Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Palestine and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan and the Sahara to the south, and Libya to the west. The Gulf of Aqaba in the northeast separates Egypt from Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Cairo is the capital, largest city, and leading cultural centre, while Alexandria is the second-largest city and an important hub of industry and tourism. With over 107 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world, third-most populous country in Africa, and 15th-most populated in the world.
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage along the Nile Delta back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Following nearly three millennia of pharaonic rule, Egypt came under foreign rule beginning in the 6th century BC. Egypt was an early and important centre of Christianity, later adopting Islam from the seventh century onwards. Alexandria, Egypt's former capital and currently second largest city, was a hub of global knowledge through its Library. Cairo became the capital of the Fatimid Caliphate in the tenth century and of the subsequent Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century. Egypt then became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1517, until its local ruler Muhammad Ali established modern Egypt as an autonomous Khedivate in 1867. The country was then occupied by the British Empire along with Sudan and gained independence in 1922 as a monarchy.
After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip. Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt declared itself a republic. In 1958, Egypt merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, with Syria withdrawing in 1961 after their coup. Egypt fought several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973. After the 1967 war, Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip to Israel. In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords, which recognised Israel and heavily demilitarised the Sinai in exchange for the latter's withdrawal from the occupied Sinai, completely turning over control of the Sinai to Egypt in 1982. After the Arab Spring, which led to the 2011 Egyptian revolution and overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the country faced a protracted period of political unrest; its first democratic election in 2012 resulted in the short-lived, Muslim Brotherhood-aligned government of Mohamed Morsi, which was overthrown by the military after mass protests in 2013. The current government is a semi-presidential republic led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who was elected in 2014 but is widely regarded as authoritarian.Sources that categorise Sisi as a dictator:
Egypt is a developing country with the second-largest economy in Africa. It is considered to be a regional power in the Middle East, North Africa and the Muslim world, and a middle power worldwide. Islam is the official religion and Arabic its official language. Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Arab League, the African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, World Youth Forum, and a member of BRICS.
Names
Ancient Egypt had several names; one of them was (𓆎 𓅓 𓏏𓊖) , which is formed from 𓆎 𓅓, meaning black. This likely refers to the fertile black soils of the Nile floodplains, distinct from the , or 'red land' of the desert. This name is commonly vocalised as Kemet , but was pronounced differently in Ancient Egyptian.Antonio Loprieno, "Egyptian and Coptic Phonology", in Phonologies of Asia and Africa (including the Caucasus). Vol 1 of 2. Ed: Alan S Kaye. Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1997: p. 449 Scholars reconstruct its Old Egyptian pronunciation as , its Middle Egyptian pronunciation as , and its Late Egyptian pronunication as . The name is realised as (, ) in Egyptian Coptic, and appeared in Early Greek as (). Another name was 'land of the riverbank'.
The names of Upper and Lower Egypt were () 'sedgeland' and () 'northland', respectively. They were also collectively called (), meaning 'The Two Lands', referring to both Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt after unification.
The English name Egypt is derived from the Ancient Greek (), via Middle French and Latin . It is reflected in early Greek Linear B tablets as .Breyer, Fr. A. K. "Morgenländische Wörter im Deutschen: Die ägyptischen Lehnwörter ". In: W. Raunig/St. Wenig. Afrikas Horn: Akten der Ersten Internatio-nalen Littmann-Konferenz 2. bis 5. Mai 2002 in München. Meroitica 22. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. p. 381. . The ancient Greek geographer Strabo provided a folk etymology stating that () had originally evolved as a compound from (), meaning 'below the Aegean'. Another tradition claims that it was named after the legendary king Aegyptus.St. Jerome, Chronicon (Hier.+Chron.), B1479 The actual derivation is thought to be from ' (, Late Egyptian pronunciation ), 'temple of the of Ptah," a term for the city of Memphis.
Greco-Roman writers report that Egypt was sometimes called (). Stephanus of Byzantium derives the name from (, 'air'), explaining that Egypt was a "misty land". From this name, the ethnic form () is also recorded for its inhabitants. Thomas George Tucker suggested that could derive not only from "misty" or "hazy air", but also be understood in the sense of "far-off" or "dimly seen".
