BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Country Name: The Arab Republic
of Egypt
Area:
997,739 Sq. Km
Population: 70.5 million
(2004)
Capital City: Cairo
(population - 16.7million)
People: Eastern Hamitic
(Egyptians, Bedouins, and Berbers) (99%);
Greek, Nubian, Armenian, other European
(primarily Italian and French) (1%)
Languages: Arabic (official),
English and French widely understood
Religion(s): Muslim
(mostly Sunni) (94%), Coptic Christian,
Bahá'í and other (6%)
Currency: 1 Egyptian
Pound = 100 piasters
Major political parties: National Democratic
Party (ruling party), Wafd Party, Al
Tagammu and Nasserist Arab Democratic
Party
Government: Republic
Head of State: President
Mohammed Hosni MUBARAK (since October
1981)
Prime Minister/Premier:
Dr Ahmed Nazif (since July 2004)
Foreign Minister: Mr
Ahmed Aboul Gheit (since July 2004) |
|
GEOGRAPHY
Egypt
is the centre of the Arab world, geographically,
culturally and intellectually. It sits on
the Mediterranean coast of North Africa,
with Libya to the west, Sudan to the south
and Israel and the Red Sea to the East.
Egypt forms the only land bridge between
Africa and the remainder of the Eastern
Hemisphere and controls the Suez Canal,
the shortest sea link between the Indian
Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The climate
is mainly dry but along the Mediterranean
coast there are winter rains. Temperatures
are comfortable in the winter but summer
temperatures are very high. Gebel Katarina
at 2642m is Egypt's highest point.
HISTORY
The
Nile Valley has hosted imperial powers since
the Pharaonic era (beginning in the fourth
millennium BC). Then came the Persians,
the Alexandrian Greeks, the Romans and Byzantines.
By 641AD the Muslim Arabs had conquered
the whole country. Following the Abbasid
caliphate, the Fatimids invaded in 969.
It was the Fatimids who founded the city
of Cairo (Al-Qahira – the Conqueror)
and established Al-Azhar University. Subsequent
rule by Salah Al-Din (Saladin) and the Mamluk
sultans was ended by Ottoman occupation
in 1517.
Napoleon
invaded Egypt in 1798, and this effectively
concluded Ottoman rule, even though the
French were expelled by an Anglo-Ottoman
alliance in 1801. In the ensuing power struggle,
the Albanian Muhammad Ali triumphed. His
dynasty oversaw westernisation of Egypt,
the building of the Suez Canal, and colonisation
of northern Sudan. In 1882, a British force
occupied Cairo, and the British Consul-General
became the effective ruler.
In
December 1914 Egypt was declared a British
protectorate with Hussein Kamil proclaimed
the Sultan of Egypt. Led by Saad Zaghlul
Pasha, there was a resurgence of Egyptian
nationalism after World War I. In February
1922 Egypt was recognised as an independent
sovereign state. An Anglo-Egyptian treaty
of alliance was signed in 1936. It recognised
Egypt's full independence and introduced
a phased withdrawal of British forces. Despite
this, and the installation of an Egyptian
royal family descending from the sultans,
the British military presence and influence
remained, the final British troops leaving
the Suez Canal zone in 1956.
Nationalism
and defeat in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war
discredited the monarchy, and on 23 July
1952 the Free Officers seized power in a
coup d'etat. The King abdicated. The following
year, General Muhammad Neguib was proclaimed
President of the new republic.
In
1954, Neguib was replaced as president by
Gamal Abd Al-Nasser. A popular vote affirmed
this in 1956. Under his presidency, Egypt
recognised Sudanese independence; Israel,
Britain and France launched a tripartite
attack (the Suez War); Egypt and Syria enjoyed
a short-lived union, the United Arab Republic
(1958-61); and following the June 1967 War,
the Sinai Peninsula was occupied by Israel.
Yet Nasser was the object of popular adulation
across the entire Arab world, and his death
in 1970 sent shockwaves far beyond Egypt's
borders.
Nasser's
successor, Anwar Al-Sadat presided over
the expulsion of Soviet military advisers
(1972); the October 1973 War, which represented
a partial triumph for Egypt; improved relations
with the USA; economic infitah (opening
up); and peace with Israel following US-brokered
talks at Camp David. The latter prompted
Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League and
complicated Sadat's already ambivalent relations
with domestic opponents: on 6 October 1981,
militant Islamists assassinated him at a
military parade.
Following
the assassination of Sadat, Vice-President
Hosni Mubarak was appointed president, a
post he occupies to this day. Mubarak oversaw
the return of Egypt to the Arab League in
1991, following over a decade of isolation.
During this time, Egypt had joined the international
coalition, which drove Iraqi occupation
forces out of Kuwait, and since then, Mubarak's
Egypt has played a pivotal role in the Middle
East Peace Process.
For
more information please visit
http://www.fco.gov.uk/
or
visit
http://www.tripadvisor.com
