 Egypt, at the northeast corner of Africa on the Mediterranean Sea, is bordered on the west by Libya, on the south by the Sudan, and on the east by the Red Sea and Israel. It is nearly one and one-half times the size of Texas. Egypt is divided into two unequal, extremely arid regions by the landscape's dominant feature, the northward-flowing Nile River. The Nile starts 100 mi (161 km) south of the Mediterranean and fans out to a sea front of 155 mi between the cities of Alexandria and Port Said.

 Egyptian history dates back to about 4000 B.C., when the kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt, already highly sophisticated, were united. Egypt's golden age coincided with the 18th and 19th dynasties (16th to 13th century B.C.), during which the empire was established. Persia conquered Egypt in 525 B.C., Alexander the Great subdued it in 332 B.C., and then the dynasty of the Ptolemies ruled the land until 30 B.C., when Cleopatra, last of the line, committed suicide and Egypt became a Roman, then Byzantine, province. Arab caliphs ruled Egypt from 641 until 1517, when the Turks took it for their Ottoman Empire.

Islam 90% Coptic 9% Christian 1% Other 6%

 President: Hosni Mubarak (1981)  Prime Minister: Ahmed Nazif (2004)  Land area: 384,344 sq mi (995,451 sq km);  Total area: 386,662 sq mi (1,001,450 sq km)  Population (2008 est.): 81,713,517 (growth rate: 1.6)  National name: Jumhuriyat Misr al-Arabiyah  Capital and largest city: city Cairo, 11,146,000 (metro. area), 7,629,866 (city proper)  Other large cities: Alexandria, 3,891,000; Giza, 2,597,600 (part of Cairo metro. area); Shubra el Khema, 1,018,000 (part of Cairo metro. area); El Mahalla el Kubra, 462,300  Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes  Ethnicity/Race: Egyptian 98%, Berber, Nubian, Bedouin, and Beja 1%, Greek, Armenian, other European (primarily Italian and French) 1%

 Because Egypt is very dry, and relies mostly on the Nile River to water the crops, the Egyptians can only grow certain kinds of food. Mainly they grew wheat and barley.  The Egyptians made the wheat into bread and into soup and porridge, and they also added hops to make the barley into beer. In fact, some people think the real reason that the Egyptians first began growing grain was to make beer.  The Egyptians also ate meat. You could go to a butcher shop and buy meat there, just as people do today. Only because it rarely rains in Egypt, they could have the meat outside in the courtyard of the store instead of inside.  But, like other people from the Eastern Mediterranean like the Jews, the Egyptians would not eat pigs (bacon or ham or pork or salami) because they thought pigs carried leprosy. They ate beef and mutton and duck and goose. For dessert, the Egyptians liked to eat dates.

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