Egypt

Overview Egypt is probably the world's oldest civilization having emerged from the Nile Valley around 3,100 BC, historically. Egypt is probably one of the oldest vacation spots. Early Greeks, Romans and others went there just for fun, and to see the wonders of some of mankind's earliest triumphs. []

I learned a lot about Egypt during this project. I learned that not all of the world is in a recession like the U.S., so at least that's good. I also learned a lot about Egyptian religion and the importance of Islam.-Christian H.

Egypt is a very interesting country.

Egypt is a very intersting country. While studying i learned meny things about the people, the art, and even a little about ancient egypt. Somethings i learned helped me understand what is going on in other countrys besides ours. I use to think of egypt as pharoes and people in funny clothes but now i realze that egypt is a very civilized country.-Brooke Beatie

Statistics There are over 75 million people in Egypt, 98% of them being Egyptian. It also has over 3 million refugees from the Middle East. The main population concentration is along the Nile River. in 1998 10.7% of children under five were underweight. It has improved since then, in 2003 only 8.6% of children were underwieighft. http://globalis.gvu.unu.edu/indicator_detail.cfm?indicatorID=53&country=eg []

Geography Cairo is the capital city in Egypt, it is also the largest city in Africa. Alexandria is the second largest in Egypt, with a coastline on the Mediterranean. Egypt is the 38th largest country, at over 1 million square miles.

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Economy Egypt has had a strong growth of economy over the last few years, the unemployment rate is only at 9.1%. The cause of this growth is the adoption of more liberal economic policies by the government of Egypt. []

Government Egypt is divided into 92 governorates, these are further divided into markazes. In arabic, markazes are called muhafazat. During ancient egypt people were ruled by a single pharoah(like a king). They were ranked on a social pyramid. It was almost impossible to change the rank you were born into.

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Religion About 90% of people in Egypt are Muslim; almost all the non-Muslims are Christians (about 10%). Of those 90%, most are Sunnis. In fact, Muslim is so important that any new laws must agree with the shari'ah (Islamic law).[|Click here for ancient egyptian religion] Culture Egypt is considered one of the most cultured countries because of its people, places, and art. It also has over 5000 years of recorded cuture and history. Among this is the Great Pyramid of Khufu, over 1000 years old.
 * [[image:http://www.usvetdsp.com/gifs/muslim_girl.jpg width="186" height="267" caption="Muslim women do not show there hair, it is a sign of disrespect."]] ||

Social Problems Most people are critical of the democratization of the election system. Only 25% of the population turned out for the 2005 elections. [] [] (URL)