Egypt (country)

Egypt ( Arabic : مصر, Misr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt (جمهورية مصر العربية, Jumhūrīyat Misr al-`Arabīyah; listen ) is a state in northeastern Africa . The country also includes the peninsula of Sinai, geographically in Asia is counted. Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east,Sudan to the south and Libya to the west. The country also has a border with the Gaza Strip .

Egypt has an area of ​​1,001,450 square kilometers and more than 85 million inhabitants. Of the population lives largely in the fertile area of the Nile, which is also called the "lifeline of Egypt." Although the Nile Valley and -delta only comprise about 5.5 percent of the total area, lived here almost the entire population and there are large cities such as Cairo, the capital and largest city, Alexandria . Large parts of the rest of the country are covered by deserts like the Sahara .

The history of Egypt is almost as long as the human race itself; the Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations in the world and in contemporary Egypt still visible in the form of some famous works, such as the Sphinx and the pyramids of Giza and the archaeological sites around Luxor .

Egypt is a semipresidentiële republic and occupied in 2009, the 123rd place in the Human Development Index of the United Nations . Internationally, a member of Egypt including the UN, the WTO and the Arab League, whose head office is located in Cairo.

Content

 * 1 Etymology
 * 2 History
 * 3 Geography
 * 3.1 Cities
 * 4 Population
 * 4.1 Composition
 * 4.2 Language
 * 4.3 Religion
 * 5 Politics
 * 5.1 Polity
 * 5.2 Political developments
 * 5.3 Administrative divisions
 * 5.4 Defence
 * 5.5 Human rights and corruption
 * 6 Culture
 * 6.1 Identity
 * 6.2 Media
 * 6.3 Music
 * 7 Economy
 * 8 See also

[Etymology edit ]
The name Egypt originated in Ancient Greece . There are two theories about the origin of the name is known: The Arabic name for Egypt's Misr. This name is of Semitic origin. The name is very similar to the original Assyrian Misir / Muṣur, but also with the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim)related. It means country or state. Here was originally Upper Egypt meant it, but it eventually became the name of the country. In the Egyptian dialect but it does not sayMisr Maṣr.
 * In the course of time became the name of an important shrine in Memphis, "HWT-ka-Ptah," applied to the whole area. HWT-ka-Ptah means "House of the Spirit ofPtah "and was in the Greek translated "Αι γυ πτος 'or' Aeguptos', the name given (in corrupted form) still applies.
 * A second possible explanation of the name also comes from the Greek ( Strabo ): Greek Aἰγαίου ὑπτίóς ("Aegaeou uptios") means "below the Aegean".

History [ edit ]
The pyramids of Giza, built during the period of the Old Kingdom (third millennium BC)

The annual flooding of the Nile led to fertile land where farming was possible and one of the world's ancient civilizations could flourish. The first unified kingdom was founded around 3200 BC. by King Menes . Different dynasties ruled Egypt for the next three millennia. The last 'Egyptian' dynasty, the thirtieth dynasty, was in 341 BC. by the Persian Achaemenid reports. Later, Egypt was ruled by several foreign (Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Turkish) dynasties.

It was the Muslim Arabs in the seventh century, Islam and the Arabic introduced in the country. The country was initially under theArab Empire ruled by the Caliph, but was first more or less independently and later ruled by the Fatimids , who founded a counter-caliphate. After the Crusades, in which the Christian knights never really got a foothold in Egypt, it was the Turkish slave class ofMamluks who founded a dynasty in Egypt. In 1517, the conquered Ottoman Empire Egypt and from then ruled the Mamluks in the name of the Ottomans.

The British, led by Horatio Nelson, defeat the French at the Battle of the Nile (1798)

In 1798 the country was for a period of nine months occupied by French expeditionary forces under General Napoleon Bonaparte .After the British under Admiral Horatio Nelson instituted a coastal blockade, Napoleon fled the country leaving behind his army.

