15 Nations Global Tour: Egypt (Stop #7)

Profile manager: David Randall [send private message]

This sub-project is part of the larger 15 Nations Global Tour. Please visit the main project page for details on the goals and objectives of this project.

Geography

Egypt is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip of Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital and largest city of Egypt; Alexandria is the second-largest city.

Demographics

Egypt has a population of about 105 million people, making it the fourteenth largest nation in the world by population. Ethnic Egyptians are by far the largest ethnic group in the country, constituting 99.7% of the total population. Ethnic minorities include the Abazas, Turks, Greeks, Bedouin Arab tribes living in the eastern deserts and the Sinai Peninsula, the Berber-speaking Siwis (Amazigh) of the Siwa Oasis, and the Nubian communities clustered along the Nile. Some 5 million immigrants, mostly Sudanese, also live in Egypt.

The official language of Egypt is Literary Arabic. The primary spoken languages include Egyptian Arabic (68%), and Sa'idi Arabic (29%).

Egypt is a predominantly Sunni Muslim country with the largest Muslim population in the Arab world. Islam as its state religion. Egypt also has the largest Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa. An estimated 85–90% of Egyptians identify as Muslim, 10–15% as Coptic Christians.

History

Considered a cradle of civilization, Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Modern Egypt, however, dates back to 1922, when it the country gained independence from the British Empire. Initially a monarchy, Egypt declared itself a republic, following the 1952 revolution. In 1958, it merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which dissolved in 1961.

Egypt fought several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, and occupied the Gaza Strip intermittently until 1967. In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, officially withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and recognizing Israel. After the Arab Spring, which led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution and overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the country faced a protracted period of political unrest. Egypt's current government, a semi-presidential republic led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi since 2014, has been described by a number of watchdogs as authoritarian and responsible for perpetuating the country's poor human rights record.

Notable Egyptians

In the below list, columns can be sorted by clicking on the arrow button in any category heading box. A "C" in the final column denotes a Notable who has been successfully connected to the Big Tree. "N/C" stands for Not Connected.

Notable	Born	Died	Claim to Fame	Photo	C
Huda Sha'arawi	1879	1947	Feminist and Nationalist		C
Taha Hussein	1889	1973	Writer and Intellectual		N/C
Sayed Darvish	1892	1923	Father of Modern Arab Music		N/C
Hassan Fathy	1900	1989	Architect		C
Mohamed Naguib	1901	1984	1st President of Egypt		N/C
Farid Simaika	1907	1943	Olympic Diver		C
Doria Shafik	1908	1975	Feminist Poet and Editor		C
Gamal Abdel Nasser	1918	1970	2nd President of Egypt		N/C
Anwar El-Sadat	1918	1981	3rd President of Egypt		C
Boutros Boutros-Ghail	1922	2016	United Nations General Secretary		N/C
Youssef Chahine	1926	2008	Filmmaker		N/C
Hind Rostom	1929	2011	Film Actress		N/C
Ahmed Zewail	1946	2016	Nobel Chemist		N/C
Ahmed Zaki	1949	2015	Film Actor		N/C
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi	1954	LIVING	Current President of Egypt		N/C