Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings. Today, Egypt is widely considered the main political and cultural center of the Arab world.
The name Egypt came via Latin Aegyptus and Greek Αιγυπτος (Aiguptos) from Ancient Egyptian Hi-ku-ptah, which was the name of a temple of the god Ptah at Memphis.
History
Main articles: History of Egypt
Miṣr, the Arabic name for Egypt, is of Semitic origin, and possibly means 'a country' or 'a state'. 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 by King Mina, 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 dug the predecessor of the Suez canal and connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. Later Egypt fell to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Persians again.
It was the Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the 7th century changing Egypt into an "Arab" country once and for all. Arab rulers nominated by the Islamic Caliphate remained in control 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. In 1952 Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed power and nationalized the Suez Canal leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis. Between 1958 and 1961 Egypt was in a union with Syria known as the United Arab Republic.
Politics
Main article: Politics of Egypt
Egypt is a republic. Hosni Mubarak, has been President since October 14 1981, following Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat. President Mubarak is currently serving his fourth term in office. He is the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party. Egypt was the first Arab country to establish peace with Israel after the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty (main point of the Camp David Accords). The permanent headquarters for the Arab League are located in Cairo. Egypt regularly holds multi-party elections, but there is expressed concern from international human rights observers concerning freedom of speech, government interference in local elections, etc.
Governorates
Main article: Governorates of Egypt
Egypt is divided into 26 governorates (muhafazat, singular - muhafazah):
Foreign relations
Main article: Foreign relations of Egypt
Egypt is on good terms with most of its neighbours, and was the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel. It has a territorial dispute with Sudan over the Hala'ib Triangle.
Economy
Main article: Economy of Egypt
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.
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, much financed from U.S. aid. Egypt is the second largest recipient of such funds from the United States after Israel. Economic conditions are starting to improve considerably after a period of stagnation due to the adoption of more liberal economic policies by the government, as well as increased revenues from tourism and a booming stock market.
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of Egypt
Egypt is the most populous Arab country, at about 73,000,000 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.
Egyptians are very heterogeneous; Northern Egyptians have, for the most part, mixed with invading foreigners over the centuries, such as Greeks. Nevertheless, Egyptians living south of Cairo are usually darker than those in Northern Egypt.
The Egyptians are a fairly heterogeneous people. Mediterranean and Arab influences appear in the north, and there are indigenous black populations in the south. Many theories has been proposed on the origins of the Egyptians, however none are conclusive, and the most widely accepted theory is that Egyptian society was the result of a mix of east african and asiatic people who moved to the Nile Valley after the ice age. The bulk of Modern Egyptian society are heterogeneous but maintain cultural ties to the ancient Egyptian society which has always been regarded as rural and most populous compared to the neighbouring demographics. The Egyptian people spoke only languages from the Afro-Asiatic family (previously known as Hamito-semitic) throughout their history starting with Old Egyptian, to modern Arabic.
Culture
Main article: Culture of Egypt
The capital city, Cairo, is Africa's largest city and has been renowned for centuries as a center of learning, culture and commerce.
Though considered a low-income country, Egypt has a thriving media and arts industry, with more than 30 satellite channels and more than 100 motion pictures produced a year. To bolster its media industry, especially with the keen competition from the Persian Gulf states and Lebanon, it has built a large media city that it has promoted as the "Hollywood of the East". Egypt has the only opera house amongst Arab countries.
Some famous Egyptians include:
Gamal Abdel Nasser (former president),
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (former Secretary General of the United Nations),
Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize-winning novelist),
Umm Kulthum (singer),
Omar Sharif (actor),
Ahmed Zewail (Nobel Prize-winning chemist),
Mohamed ElBaradei (Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency),
Sir Magdi Yacoub (leading heart surgeon in the world),
Anwar Sadat (former president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize),
See also
List of famous Egyptian people
List of writers from Egypt
Egyptian mythology
Islam in Egypt
Coptic Christianity
Music of Egypt
Military of Egypt
Communications in Egypt
Transportation in Egypt
List of Egypt-related topics
External links
Category:Egypt
Category:Arab League
Category:Middle Eastern countries
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