(; ) is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while (; ) is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The current name of Egypt, //, stems from the Ancient Semitic name for it. The term originally connoted "Civilisation" or "Metropolis". Classical Arabic () is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew ( / ), meaning 'the two straits', a reference to the predynastic separation of Upper and Lower Egypt. Also mentioned in several Semitic languages as Mesru, Misir and Masar. The oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian ()The ending of the Hebrew form is either a dual or an ending identical to the dual in form (perhaps a locative), and this has sometimes been taken as referring to the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. However, the application of the (possibly) "dual" ending to some toponyms and other words, a development peculiar to Hebrew, does not in fact imply any "two-ness" about the place. The ending is found, for example, in the Hebrew words for such single entities as 'water' (), 'noon' (), 'sky/heaven' (), and in the – but not the original – of 'Jerusalem' (). It should also be noted that the dual ending – which may or may not be what the in actually represents – was available to other Semitic languages, such as Arabic, but was not applied to Egypt. See inter alia Aaron Demsky ("Hebrew Names in the Dual Form and the Toponym Yerushalayim" in Demsky (ed.) These Are the Names: Studies in Jewish Onomastics, Vol. 3 (Ramat Gan, 2002), pp. 11–20), [ Page 128] in and related to //, meaning 'border' or 'frontier'. The Neo-Assyrian Empire used the derived term , .As in inscriptions such as the Rassam cylinder of Ashurbanipal. For transcription, the word being written
History
Prehistoric Egypt
Evidence of rock carvings along the Nile and in surrounding oases indicates early habitation. In the 10th millennium BCE, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers was replaced by a grain-grinding culture. Climate changes or overgrazing around 8000 BCE began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralised society.Midant-Reynes, Béatrix. The Prehistory of Egypt: From the First Egyptians to the First Kings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
By about 6000 BCE, a Neolithic culture took root in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt. The Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are generally regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, Merimda, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade. The earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BCE.
Ancient Egypt (3150 BCE–305 BCE)
Around BCE, King Menes unified Egypt, establishing a succession of dynasties that ruled for three millennia. Egyptian civilisation thrived with distinctive achievements in religion, art, and writing. The Old Kingdom ( BCE) saw the construction of the pyramids, including those at Giza. A brief interregnum followed, succeeded by the Middle Kingdom ( BCE), a phase of renewed stability and prosperity under rulers such as Amenemhat III.
After the Second Intermediate Period and the Hyksos occupation, Egypt was reunified by Ahmose I, founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty and the New Kingdom ( BCE). This era marked Egypt's height as a major power in the region, extending influence into Nubia and the Levant. It produced many of Egypt's most renowned Pharaohs, Hatshepsut, Thutmose III, Akhenaten, Tutankhamun, and Ramesses II, and witnessed the rise of Atenism, one of the earliest forms of monotheism. Despite later invasions by Libyans, Nubians, and Assyrians, native dynasties eventually reasserted control.
In 525 BCE, Cambyses II of Persia conquered Egypt, beginning the Achaemenid satrapy period (the Twenty-seventh Dynasty). Although several revolts occurred, Egypt remained under Persian control until briefly regaining independence before falling again in 343 BCE. The Thirtieth Dynasty was the last native royal house. Following renewed Persian domination, Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE, after which his general Ptolemy I Soter established the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt (305 BCE–641 CE)
The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a Hellenistic state from southern Syria to Cyrene and south to Nubia, with Alexandria as its capital and a centre of Greek culture and trade. The Ptolemies adopted pharaonic traditions to legitimise their rule, appearing on monuments in Egyptian style and participating in local religious life. The Lighthouse of Alexandria, built c. 280 BCE, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, later destroyed by earthquakes. The last ruler, Cleopatra VII, committed suicide after Octavian captured Alexandria, ending the dynasty and paving the way for Roman annexation. Native rebellions and dynastic disputes weakened the kingdom, facilitating its annexation by Rome.
Egypt was a wealthy imperial province of the Roman Empire, supplying grain and hosting the major city of Alexandria. Governed with Roman administration and Hellenistic culture, its population primarily spoke Greek in major cities and Coptic Egyptian in rural areas. Christianity reached Egypt in the 1st century, brought by Saint Mark the Evangelist. During Diocletian's reign (284–305 CE), the New Testament had been translated into Egyptian and many Egyptian Christians were persecuted. By CE 451, a distinct Coptic Church was firmly established.Kamil, Jill. Coptic Egypt: History and Guide. Cairo: American University in Cairo, 1997. p. 39
Medieval Egypt (641–1517)