Egypt, Arabic Misr, biblical Mizraim, officially Arab Republic of Egypt, republic (386,659 sq mi/1,001,449 sq km; 1996 population 59,272,382; 2004 estimated population 76,117,421), NE Africa and SW Asia, bordering on the Mediterranean Sea in the N, on Israel and the Red Sea in the E, on Sudan in the S, and on Libya in the W; (cap.) Cairo.
Geography
The great mass of Egypt is located in Africa.; the Sinai peninsula is situated in Asia and is separated from the rest of the country by the Suez Canal. Egypt’s largest city is Cairo; other major cities include Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Tanta , Giza, El Mahalla el Kubro, Ismailia, Az Zagazig, El Faiyum, and Aswan. Egypt N of Cairo is often called Lower Egypt and S of Cairo, Upper Egypt. The principal physiographic feature of the country is the narrow valley of the Nile River, which flows from S to N through E Egypt for c.900 mi/1,450 km. In the far S is Lake Nasser, a vast artificial lake impounded by the Aswan High Dam (built 1960–1970), and in the N, below Cairo, is the great Nile delta (c.8,500 sq mi/22,000 sq km). Bordering the Nile between Aswan and Cairo are strips of cultivated land, narrow in the S and gradually widening to the N beyond Qena; widest just S of Cairo. There are broad regions of tilled land in the delta. The vast majority of Egypt’s inhabitants live in the Nile valley and delta, and the rest of the country (about 96% of Egypt’s total land area) is sparsely populated or uninhabited. West of the Nile is the extremely arid Libyan (or Western) Desert, a generally low-lying region (max. alt. c.1,000 ft/300 m), largely covered with sand dunes or barren rocky plains; it forms part of the larger Sahara. The desert contains a few oases, notably Siwah, Farafra, Bahariya, Kharga, and Dakhla. In SW Egypt the desert rises to the Jilf al-Kabir plateau. East of the Nile is the Arabian (or Eastern) Desert, a dissected highland area (rising to c.7,150 ft/2,180 m) that is mostly barren and virtually uninhabited except for a few settlements along the Red Sea coast. The desert is rich in mineral resources and bisected by wadis (streams) flowing into the Red Sea. The Sinai peninsula is characterized by a plateau broken by deep valleys; Mount Catherine, or Gebel Katherina (8,652 ft/2,637 m), Egypt’s loftiest point, and Mount Sinai, or Gebel Musa (7,497 ft/2,285 m), are located in the S. Northern Sinai, largely a sandy desert, contains most of the peninsula’s small population, which lives mainly in towns built around wells.
Population
The majority of Egypt’s inhabitants are of a complex racial mixture, being descended from the ancient Egyptians, Berbers, sub-Saharan Africans, Arabs, Greeks, and Turks. Arabic is the country’s official language, but English and French are understood in the educated classes. About 92% of the people are Sunni Muslims; many of the rest belong to the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church.
Economy - Farming
The country’s industrial base increased considerably in the 20th century, especially since 1952. Agriculture accounts for about 17% of the gross national product; nearly one third of Egypt’s workers are employed in farming. The state owns much of the economy and plays a decisive role in economic planning, although President Sadat initiated privatization in 1974, reversing many nationalization policies of President Nasser. Economic growth was hindered somewhat after 1945 by the large proportion of funds and energy devoted to preparing the country for warfare with Israel and by the destruction incurred in the Arab-Israeli Wars. Development was also held back by the combination of a severely limited amount of arable land and a large and rapidly growing population, which increases by nearly one million people every nine months. The country’s farmland is intensively cultivated (usually two, and sometimes three, crops are produced annually) and yields-per-acre are high, so that only by the opening of new cropland can production be increased significantly. However, only 2.87% of Egypt’s total land area is available for agriculture. Additional control of the Nile waters, made possible by the construction of the Aswan High Dam, has made considerable amounts of new land cultivable, but the needs of the population have prevented the accumulation of significant agricultural surpluses. Most farms in Egypt are small and labor-intensive. The principal cash crop is cotton; Egypt is the world’s sixth-largest cotton exporter. Rice, corn, wheat, millet, onions, beans, barley, tomatoes, sugarcane, citrus fruit, and dates are produced. Large numbers of poultry, cattle, sheep, buffalo, donkeys, and goats are raised.
