Egypt
Egypt, officially the Republic of Egypt, is a country located mostly in northeast Africa but partly in the Middle East. Egypt's capital city is Cairo. Egypt is famous for its ancient monuments, such as the Pyramids and the Sphinx.
Republic of Egypt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Anthem: | |
 Location of the Republic of Egypt | |
| Capital and largest city | Cairo 30°2′N 31°13′E / 30.033°N 31.217°E |
| Official languages | Arabic |
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| Religion | Islam 50% (mostly Sunni) Christianity 50% (Coptic) |
| Demonym(s) | Egyptian |
| Government | Unitary semi-presidential republic |
| Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | |
| Moustafa Madbouly | |
| Ali Abdel Aal | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| National senate | |
| House of the Representatives | |
| Establishment | |
| c. 3150 BC | |
• Muhammad Ali dynasty inaugurated | 9 July 1805[3] |
| 28 February 1922 | |
| 23 July 1952 | |
• Republic declared | 18 June 1953 |
| 18 January 2014 | |
| Area | |
• Total | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (29th) |
• Water (%) | 0.632 |
| Population | |
• 2024 estimate |  100,075,480 [5][6] (13th) |
• 2024 census | 114,484,252 (14th) |
• Density | Lua error in Module:Convert at line 1850: attempt to index local 'en_value' (a nil value). (83rd) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $1.391 trillion[7] (19th) |
• Per capita | $14,023[7] (94th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2019 estimate |
• Total | $476.7 billion[7] (40th) |
• Per capita | $4,295.41[7] (126th) |
| Gini (2015) | ▼ 31.8[8] medium · 51st |
| HDI (2024) | 0.728[9] high · 105th |
| Currency | Egyptian pound (E£) (EGP) |
| Time zone | UTC+2[c] (EET) |
| Driving side | right |
| Calling code | +20 |
| ISO 3166 code | EG |
| Internet TLD | |
Website Egypt | |
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History
Ancient Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country in the world as it used to be ruled by pharaohs. As a province of the Roman Empire, it became Christian and some Copts remained despite over a thousand years of Muslim rule. The Fatimid Caliphate ruled Egypt in the tenth through twelfth centuries. Mamlukes ruled it until 1798 when Napoleon defeated them. Muhammad Ali Pasha soon took over and started a dynasty of Khedives under the Ottoman Empire. The Empire fell apart after World War I. Egypt became an independent country in 1922 and the khedive became a king. Egypt is a member of the United Nations and the Arab League. It became a republic after the Army's revolution of 1952.
Geography
Egypt is a large country, but a large portion of it is desert. Most people (95% of Egypt's total people) live in areas around the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Nile River. This includes the cities of Cairo, Alexandria, Aswan, and Port Said. Not many people live in the desert. Today, Egypt has about 90 million people.
Egypt is divided into 29 areas, called Governorates of Egypt.
Politics
Egypt is a country that has had many different rulers and many political systems. After World War II, Egypt was still ruled by a king, Farouk of Egypt (11 February 1920 – 18 March 1965). He was the last ruler of the Muhammad Ali dynasty.
Farouk was overthrown on 23 July 1952 by a military coup. The coup was led by Muhammad Naguib, and Gamal Abdel Nasser. From then on, Egypt had military rulers or rulers who had the backing of the army and many citizens.
Nasser became president, from 1956 to 1970. Later rulers were Anwar Sadat, and Hosni Mubarak.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became president in 2014.
Revolution of 2011
In January 2011, thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo. They wanted Hosni Mubarak to leave office. He had been the President for almost 30 years. On February 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman made an announcement. He said that Mubarak agreed to leave office.[11] In 2012, Egypt had a democratic election for the post of President. The winner was the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mohamed Morsi.
The events which followed are still controversial, but one aspect stands out. Morsi issued a declaration that in effect gave him unlimited powers. He had the power to legislate (make laws) without legal overview by the courts. This caused widespread protests. On 3 July 2013, he was unseated by a military coup council (a coup d'état). After an election in June 2014, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became President of Egypt. Islamist movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, rejected the change of regime as a military coup, and not democratic.
Demographics
Religion
Today, the people of Egypt are mostly Sunni Muslims. There are many Christians in Egypt today. Many of these belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.
Languages
The official language in Egypt is Arabic. The majority speak Egyptian Arabic but many speak other dialects. Some Egyptians still speak Coptic and English. They also speak French and German in Egypt. These are taught in Egypt as additional languages.
Famous people
Many famous people are from Egypt. Some of these include Omar Sharif, who was an international actor, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who was the first person from Africa to lead the United Nations, and four Nobel Prize winners: Anwar Sadat, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978, Naguib Mahfouz, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, Ahmed Zewail, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1999, and Mohamed ElBaradei, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Mohamed Salah is a famous footballer who plays for Liverpool in England. A famous Egyptian singer is called Amr Diab.
