Article:Egypt

Egypt

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This article is about the modern country. For the ancient realm, see Ancient Egypt.For other uses, see Egypt (disambiguation).

Arab Republic of Egypt Ǧumhūriyyet Maṣr el-ʿArabiyyah
Flag Coat of arms Anthem:


"Bilady, Bilady, Bilady"
My country, my country, my country


Capital
(and largest city) Cairo
30°2′N 31°13′E Official ********(s) Arabic[a] Ethnic groups 99% Egyptians
0.9% Nubians
0.1% Greeks Demonym Egyptian Government Military junta - Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Mohamed Hussein Tantawi[b] - Prime Minister Essam Sharaf Establishment - Unified state[1][2] c. 3100 BC - Independence from the United Kingdom 28 February 1922 - Republican regime 18 June 1953 - Provisional Constitution[3] 30 March 2011 Area - Total 1,002,450 km2 (30th)
387,048 sq mi - Water (%) 0.632 Population - 2011 estimate 80,801,170[4] (16th) - 2006 census 76,699,427 (total)[5]
incl. 3,901,396 abroad - Density Real density:[c]
2,755.2/km2 (38th)
7,136/sq mi
Arithmetic density:
76.3/km2 (126th)
197.5/sq mi GDP (PPP) 2011 estimate - Total $508.265 billion[6] - Per capita $6,361[6] GDP (nominal) 2011 estimate - Total $231.111 billion[6] - Per capita $2,892[6] Gini (1999–00) 34.5 (medium) HDI (2010) 0.620[7] (medium) (101st) Currency Egyptian pound (EGP) Time zone EET (UTC+2 (No DST Since 2011)) Drives on the right ISO 3166 code EG Internet TLD .eg, مصر. Calling code +20 a.^ Literary Arabic is the sole official ********.[3] Egyptian Arabic is the national spoken ********. Other dialects and minority ********s are used regionally.
b.^ De facto interim head of state.[8][9]
c.^ Densities are based on 2006 population figures. The gap between arithmetic and real densities is due to the fact that 98% of Egyptians live on 3% of the territory.[10] Egypt i/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by 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 people[4] 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 land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
Monuments in Egypt such as the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx were constructed by its ancient civilization. Its ancient ruins, such as those of Memphis, Thebes, and Karnak and the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor, are a significant focus of archaeological study. The tourism industry and the Red Sea Riviera employ about 12% of Egypt's workforce.
The economy of Egypt is one of the most diversified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and service at almost equal production levels.
In early 2011, Egypt underwent a revolution, which resulted in the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak after nearly 30 years in power.
Contents

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• 1 Names
• 2 History
  • 2.1 Pre-historic Egypt
  • 2.2 Ancient Egypt
  • 2.3 Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt
  • 2.4 Arab and Ottoman Egypt
  • 2.5 Muhammad Ali dynasty
  • 2.6 Modern Egypt
    • 2.6.1 Kingdom
    • 2.6.2 Republic
    • 2.6.3 2011 revolution
    • 2.6.4 The flag
• 3 Geography
  • 3.1 Climate
• 4 Politics
  • 4.1 Foreign relations
  • 4.2 Military
  • 4.3 Administrative divisions
  • 4.4 Human rights
• 5 Economy
• 6 Demographics
  • 6.1 ********s
  • 6.2 Religion
    • 6.2.1 Islam
    • 6.2.2 Christianity
    • 6.2.3 Religious minorities
• 7 Culture
  • 7.1 Identity
  • 7.2 Art and architecture
  • 7.3 Media
  • 7.4 Literature
  • 7.5 Music
  • 7.6 Festivals
  • 7.7 Sports
• 8 See also
• 9 Notes
• 10 References
• 11 External links

Names

The English name Egypt was borrowed from Middle French Egypte, from Latin Aegyptus, from ancient Greek Aígyptos (Αἴγυπτος), from earlier Linear B 𐁁𐀓𐀠𐀴𐀍 a-ku-pi-ti-yo. The adjective aigýpti-, aigýptios was borrowed into Coptic as ⲅⲩⲡϯⲓⲟⲥ/ⲕⲩⲡϯⲓⲟⲥ gyptios, kyptios, and from there into Arabic as قبطي qubṭī, back formed into قبة qubṭ, whence English Copt. The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hwt-ka-Ptah (ḥwt-kꜣ-ptḥ), meaning "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis.[11] Strabo attributed the word to a folk etymology in which Aígyptos (Αἴγυπτος) evolved as a compound from Aigaiou huptiōs (Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως), meaning "below the Aegean".
Miṣr, the Arabic and modern official name of Egypt (Egyptian Arabic: Maṣr), is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם‎ (Mitzráyim), literally meaning "the two straits" (a reference to the dynastic separation of upper and lower Egypt).[12] The word originally connoted "metropolis" or "civilization" and means "country", or "frontier-land".
The ancient Egyptian name of the country is Kemet (km.t) [𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖], which means "black land", referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile flood plains, distinct from the deshret (dšṛt), or "red land" of the desert.[13] The name is realized as kēme and kēmə in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian ********, and appeared in early Greek as Χημία (Khēmía).[14] Another name was tꜣ-mry "land of the riverbank".[15] The names of Upper and Lower Egypt were Ta-Sheme'aw (tꜣ-šmꜥw) "sedgeland" and Ta-Mehew (tꜣ mḥw) "northland", respectively.
History

Egypt