Economy - Industrial
Cairo and Alexandria are the main industrial centers; major manufacturing plants are also located in the other cities of the Nile valley and delta and at Port Said, Suez, and Aswan. The leading manufactured products include refined petroleum, chemicals, fertilizers, textiles, clothing, processed foods, construction materials (especially cement), iron and steel, and metal prods. Petroleum and natural gas (found mainly in the Gulf of Suez) are produced; the principal minerals are phosphates, fluorine, salt, iron ore, manganese, and gold. A large amount of food must be imported to feed Egypt’s steadily growing population Other leading imports are machinery and equipment, durable consumer goods, and capital goods. The principal exports are crude and refined petroleum, raw cotton, cotton textiles, and metals. The chief trade partners are the U.S., the European Union (EU), China, Saudi Arabia, and former Soviet republics. Considerable foreign exchange is also derived from the country’s growing tourist industry, income remittance from Egyptian’s working abroad, and an annual aid package from the U.S. amounting to c. $2.5 billion. The Suez Canal, another important source of foreign exchange, was closed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and not reopened until 1975. The canal has since been deepened and widened, and navigation transit fees are a source of revenue. The country's railroads and road networks are largely found along the Mediterranean coast and in the Nile valley.
History to XVIII Dynasty
The valley of the “long river between the deserts,” with the annual floods, deposits of life-giving silt, and year-long growing season, was the seat of one of the earliest civilizations built by humankind. Records (in the form of papyri as well as tombs, monuments, and temples) are abundant and, because of Egypt’s dry climate, have been well preserved. Egypt enters history as an advanced culture at the earliest historic date known to man, set at 4241 B.C., when it adopted the calendar. Conventionally, Egyptian history up to Alexander the Great is chronologically divided into 30 dynasties. There are many gaps, however, and not all rulers are known. By c.3400 B.C. Menes (or Narmer) united Upper and Lower Egypt, making Memphis the Egyptian capital. A high culture developed rapidly; the Old Kingdom is notable for artistic and intellectual achievements (the Pyramids at Giza were built at its peak in the IV dynasty). From the beginning there was a concept of the divinity or quasi-divinity of the king (pharaoh), which lasted from Menes until the ultimate fall of Egypt to the Romans. The V to the VII dynasties are remarkable for their records of trading expeditions with armed escorts. Although Egypt flourished culturally and commercially during this period, it started to become less centralized and weaker politically. In the twenty-third century B.C. the Old Kingdom, after a long and flourishing existence, fell apart, and it was not until 2134 B.C. that power was again centralized, this time at Thebes, capital for most of the next millennium. The Middle Kingdom, founded at the end of the XI dynasty, reached its zenith under the XII, which advanced the border up the Nile to the Second Cataract. Order was preserved, the draining of Al-Fayyum was begun (adding a new and fertile province), a uniform system of writing was adopted, and civilization reached a new peak.
History - XVIII to Rise of Islam
The New Kingdom began with the XVIII dynasty in 1580, and is one of most important and the best-recorded period in Egyptian history. Great temples were built at Karnak and Luxor, its boundaries were extended into Asia (with a foreign province reaching the Euphrates), Akhnaton (Amenhotep IV) briefly moved the capital to Tell el Amarna and installed a short-lived monotheistic sun religion, and Tutankhamen, whose tomb treasures are renowned, revised and enforced his law code through the courts. Architecture was at its zenith with the enormous and impressive buildings at and around Thebes. Around 1200 (XX dynasty) the New Kingdom began to decline steadily, falling prey in turn to Libyan, Nubian, Assyrian, and Persian invaders. The last dynasty (XXX) was swept away by the conquest (332 B.C.) of Alexander the Great. When his brief empire faded, Egypt in the wars of his successors (the Diadochi) fell to his general Ptolemy, and the Ptolemies maintained a formidable empire in Egypt for more than two centuries. The great city of Alexandria became the intellectual center and fountainhead of the Hellenistic world. The Jewish population was large—perhaps as much as one-seventh; of the total population. The rising power of Rome soon overshadowed Egypt; Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) annexed Egypt to Rome, putting to death Cleopatra’s son, Ptolemy XIV, who was the last of the Ptolemies. Egypt became a granary for Rome; the emperors from Augustus to Hadrian raised the irrigation system to great efficiency, and Trajan reopened the ancient Nile–Red Sea canal.