Governorates
Egypt is divided into 27 governorates. The governorates are divided into regions. The regions have towns and villages. Each governorate has a capital. Sometimes capital has the same name as the governorate.
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Culture
Egypt is a country with an immense cultural mix. Life in the countryside differs from life in large cities. There are differences between the families which are Muslim, and the smaller number which are Coptic Christians. There are noticeable differences in the standards of education.
Tourism
Tourism is one of the most important national incomes in Egypt. In 2008, about 12 million tourists visited Egypt providing nearly $12 billion of national income to Egypt. Tourism affects the economy of the country as a whole.[12]
Giza Necropolis is one of Egypt's iconic sites. It is a popular destination for tourists to visit. It includes the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
Transport
There are methods of transport in Egypt. The Suez Canal carries ships of many countries.
Cairo Metro is one of the most important projects in Egypt. It consists of 3 lines. Metro is the most preferable transport in Egypt due to persistent major traffic jams in the streets of Cairo.[13][14] Metro line 4 is being developed to reach the New Cairo District.[15]
Egypt established EgyptAir in 1932. The airline is based in Cairo International Airport and is owned by the Egyptian government
Egyptian Armed Forces
The Egyptian Armed Forces are the defense forces of the Republic of Egypt. They consist of the Egyptian Air Force, Egyptian Navy, Egyptian Army, and the Egyptian Air Defense Forces. It is ranked 14th in the world. It is the strongest military force in the Arab world and Africa.
Egypt Media
The Egyptian national anthem played by the U.S. Navy Band.
Rassam cylinder "Mu-ṣur", for "Egypt"
Temple of Derr ruins in 1960
The Giza Necropolis is the oldest of the ancient Wonders and the only one still in existence.
The Weighing of the Heart from the Book of the Dead of Ani
The Ptolemaic Queen Cleopatra VII and her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion, at the Temple of Dendera
The Amr ibn al-As mosque in Cairo, recognised as the oldest in Africa
من داخل مسجد احمد بن طولون و هو من اقدم المساجد فى مصر
The Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth caliph, as renovated by Dawoodi Bohra
Napoleon defeated the Mamluk troops in the Battle of the Pyramids, 21 July 1798, painted by Lejeune.
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References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Goldschmidt, Arthur (1988). Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-86531-182-4. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
Among the peoples of the ancient Near East, only the Egyptians have stayed where they were and remained what they were, although they have changed their language once and their religion twice. In a sense, they constitute the world's oldest nation. For most of their history, Egypt has been a state, but only in recent years has it been truly a nation-state, with a government claiming the allegiance of its subjects on the basis of a common identity.
- ↑ "Background Note: Egypt". United States Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. 10 November 2010. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
- ↑ Pierre Crabitès (1935). Ibrahim of Egypt. Routledge. p. 1. ISBN 978-0-415-81121-7. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
... on July 9, 1805, Constantinople conferred upon Muhammad Ali the pashalik of Cairo ...
- ↑ "Total area km2, pg.15" (PDF). Capmas.Gov – Arab Republic of Egypt. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 March 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
- ↑ "الجهاز المركزي للتعبئة العامة والإحصاء". www.capmas.gov.eg. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ↑ "أقل زيادة في 10 سنوات.. رحلة الوصول إلى 100 مليون مصري (إنفوجرافيك)". www.masrawy.com. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
- ↑ "GINI index". World Bank. Archived from the original on 9 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2013.
- ↑ Human Development Report 2020 The Next Frontier: Human Development and the Anthropocene (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 15 December 2020. pp. 343–346. ISBN 978-92-1-126442-5. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ↑ "Constitutional Declaration: A New Stage in the History of the Great Egyptian People". Egypt State Information Service. 30 March 2011. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ↑ Namatalla, Ahmed A; Mariam Fam and Zainab Fattah (2011-02-11). Mubarak Resigns as Egyptian President. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-11/mubarak-leaves-presidency-hands-power-to-egypt-s-military-suleiman-says.html. Retrieved 2011-02-11.
- ↑ "Egypt tourism numbers to fall less than feared" Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine, Reuters Africa. (2009-10-20)
- ↑ "Underground, Everything That Life Above Is Not", NY Times. Retrieved May 3, 2012
- ↑ "Egypt's traffic: The problem grinds on"[dead link], AhramOnline. Retrieved 8 Oct 2012
- ↑ "Cairo Metro, Egypt", Railway Technology.
Other websites
Media related to Egypt at Wikimedia Commons
Egypt travel guide from Wikivoyage