Government:
Up until 1952, Egypt had been ruled by royals. Following the
Egyptian Revolution of 2011
and a few turbulent years, Egypt adopted a
semi-presidential
form of government in 2014. The
President
is elected every four years (with a two term maximum). It’s
Parliament
is supposed to be unicameral and unbiased.
Climate and Geography:
The
Isthmus of Suez
is a land mass connecting Africa to Asia making Egypt is a transcontinental country. The
Suez Canal
connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean by way of the Red Sea. Egypt contains parts of the
Sahara and Libyan Deserts
but most of its population lives in the
Nile Valley
and Delta. 98% of Egyptians live in 3% of its land. Egypt is considered the driest and sunniest country in the world.
Religion:
Egypt is a
Sunni Muslim
country with Islam as its state religion. An estimated 85-90% of Egyptians identify as Muslim with 10-15% who identify as
Coptic Christians
and about 1% as other Christians.
We’ll take some time exploring Egypt over the next weeks.
This week we spend some time in historic
Alexandria
, Egypt’s second largest city and major economic center. It is located on the coast of the
Mediterranean sea
in the north central part of Egypt.
Alexander the Great founded the city
around an existing small Egyptian town in 332 BC. It became an important Greek center and remained the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt and Roman and Byzantine Egypt until the
Muslim conquest
of Egypt in 641 AD.
Two of the Seven Wonders of the World, the
Lighthouse of Alexandria
(Pharos) and the
Necropolis,
are located here!
