Egypt the Country and Its People

Egypt Pyramids Photo taken by Greg Barber, Travelwizard.com

Egypt has fascinated explorers, historians and geographers for centuries. Its location in the upper right hand corner of the African continent gives it a unique character at the crossroads of numerous civilizations. Over 90% of the country is a convergence of deserts, the Sahara and Nubian Deserts to the south and the Arabian Desert to the east. Life is found overwhelmingly along the Nile River Valley, the Delta in the North and the Red and Mediterranean sea coasts. There are also sporadic oases on the right and left sides of the Nile where life is sustainable and flourishes far from the modern cities.

Egypt Donkey Rider photo take by Paul Andrews, Travelwizard.com

Home to one of the greatest ancient civilizations, Egypt is a historian's fantasy. There are remnants of each successive empire in today's cities and rural areas. It is most evident while walking along the streets of an Egyptian city. Modern buildings share space with medieval mosques or Byzantine-era churches. It is also noticeable in the character of the people who inhabit the land. Egyptians are a mix of the different eras that the country been through. To define the ethnic character of an Egyptian, one must take into consideration that Romans, Greeks, Turks, Circassians (Mamluks) and even French and English have intermarried with the Egyptians, adding further to the cosmopolitan melting pot. In addition to this mixture of peoples, the Nubian people inhabit Upper Egypt. The area in which the Nuba people occupy overlaps with the Sudan and they use their own language. In the western desert oasis, the cultural makeup is mostly Bedouin and is quite separate from the Nile Valley cultures. Religiously, Egypt is approximately 90% Muslim and 10% Coptic Christian.

Egypt Temple Tour photo taken by Linda Barber, Travelwizard.com

Egypt's recorded history dates back nearly 4,000 years to its pre-dynastic era. The proceeding dynasties grew more and more sophisticated and many of the remains which we find today are traced to the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms (2686-322 BC). The last rulers of Egypt before Byzantium took over were the Ptolemys, the descendants of Alexander the Great. From 332-30 BC, the Egyptian city of Alexandria flourished as the capital of the Hellenistic world and Queen Cleopatra VII was the last of the Ptolemaic rulers who reigned under the protection of Caesar with whom she had a son. When Caesar died, Mark Antony came to Egypt, fell in love with the Egyptian Queen and from there the famed story of love and defeat developed. Cleopatra committed suicide when she heard of Mark Antony's defeat. The Romans then invaded Egypt and began their rule.

Egypt came under Roman rule and then Byzantine rule with the advent of Christianity. This period lasted from approximately 30 AD- 638 AD. Muslim invaders from Arabia began their rule in Egypt about 640 AD and Egypt became part of an Islamic empire which extended throughout North Africa, into Spain and as far east as India. From then on, Egypt's mostly Christian population converted to Islam and today about 10% of the Christian population has remained. Through different empires, Islamic rule prevailed until 1798 when Napoleon and his French troops entered Egypt, thereby first opening the country to Western ideas, culture and rule. Napoleon stayed for only about five years, but this period was pivotal to Egypt's future. Mohammed Ali Pasha, an Ottoman of Albanina decent pushed Napoleon out in 1802 and presided as an absolute ruler. His period of rule was marked by his insistence to build up Egypt's infrastructure. Mohammed Ali is revered today among Egyptians.

Egypt Sphynx photo taken by Linda Barber, Travelwizard.com

The British invasion and occupation of Egypt began in 1882 and did not cease until independence in 1952. Throughout this period, Nationalist movements stirred in the country along with uprisings-many put down by the British but each contributed to the rise in resistance to the occupiers. In 1952, though the British had already symbolically left since 1922, they still held on to the Suez Canal and other important areas of the country. That year, Gamal Abdel Nasser, a young Egyptian soldier with fiery nationalism led a revolution to eradicate the country of the King who was basically a puppet of the British. This group of soldiers, led by Nasser established the Arab Republic of Egypt-and they became the first Egyptian rulers of Egypt since the Pharaohs. Egypt officially became a republic in 1956 under Nasser's socialist government. In the successive years, Nasser began an intense nationalization of land and property and a mission to unite the Arab world as a solid power bloc. The Six Day War in 1967 marked the end of Nasser's Pan-Arab dream. Israel's triumph over the rest of the Arab world proved to be a severe blow to the Arab psyche and damaged whatever cohesiveness Nasser sought to create. In 1970, Nasser died, leaving a country to mourn and the entire Arab world to regret his ultimate demise. Anwar al-Sadat, one of the leaders with Nasser in the revolution took over power and sought a presidency which was diametrically opposed to Nasser's missions and goals. He took a very pro-western approach and opened the country to the capitalist world. His most controversial action was to make peace with Israel in 1977. This act led to his ultimate assassination in 1980 by Islamic fundamentalists.

Today, the President of Egypt is Hosni Mubarak, who also has his roots in the revolutionary movement of the 1950's. He has been in power since 1981 and maintains very close ties to the United States. Egypt is currently the most populous country in the Middle East with 60 million people and about 14 million people inhabiting Cairo, its busy capital. Cairo enjoys many advantages that its Arab counterparts do not, such as a modern subway system and a ring road highway in progress. Egypt is faced with many of the problems that most developing countries encounter today such as overpopulation and pollution but it remains rich in culture and proud in heritage.