Egypt. . the land of the Pharaohs

To talk about Egypt is to talk about one of the greatest civilization of the past. The ancient Greeks saw Egypt as a source of all wisdom. Roman emperors traveled to Egypt to marvel at monuments such as the pyramids. Egyptian statues and obelisks were sent to decorate Rome. The worship of Egyptian gods and goddesses like Isis and Osiris spread through the Roman Empire as far as Britain.

Moreover, the monuments and tombs of the country's greatest rulers continue to stand intact, some 3,000 years later.

Fascination with Egypt began in the late 18th century and since then a huge number of ancient towns, temples and tombs have been excavated. No other country in the world has as many impressive ancient remains as Egypt does. In the Nile Valley the past seems very close. The people who lived there thousands of years ago left us a wonderful legacy of art, architecture and literature. There are a huge number of people come from every where to see and feel the Egyptian spirit of pharaohs in Egypt. So I will give you a brief description of Egypt from an Egyptian view. So close your eyes and try to smell the aroma of history of Egypt in Egypt nowadays.

Egypt is a country in Africa. The Egyptian name for Egypt is jumhuriyat misr al-arabiyah; misr is the Egyptian word for Egypt. The national capital is Cairo. The location of Egypt is in northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza strip.

Egyptian land is a total of 995450 sq. Km and 6,00 sq. Km. Egypt is almost more than three times the size of New Mexico. The coastline is 2,450 km. Climate: the climate is desert type, hot, dry summers with moderate winters. The temperatures during the summer range from 114 degrees during day light to a minimum of 42 degrees after sunset. During the winter season the temperature drops to 32 degrees. The most humid area is along the Mediterranean coast; the average rainfall is about 8 inches. Cairo receives on average only about 1.1inches of rain a year.

The terrain is a vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley and delta. Natural resources: Egypt has a lot of different mineral deposits such as gold, red granite petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates, manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, and zinc. Natural gas is also found in Egypt.

Natural hazards: Egypt has natural hazards such as periodic droughts, frequent earthquakes, flash floods, landslides, volcanic activity, bad windstorms called khamsin they usually occur in spring, dust storms, sandstorms.

Population: The population of Egypt is 66,050,004. The majority of Egyptians are eastern Hermitic stock (Egyptians, Bedouins, and Berbers) 99%, Greek, Nubian, Armenian, other European (primarily It is alien and French) 1%. Religions: Islam is the official religion, and about 90% of all Egyptians are Muslims, most of them are members of the Sunni sect. The Coptic Orthodox Church (similar to Christians) has no more than 3 million members. Copts has 7 million members.

1 million people belong to the Greek orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, and a lot of protestant churches. This country has a very small Jewish community.

Languages: the official language is Arabic. Berber is spoken in a few villages in the western parts. English and French is understood by educated classes. Education: primary and secondary schooling is free; the same is for public universities and technical schools. Ages 6 to 11 schooling is necessary. Age 15 and over can read and write.

Crime: Egypt is a transit point for southwest Asian and southeast Asian heroin and opium moving to Europe and the USA; popular transit stop for Nigerian couriers.

Economy: Egypt is mostly an agricultural country, with about 40 percent of the labor force employed in crop farming or herding. The results of Egyptian farmlands are just about the highest in the world. They grow rice, tomatoes, wheat, maize, sugarcane, potatoes, and oranges. The live stock populations in early 1990 are 3 million cattle, 3 million buffalo, 4.4 million sheep, 4.8 million goats, 1.6 million donkeys, and 44 million chickens. Egypt also has a big fishing industry. In the early 1990’s the annual catch was about 298,000 metric tons.

The most productive areas are the shallow deltaic lakes, Brat Arum, and the Red Sea. They catch a wide Varity of fish.

Government: Egypt is governed by a constitution declared on September11, 1971. The constitution provides for an Arab socialist state with Islam as the official religion. It also stresses social solidarity, equal opportunity, and popular control of production.

Finally, open your eyes and come to Egypt in order to feel what you see.