Egypt

Egypt officially the Arab Republic of Egypt is a semi-presidential republic located in northeastern Africa and southwestern Asia. The capital is Cairo.

Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.

Egypt has an area of 1,001,450 km². With more than 100 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa, the Middle East and the Arab world and the third most populous country in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia).

The vast majority of the population resides in urban centers like Cairo or Alexandria, or close to the fertile banks of the Nile River, an area spanning about 40,000 square kilometers, where Egypt’s sole agricultural land exists. Deserts such as the Sahara and Sinai cover the remainder of the country.

 

Het Oude Egypte was een van de vroegste beschavingen ter wereld en is in het huidige Egypte nog terug te zien in de vorm van beroemde bouwwerken, zoals de Sfinx en de piramiden van Gizeh en de archeologische sites rond Luxor.

 

Egypt’s rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, which has seen several foreign influences.

From the 16th to the early 20th century, Egypt was ruled by foreign imperial powers.

In 1922 it became partially independent from the British Empire as a monarchy.

After the 1952 revolution, the Egyptians expelled the British soldiers and bureaucrats who were still in charge of the country and nationalized the British-occupied Suez Canal. King Farouk was deposed and Egypt became a republic.

The name Egypt originated in ancient Greece. Two theories about the origin of the name are known:

  • In de loop der tijd werd de naam van een belangrijk heiligdom in Memphis, ‘Hwt-ka-Ptah’, gehanteerd voor het gehele gebied. Hwt-ka-Ptah betekent ‘Huis van de Geest van Ptah‘ en werd in het Grieksvertaald als ‘Αι γυ πτος’ of ‘Aiguptos’, de naam die men (in verbasterde vorm) nog steeds hanteert.
  • Een tweede mogelijke verklaring van de naam komt ook uit het Grieks (Strabo): het Griekse Αἰγαίου ὕπτιος (“Aigaiou huptios”) betekent zoveel als “onder het Egeïsche”.

The Arabic name of Egypt is Miṣr. This name is of Semitic origin. The name is very similar to the original Assyrian Miṣir/Muṣur, but is also related to the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם (Mitzráyim). It means country or state.

Hier werd oorspronkelijk Opper-Egypte mee bedoeld, maar het werd uiteindelijk de naam van het hele land.

In the Egyptian dialect one does not say Miṣr but Maṣr.

The annual flooding of the Nile provided fertile land on which agriculture was possible and one of the world’s greatest ancient civilizations could flourish. The first united kingdom was founded around 3200 BC.

by King Menes. Various dynasties ruled Egypt for the next three millennia.

Egyptian culture flourished during this long period, in science, architecture, religion and mythology, art, language and hieroglyphic writing.

Until the 18th dynasty, many pyramids were built to bury Egyptian Kings and Queens (the pharaohs). The most famous are the Pyramids of Giza near Cairo.

From the 18th Dynasty onwards, artisans carved the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens near the historic city of Thebes (now: Luxor).

The 18th Dynasty also marks the beginning of the New Kingdom period, during which the most famous pharaohs ruled, including Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti, Tutankhamun and Ramses II.

The latter is often considered the greatest of all pharaohs.

The last ‘truly Egyptian’ dynasty, the Thirtieth Dynasty, was founded in 341 BC. defeated by the Persian Achaemenids. Subsequently, Egypt was ruled by various foreign powers.

De verovering door Alexander de Grote (die de stad Alexandrië stichtte aan de westrand van de Nijldelta) luidde de Griekse periode van Egypte in, gevolgd door de Romeinse en Byzantijnse.

It was the Muslim Arabs who introduced Islam and Arabic to the country in the seventh century.

After the Crusades,

where the Christian knights never really gained a foothold in Egypt,

it was the Turkish slave class of Mamluks who founded a dynasty in Egypt.

In 1517 the Ottoman Empire conquered Egypt and from then on the Mamluks ruled in the name of the Ottomans.

