• A country in the north of Africa with coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red seas.
• One of the oldest civilisations in the world which developed round the river Nile.
• 95% of the land is the Sahara desert and the dry atmosphere has contributed to the preservation of their many buildings of antiquity
• Egypt was part of the British Empire in the late Victorian Edwardian periods c.1900

Egypt is an Arabic Muslim country, one of the few run by a secular (non religious) democratic government and has reasonably fair elections so in theory the people can vote for who they choose. This means it is similar to Turkey but very different from the majority of it's Arab neighbours which are either run by military dictators, like Libya, or a medieval royal family like Saudi Arabia.

All these Muslim Arabic countries are very poor unless they are lucky enough to have found oil under the sand. Egypt has recently discovered oil in the Red Sea area but the quantity is small compared with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Why are they all so poor? After all civilisation started in the Arab countries of Egypt and Iraq, then called Mesopotamia. Some say it is because of their Islamic religion which puts God's will, as delivered by the priestly Mullahs above all things; requires prayer five times a day, which takes people out of work and disallows women the right to work therefore cutting off half the work force. Egypt is the least restrictive of all Islamic Arab countries but there is still little evidence of women out side their homes other than helping in the fields by the river Nile.

The capital city is Cairo, but 2000 years ago it was Alexandria, a port on the Mediterranean Sea created by Alexander the Great. Prior to this the capital was Thebes now called Luxor a city further inland upstream on the Nile.

Egypt is particularly interesting because

1. It has a larger population than any other Arab country (70 million)
2. It is one of the oldest if not the oldest country in the world where human beings first lived in villages or towns and grew food to eat rather than hunt wild animals to kill and eat. All the early towns in the world were in warm countries, on the banks of large rivers which could be relied on always to provide enough water to grow the crops even if it did not rain. A similar area, much in the news now, is Baghdad the capital of Iraq (previously called Mesopotamia). In Iraq there are two rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates and in Egypt the river is called the Nile which is the longest river in the world at 4187 miles. (Next is the Amazon at 4000 miles then the Mississippi at 3759 miles long.)
3. Egypt has more ancient writings, well preserved burial grounds (deep underground tombs and Pyramids) and Temples than any other of these original centres of civilisation. Hence it is the most interesting to visit.
4. The earliest books were written in Egypt as they invented the paper on which to write them. While the English and the Irish were writing on dried sheep skin the Egyptians used Papyrus paper. Papyrus is a 10 foot reed growing on the banks of the Nile which if cut and soaked in water and laid in a cross mesh, pressed and dried, forms a paper which can store and display letters and coloured pictures. Books or letters would be in the form of long scrolls.
5. Both Mesopotamia and Egypt are mentioned in the Bible. Abraham lived in Mesopotamia and was the founder of the Jewish race. The Jews lived some 500 years in Egypt as slaves.
6. When the Jews were led from slavery in Egypt by Moses they fled over the desert to reach their promised land, Israel. They were almost caught by the Egyptians as they were about to cross the Red Sea. (Probably the best place in the world for scuba diving.) However by some miracle (coincidence) the water in the Red Sea drained away and the Jews walked across. The pursuing Egyptians were drowned. (The story might well be true because there was an earthquake in the area at the time which would have caused a huge tidal wave)
7. On the negative side Egypt has the highest proportion of women-95% who have suffered genital mutilation (female circumcision)

The climate in Egypt is so dry that many of the ancient buildings are still there to be viewed by tourists and studied by historians. Indeed 95% of Egypt is a sandy desert, the remaining 5%, that is the land some 25 miles either side of the Nile is green and fertile. 95% of the population live in the fertile 5%, the majority growing vegetables to feed themselves. Farming techniques have not changed much for 1000s of years and the farmers live in mud huts by the river or more accurately houses made of bricks of dried mud. They share their houses with their cows and goats and transport their vegetables by donkey with or without a cart Their cities are much like those in poorer parts of Europe but very dirty and hot. As most people live by the river the best way to travel is by boat much as they used to travel up and down the Mississippi before roads were developed in the US.

The Red Sea almost joins the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean save for about 50 or so miles of land through which the English and French jointly dug a connecting canal (the Suez Canal)