In the nineteenth century, Egypt became an important country for European colonialists. In particular, the construction (financed by British and French capital) of the Suez Canal made ​​it strategically important country. The British were very generous with lending and soon Egypt was so deep in debt that it completely dependent on the British. In 1882, the British took over Egypt, [source?] but the Khedive (viceroy) officially swore his allegiance to the Ottoman sultan .

In the First World War, Egypt was a British protectorate . In 1922 the country was partially independent from the United Kingdom and experimented in the name of democracy, but behind the scenes the British kept the country firmly in their grip.

British soldiers during the Second Battle of El Alamein (1942)

During the Second World War, the British were assisted by ANZAC -troepen in maintaining the strategically located country.Simultaneously from Egypt were the offensives against the Axis powers launched, first in 1941 in Abyssinia and Libya (against theItalians ) and Crete (to the Germans ), in 1942 at the Africa Corps of Erwin Rommel that when located in the west El Alamein in 1944 and was beaten back towards Greece and Yugoslavia . Throughout the World War I left there convoys to and from Gibraltar to Malta supply. The Suez Canal served as atransit of troops to and from British India , Australia and New Zealand and to the troops against the Japanese fought.

In 1952 was a coup perpetrated by King Farouk was overthrown and General Muhammad Naguib as president was appointed. In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the revolution, President. His politics of Nasserism, a combination of Arab nationalism and socialism , was particularly popular in the country and further Arab region. By Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal, the fury of the United Kingdom and France was aroused. These countries formed with Israel a conspiracy leading to the Suez Crisisof 1956.

Between 1958 and 1961 Egypt and formed Syria a union, the United Arab Republic (VAR) and a confederation with North Yemen under the name United Arab States (VAS).Both the VAR as the VAS was set for end 1961 on the issue of leadership.

In the Six-Day War (June 1967) was the Sinai by Israel occupied, but it was even worse that the cooperating armies of Syria, Jordan and Egypt so quickly defeated by the Israelis; President Nasser acted accordingly. During the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 Egypt and Syria retaliated, but also failed. In 1978, between Egypt and Israel, theCamp David Accords signed, which led to better relations.

In January 1977 the so-called Bread riots broke out when the government decided to abolish the existing subsidies for twenty years on a number of basic needs, the advice of various financial aid workers like the rich Arab countries, the IMF and the World Bank. Include in Cairo, Alexandria and Aswan, thousands of people onto the streets and came to vandalism, arson and clashes with the police involving 70 deaths and 800 injured. President Sadat hastily withdrew the decision to abolish the subsidies. Strikes and demonstrations were banned and especially leftist activists / journalists and intellectuals were arrested en masse [source?] .After President Anwar Sadat in 1981 by Islamic extremists was assassinated, he was succeeded by his former vice president, Hosni Mubarak . This led almost thirty years the country virtually as dictator. After the successful Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia against the authoritarian regime, vomiting in January 2011 in several Egyptian cities riots out; The Egyptian Revolution was inaugurated. After eighteen days of protest Mubarak resigned and he wore his power to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces . A turbulent period followed by street protests and political upheavals. This resulted in presidential elections in May and June 2012, which were won by Mohamed Morsi of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood . Later in the year the population of Egypt was, however, another revolt, this time because Morsi too much power to itself would have been pulled. Millions of people took to the streets and the demonstrations were larger than those against Mubarak. [5] On July 3, 2013 a military coup was perpetrated which Morsi was removed from office and an interim government was formed. Demonstrations for Morsi were beaten by the new government bloody apart. Then won the secular Abdel Fattah el-Sisi the presidential election in 2014 .

[Geography edit ]
The Nile at Aswan

With an area of ​​1.002 million square kilometers Egypt is the thirtieth country in the world to surface. It is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea, in the east of theGaza Strip , Israel and the Red Sea , to the south of Sudan and on the west by Libya . In the east of Egypt is the Sinai Peninsula that belongs to the Asian continent. This peninsula is through the Isthmus of Suez connected to the rest of the country.

