All you ever wanted to know about …………….. Egypt by Natalie Booth

Photos of Egypt

Egypt Egypt, 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 kilometres (386,560 square miles), Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. The northern coast borders the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern coast borders the Red Sea.

Population Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa. The vast majority of its estimated 78 million people (2007) 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, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Tourist attractions Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Pyramids and the Great Sphinx; the southern city of Luxor contains a particularly large number of ancient artefacts such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Today, Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural centre of the Middle East.

Facts and Statistics Capital (and largest city) –Cairo Official languages- Arabic Government-Semi-presidential republic  President- Hosni Mubarak  Prime Minister -Ahmed Nazif  Independence from UK- February 28th, 1922  Republic declared -June 18th, 1953  Area - Total1,001,449 km² Population - 2007 estimate77,498,000 (est.)  GDP2006 estimate - Total$329.791 billion  Currency Egyptian pound Spoken language is Egyptian Arabic

History The history of Egypt is the longest continuous history, as a unified state, of any country in the world. The Nile valley forms a natural geographic and economic unit, bounded to the east and west by deserts, to the north by the sea and to the south by the Cataracts of the Nile. The need to have a single authority to manage the waters of the Nile led to the creation of the world's first state in Egypt in about 3000 BC. Egypt's peculiar geography made it a difficult country to attack, which is why Pharaonic Egypt was for so long an independent and self-contained state. Once Egypt did succumb to foreign rule, however, it proved unable to escape from it, and for 2,400 years Egypt was governed by foreigners: Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks, French, and British. (The Hyksos were among the earliest foreign rulers of Egypt, but the ancient Egyptians regained control of their country after the Hykso period.)

Map of Egypt

Religion Egypt is predominantly Muslim, with Muslims composing 90% of the population. Almost the entirety of Egypt's Muslims are Sunnis. Most of the remaining 10% are Christians, most of whom belong to the native Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church. While the Egyptian government insists that members of the Coptic Orthodox Church make up only 6% of the population, Coptic sources put forward figures ranging from 14% to 20% of Egypt's population. There is also a small, but nonetheless historically significant, non-immigrant Bahá'í population, and an even smaller community of Jews. The non-Muslim, non-Coptic communities range in size from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. Adherents of the original Ancient Egyptian religion have all but disappeared. 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.

Economy A series of International Monetary Fund arrangements, along with massive external debt relief resulting from Egypt's participation in the Gulf War coalition, helped Egypt improve its macroeconomic performance during the 1990s. Through sound fiscal and monetary policies, the Government of Egypt tamed inflation, slashed budget deficits, and built up foreign reserves. Although the pace of structural reforms, such as privatization and new business legislation, has been slower than the IMF envisioned, Egypt's steps toward a more market-oriented economy have prompted increased foreign investment. Lower combined hard currency inflows - from tourism, worker remittances, oil revenues, and Suez Canal tolls - in late 1990s resulted in pressure on the Egyptian pound and sporadic dollar shortages, but external payments were not in crisis. At the turn of the millennium, monetary pressures have eased, however, with the continued oil price rise since 2002, increased gas exploration and discoveries and a moderate rebound in tourism. Egypt's reform record has substantially improved since Nazif government came to power. Egypt has made substantial progress in developing its legal, tax and investment infrastructure. The reform program is still a work in progress.