Ancient and Modern
Egypt occupies the upper northeastern corner of Africa and, with the exception of the Nile River Valley and its Delta, is mainly a flat, vegetation-free desert. The Nile flows north and empties into the Mediterranean Sea which forms the country’s northern boundary. Egypt is bordered on the south by Sudan, to the west by Libya and to its east by the Red Sea, and beyond the Sinai Peninsula, by Israel. The country encompasses about 626,000 square miles (1,002,000 square kilometers) and at its most distant reaches is 640 miles from north to south and 775 miles from east to west.
The country’s official name is the Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE). The president is also Commander in Chief of the army and head of the National Defense Council. The president appoints the prime minister and the rest of the cabinet. Egypt’s National Assembly has representatives from all districts throughout the country with women and Copts represented by quota.
The economy, formerly almost totally agrarian, now receives a lion’s share of its hard currency income from tourism which is likely to continue and is therefore carefully safeguarded. Petroleum firms contribute income as well, and Egypt receives aid from more developed countries as well as revenue from the Suez Canal.
Geography. There are 2 deserts: the Eastern or Arabian Desert from the Nile to the Red Sea and the Western or Libya Desert, separated from the Sahara by sandstone and limestone highlands. There are 6 inhabited oases watered for the most part through underground strata with water flowing north from Equatorial Africa. Some of this water may take as many as 500 years to reach its final oasis destination. The Sinai Peninsula separates the continents of Africa and Asia and is bordered by the Gulf of Aqaba on the east and the Gulf of Suez on the west. Containing 6% of Egypt’s land area the Sinai is harsh desert in the north and granite mountains in the south. The Red Sea is over 1200 miles long and almost 1-1/2 miles deep. It is part of the fault line juncture between the African and Arabian Tectonic plates which culminates in the south in Africa’s Great Rift Valley.