The main inhabited part of Egypt is formed by the densely populated shores and delta of the River Nile . Large parts of the country belong to the Sahara and the Libyan Desertand are sparsely populated, but take 96 percent of the Egyptian land confiscated. Although the landscape consists mainly of vast desert, there are a few oases to find. TheAncient Egypt is sometimes divided into Upper Egypt (the southern part) and Lower Egypt (northern part).

[Cities edit ]
The capital Cairo is 7.95 million inhabitants in the city and about 15 million in the metropolitan area, the largest city in the country and even the continent Africa . Other major cities are the exception Cairo's suburbs, Alexandria (3.3391 million inhabitants), Port Said (472 300), Ismailia (471 010), Luxor (430,000), Suez (417 500), El-Mahalla El-Kubra (395 400), Tanta ( 371,000), Al-Mansurah (370,000) and Assiut (343 500). Significant resorts and tourist resorts are Hurghada , Sharm el-Sheikh , Dahab , Taba Heights and Marsa Alam .

[Composition edit ]
The population density in Egypt, concentrated around the Nile

Egypt has a population of 85,294,388  (2013)  and is the most populous country in the Arab world; the population density is 85.1 / km²  (2013),  but the population is highly concentrated in the Nile Valley; approximately 43 percent of the population lives in cities (2008) [6] . Egypt has grown rapidly: in the time of Napoleon the country had probably only 3 million inhabitants and in 1900 there were an estimated ten million Egyptians [7] . Especially thanks to medical and agricultural advances that number grew in the second half of the twentieth century strong. Over the period 1980-2001 the country experienced an average population growth of 2.2 percent. Of the total population is 33 percent in the age group 0-14 years, 63 percent between 15-64 and 4 percent 65 years and older [6] .

The population is 90% of Eastern Hamitic origin, but in the course of time, socially, culturally and politically completely Arabized . Other groups are the Berbers (in Siwa ), theNubians (in the south) and the Copts (Upper Egypt). The country had in 2002 about 78,000 refugees, including 50,000 Palestinians and about 20,000 refugees from Sudan .

Language [ edit ]
The Arabic is the official language in Egypt. The most spoken language is Egyptian Arabic . English and French are common as commercial samples. Furthermore, there are small minorities that other varieties of Arabic speaking, Nubian languages ​​and Berber languages ​​.

[Religion edit ]
The Islam is the Egyptian state religion and is practiced by 90 percent of the population. The Sunnism is the most adhered flow. The largest Christian movement is the Coptic Orthodox Church, which is espoused by 9 percent of the population; other Christian churches, including the Coptic Catholic Church , have a following of one percent [6] . The country has since its inception in 1969, a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The Armenian Orthodox Church (also called "Gregorian"), and the Armenian Catholic Church play a role in Egypt.

[Politics edit ]
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, president from June 8, 2014

[Polity edit ]
Egypt since June 1953 a republic . The legislative power is shared by the Government and the People's Assembly. The People's Assembly, with 454 members, of whom 10 are appointed by the president, the lower house of the Egyptian parliament ; the House of Lords, where 70 of the 210 members are appointed by the president, is formed by the Shura Council, which has a primarily advisory function. The main position is occupied by the President of Egypt, who acts as head of state , as executive and as commander in chief of the armed forces. The country has universal suffrage since 1956. Members of the Assembly are elected for a term of five years, the Shura Council elections knows every three years with successive halves of the board is elected for six years. The Constitution of Egypt is described as a democratic state and as part of the Arab world . TheIslam is the state religion .

