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| Egypt
General Info |
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Capital
Cairo (El Qahira)
Area
1,002,000 square kilometres (386,874 square miles)
Population
of Egypt
67,886,000 (official estimate 2001)
Population
of Cairo
7,388,000 (official estimate 2002).
Population Density
67.8 people per square kilometres.
Geography
Egypt is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean,
to the west by Libya, to the south by Sudan,
and to the east by the Red Sea and Israel.
The River Nile divides the country unevenly in 2, while the Suez
Canal provides a 3rd division with the Sinai Peninsula.
Beyond the highly cultivated Nile Valley and Delta,
a flourishing green tadpole of land that holds more than 90% of
the population, the landscape is primarily flat desert and devoid
of vegetation apart from the few oases that have persisted in the
once fertile depressions of the Western Desert. Narrow strips are
inhabited to the Mediterranean coast and on the African Red Sea
coast. The coast south of Suez has many fine beaches and the coral
reefs just offshore attract several divers. The High Dam at Aswan
now controls the annual floods that once put much of the Nile Valley
under the water and also provides electricity.
Government
Republic.
Head of State: President Muhammad Hosni
Mubarak since 1981
Head of Government: Ahmed Nazif
since 2004
Language
Arabic is the official language of egypt. French
and English are also widely spoken.
Religion
According to the 1986 census, over 94% of the population follows
Islam, the majority of the rest is Christian. All types of Christianity
are represented, especially the Coptic Christian Church and there
is also a small Jewish minority.
Time
Greenich Mean Time + 2 (GMT + 3 from May to September).
Electricity
Most areas 220 volts AC, 50Hz. Certain rural parts still use 110
to 380 volts AC. |
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