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

In de negentiende eeuw werd Egypte een belangrijk land voor de Europese kolonialisten. Met name de aanleg gefinancierd met Brits en Frans kapitaal, van het Suezkanaal maakte het land strategisch zeer belangrijk.

The British were very generous in providing loans and soon Egypt was so deeply in debt that it was completely dependent on the British. In 1882 the British took over Egypt, but the khedive (viceroy) officially swore his allegiance to the Ottoman sultan.

During World War I, Egypt became a British protectorate. In 1922 the country became the partially independent Kingdom of Egypt and nominally experimented with democracy, but behind the scenes the British kept a tight grip on the country.

During the Second World War, the British were assisted by ANZAC troops in holding the strategically located country.

At the same time, offensives against the Axis powers were launched from Egypt,

first in 1941 in Abyssinia and in Libya (against the Italians) and on Crete (against the Germans),

in 1942 against Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps, which was beaten back at El Alamein in the west, and in 1944 towards Greece and Yugoslavia.

Throughout the World War, convoys left and left Gibraltar to supply Malta.

Het Suezkanaal diende als doorvoer van troepen van en naar Brits-IndiëAustralië en Nieuw-Zeeland en naar de troepen die tegen de Japanners vochten.

After the Second World War, the dissatisfaction that had existed since the nineteenth century with the great British influence in the country increased further.

In 1952 a coup was carried out in which King Farouk was deposed and General Mohammed Naguib was appointed as president.

Egypt became a republic. In 1956, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the revolution, became president.

His politics of Nasserism, a combination of Arab nationalism and socialism,

was particularly popular in the country and the wider Arab region.

 

The Nile at Aswan

With an area of 1,002,000 km², Egypt is the thirtieth largest country in the world by surface area.

It is four times bigger than Great Britain and twice as big as France.

borders the Mediterranean Sea in the north with a coastline 995 km,

in the east the Gaza Strip, Israel and the Red Sea 1941 km, in the south Sudan 1280 km and in the west Libya 1115 km.

In het oosten van Egypte ligt het Sinaïschiereiland dat behoort tot het Aziatische continent, terwijl de rest van Egypte geografisch gezien in Noord Afrika ligt.

About 96 percent of Egypt consists of desert and is very sparsely populated. Although the landscape mainly consists of vast barren plains, there are also some oases.

Egypt can be divided into four natural regions:

 

Valley of the Nile and the Nile Delta

De vallei van de Nijl en de Nijldelta vormen maar 5,5% van het grondgebied van Egypte,
maar het zijn wel de belangrijkste gebieden van het land aangezien het de enige plekken in Egypte zijn waar men landbouw bedrijft.
Meer dan 95% van de bevolking woont in deze gebieden waar zich dan ook de grootste steden van Egypte zoals Caïro en Alexandrië zich bevinden.

The Nile Valley extends for about 800 km, from Aswan to Cairo.

Just north of the capital, the Nile splits into an eastern branch to Damietta and a branch west to Rosetta. This forms the Nile Delta, which is approximately 24,000 km² in size.

In Egypt, the Nile is the only source of drinking water in the country. That is why the government has already done a lot to try to maintain good quality water in the Nile.

Zo mag er niet zomaar meer geloosd worden in de Nijl zonder vergunning.
Daarnaast zijn er kwaliteitseisen over het water opgesteld. Toch is het water niet helemaal schoon.
Er komen door de landbouw veel pesticiden in en er is een te hoge hoeveelheid van schadelijke metalen. Ook in Egypte worden veel ziektes via het water verspreid.

But the fact that the quality of the river water is deteriorating is not the only problem. This means that less and less water remains in the river.

This is partly due to the rise of the agricultural sector in Sudan and the construction of a dam in Ethiopia.

Egypt is the lowest country on the Nile. It is therefore very important that the Egyptian government maintains good relations with other countries located on the Nile. In addition, the country is already looking for solutions.

