In this post, I’ve shared some of the interesting facts about Egypt.
Egypt is located in the northeast corner of Africa, bordering Palestine, Israel, Sudan, and Libya.
Egypt has one of the oldest histories of any country, dating back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE throughout the Nile Delta. Ancient Egypt, regarded as the cradle of civilisation, witnessed some of the first advancements in writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organized religion, and central government.
Egypt was an early and major Christian centre, but Islam took over in the seventh century and is still a mostly Sunni Muslim country today.
Egypt declared itself a republic after the 1952 revolution, and in 1958 it merged with Syria to establish the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961.
16 Facts about Egypt
Here are 15 interesting facts about Egypt that I have chosen and thoroughly researched.
- Cairo is Egypt’s capital and largest city, while Alexandria, the country’s second-largest city, is a major industrial and tourism centre on the Mediterranean coast.
2. Egypt is the world’s 14th most populous country, with a population of roughly 102 million people in 2022, according to the worldometer report.
3. Egypt’s official religion is Islam, and its official language is Arabic.
4. Egypt is the most populated country in North Africa, the Middle East, and third in Africa, after Ethiopia and Nigeria.
5. The name “Egypt” comes from the Ancient Greek name for the county “Aígyptos”
6. Egypt is home to Africa’s tallest building, the Iconic Tower in Egypt’s new administrative capital. Although construction is still on, the skyscraper has already reached a height of 227 meters and will have 80 floors. The tower’s entire size surpasses 65,000 square meters.
7. In terms of military might, Egypt is the most powerful country in Africa. Egypt is ranked 12th out of 142 countries in the yearly annual global Fire power for 2022. It has a 0.1869 Power Index. (a score of 0.0000 is regarded as ‘perfect’).
8. Egypt’s national animal is the Eastern Imperial Eagle. The national bird of Egypt is a large, brownish bird with blackish flying feathers. This bird belongs to the family of Accipitridae.
9. Egypt is mostly located between 22° and 32° north latitude and 25° and 35° east longitude. Egypt’s climate is extremely dry, therefore populated areas are concentrated around the narrow Nile Valley and Delta.
10. Apart from the Nile Valley, Egypt’s land area is mostly. Winds create sand dunes that reach heights of more than 30 meters about “100 feet”. It is told that the Pharaohs’ Kingdom was protected from western invasions by these deserts, which were known as the “red land” in ancient Egypt.
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11. The Suez Canal is a man-made sea-level waterway in Egypt that connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Suez Isthmus and divides Africa and Asia. The canal is a trade route between Europe and Asia.
12. Ferdinand de Lesseps established the Suez Canal Company in 1858 with the sole objective of constructing the canal. The canal was constructed between 1859 and 1869. On November 17, 1869, the canal was officially opened.
13. Mount Catherine, also known locally as Gabal Katrîne, is Egypt’s highest mountain. It is located in the South Sinai Governorate, near the city of Saint Catherine.
14. Mount Sinai, also known as Jabal Musa, is a mountain in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. It could be the same location as the biblical Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, according to the Bible and the Quran.
15. The Great Pyramid of Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid and the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu of the Fourth Dynasty. Built during a 27-year period in the 26th century BC, it is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and the only one that has survived completely intact.
It borders present-day Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt. For more than 3,800 years, the Great Pyramid stood at 146.6 metres – 481 feet and was the highest man-made structure in the world.
16. Egypt’s record on media freedom and legal procedure is poor. The rights to free expression and association are severely repressed, according to Amnesty International’s report 2021. Authorities used unlawful summons, forced interrogation, extrajudicial probation measures, criminal investigations, unjust prosecutions, and placement on a “list of terrorists” to target human rights activists, opposition politicians, and other activists. Thousands of individuals have been arbitrarily detained, including human rights advocates, journalists, students, opposition lawmakers, business owners, and peaceful protestors. Individuals have been arrested, convicted, and sentenced to long prison sentences based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
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