History - Rise of Islam to 1866
Once Christianity spread thoughout the empire, Egypt gave rise to the Arian and Nestorian heresies, and monophysitism became the national faith; out of this arose the Coptic Church. The Arab conquest of Egypt (639–42), only some 20 years after the rise of Islam, made the country an integral part of the Muslim world. The Fatimids founded (969) Cairo as their capital, and with the establishment (972) there of the Mosque of Al-Azhar as a great (and still active) Muslim university, they further emphasized the change of Egypt from an outpost of Islam to one of its centers. The later Ayyubid rulers came excessively under the control of their slave soldiers and advisers, the Mamluks, who in 1250 seized the country. Until 1517, when the country was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, the Mamluks maintained a turbulent rule. Many great architectural monuments were built during their reign. In response to French occupation of Egypt (1798–1801) the Ottomans joined the British in forcing Napoleon Bonaparte and his forces out of Egypt. The French withdrawal was followed by the rise of Muhammad Ali, a former commander, who was appointed (1805) Egyptian pasha by the Ottoman emperor. Muhammad Ali laid the foundations of the modern Egyptian state. He introduced political, social, and educational reforms and developed an effective bureaucracy; he also undertook massive economic development by expanding and modernizing agriculture and by starting large-scale industry.
History - 1866 to 1952
In 1866, Ismail Pasha was granted the title Khedive (viceroy), symbolizing a greater independence from Turkey. Financial problems forced Ismail, however, to sell his shares in the Suez Canal to Great Britian. Tewfik Pasha submitted (1880) to a joint British-French control over Egypt’s finances, and ensuing riots in Alexandria precipitated a British intervention. The British consolidated their control during the period, and remained in power over Egypt until after World War II, despite several treaties providing for independence and the establishment of a constitutional kingdom under Fuad I. After the war, Egyptian demands were made for a revision of the treaty of 1936, which ended the protectorate, had made the countries allies, and promised the eventual withdrawal of British troops. The central issue was control of the Suez Canal and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, which the British refused to relinquish. Egypt actively opposed the UN partition of Palestine in 1948 and, joining its forces with the other members of the Arab League, sent troops into the S Negev. Israeli forces, however, repelled the Egyptians in bitter fighting.
History - 1952 to 1958
In domestic politics, a military coup in 1952 abolished the monarchy and a republic was declared. General Muhammad Naguib assumed the presidency, but, in his attempts to move toward a parliamentary republic, he met with opposition from other members of the Revolutionary Command Committee (RCC). Increasing difficulties led to extension of martial law. Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser emerged as a rival to Naguib; in February 1954, Naguib resigned, and Nasser took full power in November. Under the new constitution, he was elected president for a six-year term. The long-standing dispute over the Sudan was ended on January 1, 1956, when Sudan announced its independence, recognized by both Egypt and Great Britain. British troops, by previous agreement (July, 1954), completed their evacuation of the Suez Canal Zone in June 1956. Tension increased in July 1956, when, after the U.S. and Great Britain withdrew their pledges of financial aid for the building of the Aswan High Dam, the Soviet Union stepped in to finance it. Nasser then nationalized the Suez Canal and expelled British oil and embassy officials from Egypt. On October 29, Israel, barred from the canal and antagonized by the continued guerrilla attacks, invaded Gaza and the Sinai peninsula in joint arrangement with Britain and France, who attacked Egypt by air on October 31. Within a week Great Britain, France, and Israel yielded to international political pressure, especially that of the U.S., and a cease-fire was pronounced. Israeli troops evacuated Egyptian territory in the spring of 1957. Nasser attempted to galvanize the Arab world, calling for unity and strength.