For example, drip irrigation is already emerging and desalination techniques are being looked at to desalinate seawater in Egypt. Egypt has also asked for help from the Netherlands with regard to climate adaptation.

Vroeger was men overgeleverd aan de grillen van de Nijl. Zonder de jaarlijkse overstroming van de Nijl was er geen voedsel, want er was geen irrigatiesysteem.

Maar als de Nijl te lang buiten zijn oevers trad verging het gewas en was er te weinig eten.

De Nijl overstroomt niet meer in Egypte sinds de aanleg van de Aswandam in de jaren ’60 van de 20e eeuw,

waarna het Nassermeer met een oppervlakte van zo’n 5250 km² ontstond. Door middel van irrigatie worden de landbouwgronden nu voorzien van water.

The Western Desert is part of the Sahara. About 700,000 km² of this desert is in Egyptian territory, making up about two-thirds of the total land. Most of the desert consists of a solid plateau of rock deposits.

In certain places there are also hills, valleys and sand seas. The Gilf Kebir plateau rises 300 meters above the desert plateau.

There are a number of large depressions (=lows) in the area.

The bottom of one of those depressions, the Qattara, consists of a salt flat, which means the water here is salty

and it should not be seen as an oasis.

About twenty kilometers west lies a similar but smaller depression containing the Siwa Oasis,

one of the Western Oases. Unlike Qattara, these oases do have drinkable water and limited agricultural options.

 

De Oostelijke Woestijn heeft een oppervlakte van ongeveer 220.000 km² en bevindt zich tussen de Nijl en de Rode Zee.

Het grootste deel van de woestijn bestaat uit plateaus met een gemiddelde hoogte van 500 meter die worden doorkliefd door talloze wadi’s,

die tijdens de zeldzame regens het landschap kortstondig in bloei kunnen zetten.

The Sinai Mountains are located on the triangular Sinai Peninsula.

The peninsula consists entirely of desert and is connected to the rest of the country by the Isthmus of Suez.

The northern part of Sinai consists mainly of flat expanses of sand.

The border between the flat north and the south with the high mountain peaks is formed by a large calcareous plateau,

the El Tih plateau. Granite mountains are found in the southern part of Sinai.

highest mountain is Mount Katharina, which at 2,642m is the highest peak in Egypt.

South of Sinai has four protected nature reserves in addition to the Ras Mohammed National Park.

The wadi soils, especially east of the Nile, are mainly covered with shrubs.

Typical desert plants include rough grass, tamarisk trees and dwarf mimosas.

We find little original greenery along the Nile; most plant species are imported.

There is almost only a cultural landscape, where millions of date palms grow and vegetables and grain are grown.

Other trees and plants visible here include fig trees, citrus trees, and the exotic Australian eucalyptuses

De lotus en de papyrus zijn in de Nijlvallei bijna nergens meer te vinden, maar waren vroeger het symbool van Opper- en Neder-Egypte.

 

Ibexes are rare in the Sinai Mountains.

The western desert areas are home to a variety of insects, such as ants, beetles, flies and fleas.

But larger (mammal) animals also live there, including gazelles, oryxes, hyenas, jackals, desert foxes,

mongooses, scorpions and various species of snakes. The best-known poisonous snakes include the cobra and the viper.

Desert foxes sleep during the day and only leave their dens at night.

Their excellent hearing allows them to catch insects and small mammals in the dark.

Birds of prey, including the Egyptian vulture and various falcon species, populate the desert landscape.

The ibis, associated with the god Thoth, and frequently depicted in works of art,

disappeared from Egypt as early as the 19th century. Large mammals such as lions, elephants,

giraffes and hippos were last seen in Aswan,

1816 but have not occurred in Egypt for hundreds to thousands of years.

Nile crocodiles are only found in Lake Nasser.

This reptile is extinct on the Nile. Nile monitors are almost extinct.

The Arabian leopard is also believed to be extinct in Egypt.

