Egypt

A Little Bit about Egypt

Economics: In 1961, foreign trade, wholesale trade, banking, insurance, and most manufacturing enterprises were taken over by the government. Egypt is predominantly an agricultural country. Over 40% of labor force being works in crop farming or herding. The yields of Egyptian farmlands are now among the highest in the world. They are also the world’s most important producer of long-staple cotton. Even when Britain ruled Egypt, cotton helped Britain completely pay off their debt in the war. Rice and wheat are also leading crops. Egypt also produces: sugar cane, millet, barley, onions, vegetables, citrus fruits, mangoes, dates, figs, and grapes. Egypt also has a significant fishing industry.

The country’s most important natural resource is crude petroleum. Other important products are: phosphate rock, iron ore, salt, and manganese. The most important products of Egyptian industry include: cotton yarn, jute yarn, wool yarn, wool fabrics, refined sugar, sulfuric acid, nitrogenous fertilizers, manufactured tobacco, paper products, cement, motor-vehicle tires and television receivers.

Egypt’s energy comes mainly from electrical power produced by the generation from thermal plants.

Egypt’s currency and banking has a basic unit called the Egyptian pound, consisting of 100 piastres. The Central Bank of Egypt controls government banking, commercial banks, and the issue of notes by the National Bank.

In foreign trade, Egypt’s principle imports are agricultural products and foodstuffs, transport equipment, chemicals, mining and quarry machinery, and metal products. Their principle suppliers are U.S., West Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain, and Japan.

Egypt’s transportation system includes approximately 4830 km of railroad, 1610 km of shipping canals, and more than 17,700 km of irrigation canals. There are also about 13,840 km of paved highways and 80 airfields.

Egypt’s communications include the Egyptian press which is the most developed in the Arab world and Cairo is the largest publishing center in the Middle East. Egypt has two news agencies that also serve other countries in the Arab world. There is also a national broadcasting corporation that presents programs in Arabic, English, French, Greek, Italian, and German.

Today, Egypt is the most populous nation in the Arab world and its economy vies with Saudi Arabia in size. Its economy is in trouble and its poor performance is fueling discontent on the street. Egypt hosts significant American investment. The discovery of substantial gas reserves will increase Egypt’s role in regional energy markets.

Culture: Egypt is directed by the Ministry of Culture. Egypt has many cultural facilities like: the Pocket Theatre, the National Puppet Theater, the Opera House, and the National Symphony. (More information in the History and Culture link.)

Women: Egyptians viewed their universe as a complete duality of male and female. Giving balance and order to all things was the female deity, Maat, who symbolized cosmic harmony. A man’s most influential women were his mother, sister, wives, and daughters. Women were known as ‘Lady of the House’, which involved running the home and bearing children. Even Pharaohs cherished their wives and ‘minor wives’. Other than housewife and mother, the most common ‘career’ for a woman was the priesthood, serving male and female deities.

Religion: Religion is a very important part of every day life in Egypt. Man’s first gods were the forces of nature. They have gods that are thought to be manifested in their cult images. The people of Egypt made offerings to these gods as a way of keeping the forces of chaos at bay. There is a total of 96 Egyptian gods. Here are just a few.

NAME REPRESENTS

Amon King of gods

Nut Sky

Geb Earth

Ra Sun

Hathor Music

Sekhmet Destruction

Isis Magic

Osiris Dead

Seth Desert

Horus Pharaoh

Thoth Wisdom

Anubis Embalming

Ma’at Justice

Amun Creation

Bastet Cats

Today, Egypt’s official religion is 94% Muslim (mostly Sunni), there are also Coptic Christians and 6% other.

Government: Egypt is governed by a constitution promulgated on September 11, 1971. It provides for an Arab socialist state with Islam as the official religion. It also stresses social solidarity, equal opportunity, and popular control of the means of production. (More information in the Government and Politics link.)

