All About Egypt All About Egypt By G.D. and M.S.

Egyptian People  Most Egyptians are Muslims and Arabs.  There are very few Christians and the official language is Arabic.  Men traditionally wear a wide sleeved gown with a belt around the waist that reaches to their ankles.  Women wear a cotton dress when they are indoors. Outdoors they wear a black coat that covers the head.

Egyptian People  Egyptians normal diet consists of bread and vegetables like leeks, onions, beans and lentils. Only the rich have meats like beef, mutton, duck and goose to eat. Egyptians add honey to their food instead of sugar to make it sweeter.  40% of Egyptians are farmers and are only allowed to have 50 acres of land due to the lack of fertile land.

Egyptian People  Most Egyptians live on the Nile River because it is the only place in Egypt with fertile land. The rest of Egypt is a dessert. Egyptians live in houses made of mud dried bricks.

Language of Egypt  Egypt has a history that is about 5000 years long. This is longer than any other recorded history. Most writings on tombs, temples, pillars, and statues were written in an ancient style.  The Egyptians language has been divided into 5 periods.  Old Egyptian was the written language during 3000 BC – c BC.

Language of Egypt  Middle Egyptian was a literary language that reflected the speech of the people during c.2200 BC – c BC.  New Kingdom was during the 18 th – 26 th dynasties.  Late Egyptian was the new literature standard during c BC – c. 700BC.  Coptic was the latest Egyptian language.

Egypt Today  Egypt is located in the northeast corner of Africa. Egypt is mostly dessert but the Nile River runs through it to make it not all dessert.  99% of the population lives on the Nile River since it is the only place in Egypt with fertile land.  Education is free for all children between the ages of 6 and 12.

Egypt Today There are 13 universities in Egypt. The oldest is Al-Azhar in Cairo. It was founded in 970. Egypt has a fishing industry that catches about 100,000 metric tons of fish annually. Egypt has a fishing industry that catches about 100,000 metric tons of fish annually. Egypt also has a mining industry that digs up mainly crude petroleum. Also dug up is natural gas, phosphate rock, iron ore, salt, and manganese.

Egypt Today  Since Egypt is mostly dessert it depends very much on foreign trade. Supplies from foreign trade consist of food, transportation equipment, chemicals, mining machinery, and metal products. The suppliers are the U.S., Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, and Japan.

Agriculture  Most Egyptians were farmers for thousands of years. Every July the Nile flooded to fertile the soil. When the Nile went down again, the farmers began seeding and plowing the land.

Agriculture  Egypt’s most valuable crop is cotton. Egypt is also one of the worlds leading producers in cotton. Some of the other crops are corn, oranges, potatoes, rice, sugar, cane, tomatoes, and wheat. Both farmers and herdsman raised goats and sheep for wool, meat, and milk.