Political developments [ edit ]
Although Egypt is nominally a democratic republic, the country has since 1955 autocratically ruled successively by the leaders / presidents Nasser , Sadat and since 1981Mubarak . Since 1978 here was the National Democratic Party (NDP), the "power machine" of the president, always a force majeure in parliament. The President was in his job responsibilities include the implementation of various posts in the government and parliament. Moreover, gold from the assassination of President Sadat in 1981 to 2012, thestate of emergency, which meant among other things that President Mubarak could take at its discretion ordinances. Despite Egypt since 1979 could count on support fromthe West, the country often acted as a buffer and mediator between the Western and Arab world.

On September 7, 2005 for the first presidential elections were held where several - approved by President Mubarak - candidates were allowed to participate. A total of ten candidates participate. Winner incumbent President Mubarak was 88 percent of the vote. Other major candidates were Ayman Nour and Noman Gomaa . Several parties, including leftist opposition groups and the Muslim Brotherhood, boycotted the elections. Nour ended after the elections in jail and there were reports of widespread fraud. In 2007, implemented several dozen constitutional amendments, which were banned under more parties on religious grounds and the power of the president was further strengthened.

After the parliamentary elections in 2010, 81 percent of all seats in the People's Assembly in the hands of the NDP. As of late 2010 there was growing unrest in the Arab world. Once before in Tunisia President Ben Ali was driven, also went into Egypt thousands of people onto the streets. After 18 days of massive popular protest Mubarak stepped on February 11, 2011 as president and he wore over his duties to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, whose chairman Mohamed Hussein Tantawi from then filled the acting president's office. On 3 March 2011, Essam Sharaf, the Egyptian prime minister.

The ongoing revolutions in Egyptian politics resulted eventually in that in presidential elections in May and June 2012 were held. The candidate of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood , Mohamed Morsi, was the winner.He was sworn in on 30 June as president of Egypt. He had already compete directly against the power of the army leadership, which the power of the president on election through a constitutional amendment had tried to limit. In August 2012, however, these changes Morsi turned back and he replaced the army leadership. On July 3, 2013 Morsi was overthrown by the military after millions had gone on the streets to demand the resignation of him, the demonstrations were larger than those against Mubarak. [5] His successor was the head of the Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour . Then army chief drew Abdel Fattah el-Sisi power to him.He also took part in the presidential elections in 2014 with the sole opponent Hamdeen Sabahi .

Administrative divisions [ edit ]
Egypt is divided into 27 provinces, with at its head a governor.

Defense [ edit ]
American and Egyptian aircraft flying over the Pyramids (1983)

In 2009, the budget amounting to $ 4.1 billion earmarked for defense; In addition, the Army continues to receive military aid from the United States worth $ 1.3 billion annually.This support was provided after the peace agreement with Israel since 1979.

In 2010, the Army had 450,000 soldiers and 254,000 reservists. There are approximately 400,000 paramilitaries, whose central security service is the largest with 325,000 employees. The National Guard and various border troops are also included here. The Army has 320,000 active troops, the air force 30,000, 80,000, and finally air defense naval 20,000 [8] .

The army has dated material from the former Soviet Union, but many modern American equipment purchased in the last decades. The Army possessed in 2010 on 880 M1 Abrams tanks, but also has access to 1,050 tanks of type T-55 and T-60 . In the Air Force the same image, where the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon flies alongside the obsolete MiG-21 [8] . Netherlands has 1041 obsolete armored vehicles of the type YPR-765 delivered to Egypt [9] .

The army not only has great influence on the arms industry, but is also active in civil cases. The army has interests in sectors such as water, construction, hotels and in the fuel supply. The Ministry of Defence has sweeping powers to block civil commercial activities with reference to the state [10] .

[Human rights and corruption edit ]
The human rights situation in Egypt is precarious. It is true that the state security courts in 2003 where persons in summary proceedings without sufficient evidence were convicted and forced labor abolished, but still right spoken by special military tribunals and emergency.

