What is Egypt?
A: Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of 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 what to the north?
A: Mediterranean Sea.
It’s bordered to the northeast by what?
A: The Gaza Strip of Palestine and
Israel.
What borders it to the east?
A: The Red Sea.
Who borders it to the south?
A: Sudan.
Who borders it to the west?
A: Libya.
The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from
what?
A: Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
What is the capital and largest city of Egypt?
A: Cairo.
Alexandria, the second-largest city, is what?
A: An important industrial and tourist hub at the Mediterranean coast.
How many inhabitants are there in Egypt?
A: Approximately 100 million and is the 14th-most populated country in the
world.
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country,
tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to when?
A: The 6th–4th millennia BCE.
Considered a cradle of civilization, Ancient Egypt saw
some of the earliest developments of what?
A: Writing, agriculture, urbanization, organized
religion, and central
government.
Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its
Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley
of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain what?
A: A significant focus of scientific and popular interest.
Egypt's long and rich cultural heritage is an integral
part of its national identity, which reflects its unique transcontinental
location being simultaneously what?
A: Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African.
Egypt was an early and important center of what?
A: Christianity.
It was largely Islamized in the seventh century and
remains a what?
A: A predominantly Sunni Muslim country, albeit with a significant Christian
minority, along with other lesser practiced faiths.
Modern Egypt dates back to 1922, when it what?
A: Gained independence from the British Empire as a monarchy.
Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt declared itself a
what?
A: A republic.
In 1958 it merged with whom to form the United Arab
Republic?
A: Syria.
When was the United Arab Republic dissolved?
A: In 1961.
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Egypt
endured what?
A: Social and religious strife and political instability.
It fought several armed conflicts with Israel in what
years?
A: 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, and occupying the Gaza Strip intermittently
until 1967.
In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords,
officially doing what?
A: Withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and recognizing Israel.
What is Egypt's current government?
A: A semi-presidential republic led by Abdel Fattah el-Sis.
How has it been described by a number of watchdogs?
A: As authoritarian or heading an authoritarian regime, responsible for
perpetuating the country's poor human rights record.
What is the official religion of Egypt?
A: Islam.
What is its official language?
A: Arabic.
The great majority of its people live near what?
A: The banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometers
(15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found.