De Camelus Dromedarius, de eenbultige kameel of dromedaris,

is onmisbaar in Egypte. Ze worden naar het Arabische ‘kemal’ meestal kameel genoemd.

Deze hoefdieren hebben eeuwenlang, tot vandaag de dag, het vervoer van goederen

personen verzorgd door de woestijnen van Afrika en het Midden-Oosten.

Over thousands of years, the camel has adapted very well to the harsh life in the desert.

Thanks to a third, transparent eyelid, they can still see during sandstorms. A camel’s legs are so flat that they do not sink into the sand of the desert. The hump on the back contains a lot of fat reserves, and no water as is often thought,

allowing the animals to walk for many days without having to eat.

On long journeys without water, a camel can lose a third of its body weight,

which he supplements by drinking up to 150 liters of water in one go. Furthermore, a camel is also a supplier of milk, wool, leather and meat for the population.

Approximately 160 species of fish are found in the Nile, of which the Nile perch is the best known.

Due to overfishing, very large specimens of more than fifty kilos are almost non-existent.

These can still be found in Lake Nasser in the south of the country. Also special are lungfish, which can even survive in mud puddles.

De Rode Zee is warm genoeg en op sommige plekken ondiep genoeg om de groei van koralen mogelijk te maken.

Sponges, seahorses, starfish, shellfish and lobsters live around the coral reefs.

More than 800 species of fish live in the Egyptian underwater world.

The most common are the yellow clownfish, the reef bass and Napoleon fish. Dangerous species include moray eels, scorpionfish, sea anemones and sea urchins.

Various species of sharks live at greater depths, including tiger sharks and hammerhead sharks, barracudas and stingrays.

Egypt has a desert climate according to the Köppen climate classification BWh, except for a narrow strip on the Mediterranean coast where a Mediterranean climate prevails.

The weather is very stable; there are two clearly distinguishable seasons: the hot summer from May to October and the cooler winter from November to April.

In the desert, summer temperatures easily exceed 38°C during the day in the shade,

with extensions up to 50 °C. This heat escapes into the cloudless sky at night, dropping the temperature by 10 to 17 °C.

Temperatures in winter are considerably lower: the average in January is 12 to 16 °C.

De berggebieden in de Sinaï kunnen in december en januari vrij koud zijn,

en in de bergen valt bijna iedere winter sneeuw.  neerslag is zeer gering.

Caïro heeft gemiddeld zes regendagen per jaar, Alexandrië dertig.

In het zuiden van het land regent het bijna nooit. In de lente trekken nu en dan depressies over Egypte,

die de khamseen (de Egyptische naam voor de sirocco), een droge verzengende

wind bekend door zijn zandstormen, met zich meebrengen.

For fifty days (khamseen = 50), from March to May, dangerous sandstorms can occur with wind speeds of up to 150 km per hour.

Unlike the interior, the Mediterranean coast experiences rainfall in winter. The coast also has milder winters and lower summer temperatures than the interior, due to the moderating effect of the Mediterranean Sea. The temperature differences between day and night are also not nearly as great. Alexandria is the coolest place in the country. Average temperatures in January fluctuate between 10.5 and 18 °C, in July between 23 and 29 °C. Alexandria and the western coastal strip of the Delta are also the wettest area in Egypt, with more than one hundred millimeters of rain per year.

Population density in Egypt is concentrated around the Nile.

In 2023 telt de bevolking van Egypte 112.716.598 inwoners. 1960 woonden er in Egypte nog 27.034.499 personen.  2050 bestaat de bevolking van Egypte naar verwachting uit 160.339.889 inwoners.

Egypt has a rapidly growing population: in Napoleon’s time the country probably had only 3 million inhabitants and in 1900 there were an estimated ten million Egyptians. This number grew sharply in the second half of the twentieth century, mainly due to medical and agricultural advances. Over the period 1996-2016, the country experienced an average population growth of 2.1 percent per year. An average of 1.5 million new inhabitants were added each year.

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