Corruption is a major problem in Egypt. According to Transparency International, in 2013 Egypt had a score of 32, good for 114th position in the global rankings of 183 countries in total. Neighboring Libya was corrupt with a score of 15 (172nd place); Another neighbor Israel scored higher with a 61 (36th place) [11]

Culture [ edit ]
The bust of Nefertiti in the Neues Museum in Berlin

Egyptian culture has six thousand years of recorded history. The Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations and for millennia, Egypt had a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and other African countries affected. After the time of the pharaohs of Egypt itself came under the influence of Hellenism, Christianity, and Islamic culture. Today there many aspects of ancient culture of Egypt still interact with newer elements, including the influence of modern Western culture which itself has its roots in ancient Egypt.

The Egyptian capital Cairo is the largest city in Africa and is known for centuries as a center of education, culture and commerce. Egypt has the highest number of Nobel Laureates in Africa and the Arab world. Some politicians were born in Egypt or are at the helm of major international organizations like Boutros Boutros-Ghali of the United Nations and Mohamed ElBaradei of the IAEA .

Egypt is a recognized cultural trend-setter of the Arabic-speaking world, and contemporary Arab culture is heavily influenced by Egyptian literature, music, film and television.Egypt was a regional leadership role during the 1950s and 1960s, which gave a further boost to the sustainable position of Egyptian culture in the Arab world. [12]

[Identity edit ]
The Nile Valley was home to one of the oldest cultures in the world spread over three thousand years of continuous history. A series of foreign invaders in 343 BC, has left an indelible mark on the country and the cultural landscape. Egyptian identity evolved in the span of this long period of occupation to accommodate two new religions, Islam and Christianity, and a new language, Arabic, and spoken of this lineage, the Egyptian Arabic . [13]

After two thousand years of occupation three ideologies competed for the attention of newly independent Egyptians: ethno-territorial Egyptian nationalism, secular Arab nationalism / Pan-Arabism and Islamism . Egyptian nationalism predates many decades for its Arab counterpart with roots in the 19th century and is the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian anti-colonial activists and intellectuals until the early 20th century. [14] The Arab nationalism peaked under Nasser but disappeared under Sadat, meanwhile the ideology of Islamism are espoused by Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which is especially present in small segments of the lower-middle strata of Egyptian society. [15]

The work at the beginning of the 19th century scholar of Rifa'a et-Tahtawi led to the Egyptian Renaissance . It marked the transition from Medieval to Early Modern Egypt. His work renewed interest in Egyptian antiquity and exposed Egyptian society to put the principles of the Enlightenment . Tahtawi was with education reformer Ali Mubarak a co-founder of a school in Egyptology who looked for inspiration to medieval Egyptian scholars, such as Suyuti and Maqrlzl that the history , language and antiquities of Egypt studied. [16]

Egypt's renaissance peaked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the work of people like Muhammad Abduh , Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed , Muhammad Loutfi Goumah , Tawfiq el-Hakim , Louis Awad , Qasim Amin , Salama Moussa , Taha Hussein and Mahmoud Mokhtar . They forged a liberal path for Egypt expressed as a commitment to personal freedom, secularism and faith in science to bring progress. [17]

Media [ edit ]
Egyptian media are highly influential throughout the Arab world, which is attributed to large audiences and increasing freedom of the press. Press Freedom of the media is guaranteed in the constitution, however, many other laws still restrict this right. After the Egyptian presidential election of 2005 was Ahmed Selim declared by the Ministry of information that an era of a "free, transparent and independent Egyptian media."had come.

Today, the Egyptian media is experiencing a lot of freedom. Several Egyptian Talk shows and even state television programs such as El-Beit beitak criticize the Government, which was previously banned.

