Egypt
country
Cairo
capital city
Arabic, English, French
language(s)
EGP
currency
1,001,450 km²
area
77,505,756
population
77.39 people/km²
population density
Egypt
Regions of Egypt
- Alexandria
- Eastern Province
- Muḩāfaz̧at Aswān
- Muḩāfaz̧at Asyūţ
- Muḩāfaz̧at Banī Suwayf
- Muḩāfaz̧at Būr Sa`īd
- Muḩāfaz̧at Dumyāţ
- Muḩāfaz̧at Janūb Sīnā'
- Muḩāfaz̧at Kafr ash Shaykh
- Muḩāfaz̧at Maţrūḩ
- Muḩāfaz̧at Qinā
- Muḩāfaz̧at Shamāl Sīnā'
- Muḩāfaz̧at Sūhāj
- Muḩāfaz̧at ad Daqahlīyah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Baḩr al Aḩmar
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Buḩayrah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Fayyūm
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Gharbīyah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Ismā`īlīyah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Jīzah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Minyā
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Minūfīyah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Qalyūbīyah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Qāhirah
- Muḩāfaz̧at al Wādī al Jadīd
- Muḩāfaz̧at as Suways
Egypt description
Egypt ([ˈiːdʒɪpt] (help·info); Arabic: مصر, Miṣr or Máṣr) is a country in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge to Western Asia. Covering an area of about 1,001,450 square kilometers (386,660 sq mi), Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 80 million live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About 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. Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most famous monuments, including the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx. The southern city of Luxor contains numerous ancient artifacts, such as the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings. Egypt is widely regarded as an important political and cultural nation of the Middle East. At 1,001,450 square kilometers (386,660 sq mi), Egypt is the world's 38th-largest country (after Mauritania). It is comparable in size to Tanzania, twice the size of France, four times the size of the United Kingdom, and is more than half the size of the US state of Alaska. Nevertheless, due to the aridity of Egypt's climate, population centres are concentrated along the narrow Nile Valley and Delta, meaning that approximately 99% of the population uses only about 5.5% of the total land area. Egypt is bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. Egypt's important role in geopolitics stems from its strategic position: a transcontinental nation, it possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus of Suez) between Africa and Asia, which in turn is traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. Apart from the Nile Valley, the majority of Egypt's landscape is a sandy desert. The winds blowing can create sand dunes more than 100 feet (30 m) high.
