Most Egyptians live in the Nile Valley and urban areas. The valley and delta cover less than 4 percent of the country’s total area, around 33,000 square kilometers. Greater Cairo is the largest population center, home to roughly a quarter of the population, followed by Alexandria. Most other residents live in the delta, along the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts, and in Suez Canal cities, occupying about 40,000 square kilometers. Uninhabited desert makes up most of the country. [6]
Egypt is known for one of the world’s oldest civilizations. People began migrating to and settling along the Nile, farming, and raising livestock around 10,000 years ago. [7] Society developed quickly, with simple industries and cohesive social structures. Peaceful neighboring principalities formed along the river and traded with one another, ahead of other parts of the world. Evidence includes the Badarian civilization around 7,000 years ago and the Naqada civilization from about 4400 to 3000 BCE. These communities gradually merged north and south, unifying Upper and Lower Egypt and establishing centralized rule at the beginning of the dynastic era around 3000 BCE. Egypt traded with its neighbors and was among the earliest trading states. The invention of writing had a major impact on life and rapid development; ancient Egyptians were enthusiastic writers and also advanced medicine, engineering, and arithmetic.
Egypt passed through many historical periods, including Persian rule and the arrival of Alexander the Great, followed by the Ptolemaic state. Roman conquest brought around 600 years of rule, during which Christianity spread in Egypt. The Islamic conquest later made Egypt an Islamic state. Successive dynasties included the Tulunids, Ikhshidids, Fatimids, Ayyubids, and Mamluks. Ottoman rule followed until the sultanate was declared in 1914. Egypt later became a kingdom and then a republic.
The article describes Egypt as home to a third of the world’s antiquities, including the Giza pyramids, the Sphinx, Karnak Temple, Deir El-Bahari, the Valley of the Kings, and ancient remains at Memphis, Thebes, and Karnak. Objects from this heritage are displayed in major museums around the world. The dedicated study of Egyptian antiquities is called Egyptology. Egypt also has Roman, Greek, Coptic, and Islamic monuments from different eras.
Arabic is the official language, and the constitution identifies Islam as the official religion [8] and the system of government as a democratic republic. [9] Egypt is a founding member of the Arab League, whose headquarters it hosts, and of the United Nations, which it joined in 1945. It also belongs to the African Union and many other international organizations and maintains diplomatic relations with most countries.