[Music edit ]
Egyptian music is a rich mixture of indigenous, Mediterranean, African and Western elements. In antiquity, Egyptians were playing harps and flutes, including two indigenous instruments: the ney and ud . Percussionand vocal music also became an important part of the local music tradition ever since. From the 1970s, the Egyptian pop music has become increasingly important in Egyptian culture, while Egyptian folk music continues to be played during weddings and other festivities. Umm Kulthum (1904? -1975) is still one of the most famous and beloved singers in the Arab world. Some of the most prominent contemporary Egyptian pop singers are Amr Diab and Mohamed Mounir .

Economy [ edit ]
Tourism, as here in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, is an important part of the Egyptian economy

The Egyptian economy is one of the most diversified in the Middle East. In 2009, Egypt had a GDP of $ 216.8 billion at the official exchange rate. On purchasing power basisit's $ 500.9 billion, is $ 6,200 per capita [18] . GDP grew by 7.2 percent in 2008, 4.6 percent in 2009 and 5.3 percent in 2010 [18] . This was an acceleration compared to the 4.5 percent average growth was achieved in the period 1990-2001. By sectors measured GDP in 2009 to 14 percent achieved by agriculture, 38 percent from industry and 47 percent by the service sector [18] . In that same year, about one third of the population engaged in agriculture [18] .

Besides the agriculture, the oil and gas industry is an important economic activity. Egypt is not a member of OPEC which it is not tied to export quotas for oil . The country is a member of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). In 1907 the first oil was demonstrated, and the production started in 1914. The proven oil reserves lie for years around 4 billion barrels;according to BP amounted to reserves at the end of 2009 4.4 billion barrels equivalent to 0.3 percent of the global total. This is sufficient to maintain its current rate 16 years of full [19] . In 2009, the country produced 742,000 barrels of oil per day; in the last decade, production fluctuated between 700,000 and 800,000 barrels per day. In Egypt the last few decades natural gas found. The reserves reached a level of 2,190 billion m 3 in 2009, about twice as many as in the Netherlands, while in 1989 the gas reserves are 350 billion m 3 were valued [19] . Gas production has risen in line of 21 billion m 3 in 2000 to 62.7 billion m 3 in 2009. Much gas as LNG exported. Egypt still has modest coal reserves . The reserves of approximately 50 million tons are mainly in the Sinai and of poor quality. The coal was mainly used by the industry in Egypt and in the generation of electricity . Thanks to the gas discoveries, coal by natural gas supplanted as fuel.

Egypt has a large deficit in the trade balance . In fiscal year 2008/09, running from 1 July to 30 June, exported it to $ 25 billion, but imported goods worth $ 50 billion [20] . Foreign trade in petroleum is fairly balanced, but the export of natural gas produced around 3 billion dollars. Thanks to a large surplus in services balance the trade deficit is reduced considerably. Especially revenues from tourism dollars, 10.5 billion and revenues of the Suez Canal ($ 4.7 billion) contribute. Since the political unrest of 2011 the number of tourists has declined sharply. Finally, make a lot of Egyptians working abroad large sums of money on home ($ 7.6 billion) [20] .

Egypt exports besides oil products mainly semi-finished and food products ( cane sugar and dates ). The United States (8 percent), Italy (7 percent), Spain (7 percent), India (7 percent), Saudi Arabia (6 percent),Syria (5 percent), France (4 percent) in 2010, the main export countries [18] . The major import products food products, machinery, consumer goods, chemical products, the largest import partners in 2009 were the United States (10 percent), China (10 percent), Germany (7 percent), Italy (7 percent), Turkey (5 percent) [ 18] .

The Government of Egypt had a deficit in 2008/09 of 7 percent of GDP . Revenues amounted to 27.8 percent of GDP and expenditures 34.4 percent. A large expense item are subsidies on food and energy. The energy subsidy was equal to 6 percent of GDP, which is approximately one-sixth of all public expenditure. The government had plans to abolish the subsidy on fuel completely in 2010, but the global financial crisis of 2009, the plans delayed until 2014 [20] .

The currency is the Egyptian pound (exchange rate: 1 Egyptian pound is worth 0.11 euros per April 2013).