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Untitled Document
Egypt Profile
Geographic coordinates
27 00 N, 30 00 E
Egypt borders Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east. The northern coast borders the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Cyprus; the eastern coast borders the Red Sea. |
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Total area
The country measures about 1,002,000 square kilometers, of which only 55367 sq. km is populated (5.5 per cent of its total area).
Topography
Nile Valley and Delta
The Nile enters Egypt a few kilometers north of Wadi Halfa in Sudan. But with the High Dam's construction, the Nile actually begins its flow into Egypt as Lake Nasser, which extends south from the dam 320 kilometers to the border and an additional 158 kilometers into Sudan. The Nile reaches the Delta at Cairo.
At Cairo the Nile branches out east into Damietta (240 kilometers long), and west into Rosetta (235 kilometers long).
Eastern Desert
The topographic features of the region east of the Nile are very different from those of the Western Desert. The region's most prominent feature is the easterly chain of rugged mountains, the Red Sea Hills, which extend from the Nile Valley eastward to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea.
The Western Desert The Western Desert covers about 700,000 square kilometers and accounts for about two-thirds of Egypt's land area.
The government has considered the Western Desert a frontier region and has divided it into two governorates at about the twenty-eighth parallel: Matrouh to the north and the New Valley (Al Wadi al Jadid) to the south.
This triangular area covers about 61,100 square kilometers. Similar to the desert, the peninsula contains mountains in its southern sector that are a geological extension of the Red Sea Hills, the low range along the Red Sea coast that includes Mount Catherine, is at 2,642 meters the country's highest point. The Red Sea is named after these mountains, which are red.
The country has hot, dry summers with moderate winters.
Egypt has 26 governorates: Ad-Daqahliyah, Red Sea, Al-Buhayrah, Al-Fayyum, Al-Gharbiyah, Al-Iskandariyah, Al-Isma'iliyah, Giza, Al-Minufiyah, Al-Minya, Cairo, Al-Qalyubiyah, Al-Wadi al-Jadid, Suez, Ash Sharqiyah, Aswan, Asyut, Beni Sewif, Port Said, Damietta, South Sinai, Kafr ash-Sheikh, Matrouh, Qina, North Sinai, and Suhag and the City of Luxor.
Each governorate has about 217 cities and 4617 villages.
Egypt is a republic with a democratic parliamentary regime, where the rule of law and the independence of the Judiciary are observed. The main source of legislation is Islamic Sharia (Law).
President Mohammad Hosni Mubarak
Cairo (2000 sq km)
Egypt's population stands at 76,480,426 both internally and overseas. The country's internal population amounts to about 72,579,030 (2006 estimate).
Official language Arabic
Currency Egyptian pound = 100 piasters
National Day Revolution Day, 23 July (1952)
Independence Day February 28, 1922
Flag description
Dating back to 1958, Egypt's flag has three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black; the national emblem
(a gold Eagle of Saladin facing the hoist side with a shield superimposed on its chest above a scroll bearing the name of the country in Arabic) is centered in the white band.
The red band symbolizes hope; the white purity, the Eagle strength and the black the times of occupation and backwardness which the country has left behind.
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Egypt maps PDF attachments
Tourist attractions Cairo:Giza Pyramids; Khan al-Khalili; the Old District; the Pharaonic Village; Cairo Tower; the Egyptian Museum among others.
Egypt boasts numerous coastal attractions and religious and cultural sites.
Sports tourism is found in Sinai (diving and snorkeling); the Mediterranean and Red Seas (sailing and fishing).
Egypt also prides itself on the number of natural reserves it possesses: Ras Mohammad, Nabaq, Abu Gallum.
The country's most prominent cities include Alexandria, Noweiba', Arish, Safaga, Marsa 'Alam, Ras Sidr, Luxor, Aswan, the Oases, Dahab, Taba, Port Said, Siwa Oasis, Sahl-Hashish, Ein-Sokhna, Al-Isma'iliyah, and Assuit among others.
Famous Egyptian recipes Mosaqa'a: The basic ingredients are eggplants and tomatoes.
Koshari: The basic ingredients are black lentil, rice and macaroni
Other famous Egyptian recipes include molukheya, kishk, lentil soup, bissara, ful and flafel, and fish.
Official website www.sis.gov.eg
(Arabic, English and French)
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