History - 1958 to 1970
On February 1, 1958, Syria and Egypt merged as the United Arab Republic. Yemen soon joined the UAR, creating the United Arab States. The union was soon torn by personal and political differences, and a Syrian revolt (1961) led to its virtual dissolution. In the spring of 1967, Egyptian troops were ordered to positions on the Israeli border, and Nasser demanded that the UN peacekeeping force stationed on the Egyptian side of the border since 1956 be withdrawn. Following the UN evacuation, Arab troops massed on the frontier, and Nasser announced that the Gulf of Aqaba was closed to Israeli shipping. Other Arab states rallied to Egypt’s support. On June 5, Israel launched air and ground attacks against Arab positions and after six days achieved a rapid and decisive victory despite the Arab superiority in numbers and armaments. When the UN cease-fire went into effect, Israel held the Sinai peninsula, Gaza, and the east bank of the Suez Canal. After the war, Egypt received a massive infusion of Soviet military and economic aid in a program designed to rebuild its armed forces and economy, both shattered by the war.
History - 1970 to 1982
After Nasser’s sudden death in September, 1970, Vice President Anwar al-Sadat succeeded him as president. A permanent constitution was ratified in September, 1971, when the country changed its name to the Arab Republic of Egypt. In July, 1972, Sadat suddenly ousted all Soviet military personnel stationed in Egypt and placed Soviet bases and equipment under Egyptian control. Another war with Israel broke out on October 6, 1973, when Egyptian forces attacked Israel on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Israeli forces were caught off guard as Egyptian units progressed into the Sinai, and fighting broke out between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. After Israel had stabilized the Syrian front, its troops crossed the Suez Canal and by October 24th were in control of some 475 sq mi/1,230 sq km on the W bank of the canal between Ismailia and Adabiya, surrounding the city of Suez, and trapping Egypt’s Third Army on the E side of the canal. Through the mediation efforts of U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Egypt and Israel agreed to face-to-face negotiations on implementing the cease-fire. A result of the intense U.S. effort to secure a settlement was the resumption of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Egypt, which had been severed since the 1967 war. This marked the beginning of closer relations with the West. After regaining both banks of the Suez Canal as a result of the post-war agreement, Egypt, with U.S. assistance, began to clear the canal of the mines and sunken ships left from the 1967 war. In 1977 Sadat surprised the world, particularly the Arab countries, with his visit to Jerusalem and plans for peace with Israel. On March 26, 1979, Egypt signed a formal peace treaty with Israel in Washington, D.C., after a series of talks at Camp David between Sadat and Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin, aided by U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Israel fully withdrew from the Sinai by 1982.
History - 1982 to Present
Egypt was suspended from the Arab League as a result of the peace treaty, and the Arab League headquarters was moved from Cairo to Tunis. A boycott by Arab countries was imposed on Egypt, and Libya, which had cut ties with Egypt in 1977, provoked border clashes. Sadat was assassinated on October 6, 1981, by Muslim fundamentalists at a parade in Cairo. He was succeeded by then Vice President Hosni Mubarak, who was reelected in 1987. Relations with the rest of the Arab world improved steadily, and Egypt was readmitted into the Arab League in 1989. Israel returned the final holding of the Sinai territory, the Taba Strip, to Egypt in 1989. Egypt’s most persistent problem has been its economy, as unrestrained population growth, particularly in Cairo, has increased to huge proportions. Because of Egypt’s anti-Iraq stance and its sending of troops in the Persian Gulf War (1991), the U.S. dismissed $7 billion in Egyptian debt, and is continuing to provide $2.5 billion annually in civilian and military aid.
Government
Egypt is governed under the constitution of 1971. Executive power is held by the president, who is elected every six years. The government must approve the formation of any political parties. Islamic groups are illegal, but the largest one, the Muslim Brotherhood (created in 1928), is tolerated by the government. President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak continues as chief of state. The head of government is Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. The next electons will be held in 2005.
