Egypt

This article is about the modern country. For the ancient realm, see Ancient Egypt.

For other uses, see Egypt (disambiguation).

Arab Republic of Egypt جمهورية مصر العربية Ǧumhūriyyat Miṣr al-ʿArabiyyah
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: Bilady, Bilady, Bilady My country, my country, my country Sorry, your browser either has JavaScript disabled or does not have any supported player. You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser.
Capital and largest city		Cairo 30°2′N 31°13′E / 30.033°N 31.217°E / 30.033; 31.217
Official languages		Arabic[a]
Demonym		Egyptian
Government		Provisional government
-	Acting President	Adly Mansour
-	Acting Prime Minister	Mohamed ElBaradei
Legislature		Parliament
-	Upper house	Shura Council (dissolved)
-	Lower house	House of Representatives
Establishment
-	Unification of Upper and Lower Egypt	c. 3200 BC
-	Muhammad Ali Dynasty inaugurated	9 July 1805
-	Independence from the United Kingdom	28 February 1922
-	Republic declared	18 June 1953
-	Revolution Day	25 January 2011
Area
-	Total	1,002,450 km2 (30th) 387,048 sq mi
-	Water (%)	0.632
Population
-	2013 estimate	84,550,000 (15th)
-	2006 census	72,798,000
-	Density	84/km2 (126th) 218/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2013 estimate
-	Total	$559.843 billion
-	Per capita	$6,652
GDP (nominal)		2013 estimate
-	Total	$264.701 billion
-	Per capita	$3,146
Gini (2008)		30.8 medium
HDI (2011)		0.644 medium · 113th
Currency		Egyptian pound (EGP)
Time zone		EET (UTC+2b)
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+20
ISO 3166 code		EG
Internet TLD		.eg مصر.
a.	^ Literary Arabic is the sole official language. Egyptian Arabic is the national spoken language. Other dialects and minority languages are spoken regionally.
b.	No daylight saving time has been kept since 2011.

Egypt i/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر‎ Miṣr), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt (Arabic: جمهورية مصر العربية‎), is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Most of its territory of 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi) lies within North Africa and is bordered by 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 is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East, and the 15th most populated in the world. The great majority of its over 84 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara Desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt has one of the longest histories of any modern state, having been continuously inhabited since the 10th millennium BC. Its monuments, such as the Giza pyramid complex and its Great Sphinx, were constructed by its ancient civilization, which was one of the most advanced of its time. Its ancient ruins, such as those of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings outside Luxor, are a significant focus of archaeological study and popular interest. Egypt's rich cultural legacy, as well as the attraction of its Red Sea Riviera, have made tourism a vital part of the economy, employing about 12% of the country's workforce.

The economy of Egypt is one of the most persified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and services at almost equal production levels. Egypt is considered to be a middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in the Mediterranean, the Middle East and the Muslim world.

Names

The English name Egypt is derived from the ancient Greek Aígyptos (Αἴγυπτος), via Middle French Egypte and Latin Aegyptus. It is reflected in early Greek Linear B tablets as a-ku-pi-ti-yo. The adjective aigýpti-, aigýptios was borrowed into Coptic as gyptios, and from there into Arabic as qubṭī, back formed into قبط qubṭ, whence English Copt. The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hwt-ka-Ptah (ḥwt-k-ptḥ), meaning "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis. Strabo attributed the word to a folk etymology in which Aígyptos (Αἴγυπτος) evolved as a compound from Aigaiou huptiōs (Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως), meaning "below the Aegean".

Miṣr (IPA: [mesˤr]) is the Literary Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while Maṣr (IPA: [mɑsˤɾ]) is the common pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם (Mitzráyim), literally meaning "the two straits" (a reference to the dynastic separation of upper and lower Egypt). The word originally connoted "metropolis" or "civilization" and means "country", or "frontier-land".

The ancient Egyptian name of the country is ⟨