Egypt

I

Introduction

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, country in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. Most of the country lies in Africa, but the easternmost portion of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, is usually considered part of Asia; it forms the only land bridge between the two continents. Most of Egypt’s terrain is desert, divided into two unequal parts by the Nile River. The valley and delta of the Nile are the main centers of habitation. The capital and largest city is Cairo.

Egypt has been a coherent political entity with a recorded history since about 3200 bc. One of the first civilizations to develop irrigated agriculture, literacy, urban life, and large-scale political structures arose in the Nile Valley. The annual flood of the Nile provided for a stable agricultural society. Egypt’s strategic location between Asia and Africa and on the route between the Mediterranean basin and India and China made it an important hub of international trade. Beginning in the 4th century bc, a series of conquerors brought new religions and languages to the land. However, Egypt’s rich agricultural resources, pivotal commercial position, and long-term political unity have sustained a high level of cultural continuity. Although present-day Egypt is an overwhelmingly Arabic-speaking and Islamic country, it retains important aspects of its past Christian, Greco-Roman, and ancient indigenous heritage.

Muslim Arab invaders conquered Egypt in ad 641, and Egypt has been a part of the Muslim and Arab worlds ever since. The foundations of the modern state were established by Muhammad Ali, who served as viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1849, while the country was a province of the Ottoman Empire. Britain occupied Egypt in 1882. After 40 years of direct British colonial rule, Egypt became an independent monarchy in 1922. However, British policies enforced by a continuing military occupation limited its independence. In 1952 a group of military officers led by Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew the monarchy and established Egypt as a republic. Nasser negotiated the evacuation of the last British troops from Egypt by 1956. In 1979, under President Anwar al-Sadat, Egypt became the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with the Jewish state of Israel. Egypt remains an important political and cultural center for the entire Arab world. In 2005 Egypt held its first-ever multiparty presidential election.

This article deals mainly with Arab Egypt. For information on the history, culture, and contributions of Egypt prior to Arab times, see Ancient Egypt.

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Joel Beinin contributed the introduction to this article.

II

Land and Resources

Egypt is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea; on the east by the Gaza Strip, Israel, and the Red Sea; on the south by Sudan; and on the west by Libya. The country has a maximum length from north to south of 1,105 km (687 mi) and a maximum width, near the southern border, of 1,129 km (702 mi). It has a total area of 1,001,450 sq km (386,662 sq mi).

Less than one-tenth of the land area of Egypt is settled or under cultivation. This territory consists of the valley and delta of the Nile, a number of desert oases, and land along the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea. More than 90 percent of the country consists of desert areas, including the Libyan Desert (also known as the Western Desert) in the west, a part of the Sahara, and the Arabian Desert (also called the Eastern Desert), which borders the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez, in the east.

The Libyan Desert includes a vast sandy expanse called the Great Sand Sea. Located there are several depressions with elevations below sea level, including the Qattara Depression. Also found in the Libyan Desert are the oases of Siwa, Baḩrīyah, Farafra, Dakhla, and Khārijah. Much of the Arabian Desert occupies a plateau that rises gradually east from the Nile Valley to elevations of about 600 m (about 2,000 ft) in the east and is broken along the Red Sea coast by jagged peaks as high as 2,100 m (7,000 ft) above sea level. In the extreme south, along the border with Sudan, is the Nubian Desert, an extensive region of rocky and sandy plains and dunes.

The Sinai Peninsula consists of sandy desert in the north and rugged mountains in the south, with summits looming more than 2,100 m (7,000 ft) above the Red Sea. Mount Catherine (Jabal Katrīnah), the highest elevation in Egypt, is on the Sinai Peninsula, as is Mount Sinai (Jabal Mūsá), where, according to the Hebrew Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments.

A

Rivers and Lakes

The Nile enters Egypt from Sudan and flows north for 1,545 km (960 mi) to the Mediterranean Sea. For its entire length from the southern border to Cairo, the Nile flows through a narrow valley lined by cliffs. Lake Nasser, a huge reservoir formed by the Aswān High Dam, extends south across the Sudan border. The lake is 480 km (300 mi) long and is 16 km (10 mi) across at its widest point. Most of the lake lies in Egypt. South of a point near the town of Idfū, the Nile Valley is rarely more than 3 km (2 mi) wide. From Idfū to Cairo, the valley averages 23 km (14 mi) in width, with most of the arable portion on the western side.

In the vicinity of Cairo the Nile Valley merges with the Nile Delta, a fan-shaped plain, the perimeter of which occupies about 250 km (about 155 mi) of the Mediterranean coastline. Silt deposited by the Rosetta, Damietta, and other distributaries has made the delta the most fertile region in the country. However, the Aswān High Dam has reduced the flow of the Nile, causing the salty waters of the Mediterranean to erode land along the coast near the Nile. A series of four shallow, brackish lakes extends along the seaward extremity of the delta. Another larger lake, Birkat Qārūn, is situated inland in the desert north of the town of Al Fayyūm. Geographically and traditionally, the land along the Nile is divided into two regions, Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, the former consisting of the delta area and the latter comprising the valley south of Cairo.

Although Egypt has 2,450 km (1,522 mi) of coastline, two-thirds of which are on the Red Sea, indentations suitable as harbors are confined to the delta. The Isthmus of Suez, which connects the Sinai Peninsula with the African mainland, is traversed from the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Suez by the Suez Canal.

B

Climate

The climate of Egypt is characterized by a hot season from May to September and a cool season from November to March. Extreme temperatures during both seasons are moderated by the prevailing northern winds. In the coastal regions average annual temperatures range from a maximum of 37°C (99°F) to a minimum of 14°C (57°F). Wide variations of temperature occur in the deserts, ranging from a maximum of 46°C (114°F) during daylight hours to a minimum of 6°C (42°F) during the night. During the winter season desert nighttime temperatures often drop to 0°C (32°F). The most humid area is along the Mediterranean coast, where the average annual rainfall is about 200 mm (about 8 in). Precipitation decreases rapidly to the south; Cairo receives on average only 25 mm (1 in) of rain a year, and in many desert locations it may rain only once in several years.

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