Government and Politics

History and Culture

War and Conflict

Current Political Map

Sources

Government and Politics

Flag of Egypt

Country name: Conventional long form: Arab Republic of Egypt

Conventional short form: Egypt

Government type: republic

Capital: Cairo

Administrative divisions: 26 governorates

Independence: February 28, 1922 (from United Kingdom)

Constitution: September 11, 1971

Legal System: Based on the English common law, Islamic law, and Napoleonic codes; judicial review by Supreme Court and Council of State; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations.

Suffrage: 18 years; universal and compulsory

Executive Branch: The head of the state is the president of the republic. The president has a six year term and is nominated by the People’s Assembly and elected by popular referendum.

Legislative Branch: Bicameral system consists of the People’s Assembly which consists of 454 seats; 444 elected by popular vote, 10 appointed by the president; members serve five year terms, and the Advisory Council.

Judicial Branch: Supreme Constitutional Court

Political parties & leaders: Liberal Party, Nasserist Arab Democratic Party, National Democratic Party, National Progressive Unionist Grouping which is the governing party, New Wafd Party, and Socialist Liberal Party.

History and Culture

Egypt has the richest, oldest, and most varied history of any country in the world. The origins of ancient Egypt civilization cannot be established with certainty. The very first settlers were hunting tribes from North Africa who met with the nomadic tribes of Asiatic origin, and then settled in North Africa in 12,000BC. The most reliable sources are based on archaeological discoveries which have dated back to around 5,000 years ago. There have been discoveries of ruins, tombs, and monuments that contain invaluable specimens of the ancient culture. Priceless data has also been provided through inscriptions in hieroglyphs. This Pharaonic civilization, which is the greatest known civilization ever known to man was considered to be the greatest civilization of all. A Ptolemaic priest of 3rd century BC organized the countries rulers of Egypt into 30 dynasties, basically corresponding to families. Egyptian history is divided up into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms.

The timeline shows major events that occurred in Egypt from 1882, when they were taken under British rule from France to the present in 2004. The rulers of Egypt up until 1882 drove the country into bankruptcy from trying the modernize Egypt, to help develop the country, and also to pay for the Suez Canal which opened in 1869. In 1876, an Anglo-French commission took charge of Egypt’s finances. Army officers were disgusted by the government’s weakness which led to a rebellion to end foreign control. As a result, British occupied Egypt in 1882. The British were interested in the Suez Canal that was a short route to India. The British army broke their promise to evacuate the country once order had been restored in Egypt and the British remained there until 1954. The Suez Canal became an integral part of British Mediterranean defense policy.

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 brought nationalist activities in Egypt to an end. Britain declared Egypt a protectorate when Turkey entered the war on the side of Germany. Legal ties between Egypt and Turkey were finally destroyed, and Britain promised Egypt some changes in government once the war was over. The years of the war were hard with the Egyptian peasant having to dig ditches and whose livestock was confiscated by the army. Inflation was very wide spread. This caused the Egyptians to resent the British even more.

A new nationalist movement was formed, which was called the “Wafd” in 1918 to plan for the country’s future. The British still refused to consider the Egyptian’s needs and the leader of the Wafd, Saad Zagnlul, was exiled. This caused the country to erupt in violent revolt, and Britain was forced to reconsider its decision. Violence continued until 1922 when Britain declared Egypt an independent monarchy. The British, however, reserved the right to intervene in Egyptian affairs if their interests were threatened. This robbed Egypt of any real independence and allowed British control to continue. One government after another fell after trying to gain freedom in Egypt.

Then, in 1936, under pressures caused by the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, an Anglo-Egyptian treaty was finally signed but the British army continued to control affairs within the country. But finally by 1952, a group of army officers carried out a successful coup d’etat that ousted the king and in 1953 Egypt became a republic. In 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser assumed presidency, the first real president of Egypt. Nasser, during his time as president, requested a loan to finance the Aswan High Dam project but was turned down by the World Bank. Nasser therefore nationalized the Suez Canal and sought to use its revenues to finance the dam. Britain and France, the main stock holders in the canal, were furious with this move. The two countries joined Israel to attack Egypt in 1956, which was called the Suez Canal Crisis. Pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union forced the three countries to evacuate the Egyptian territory and the United Nations was placed between Egypt and Israel as a buffer.

Fights between Egypt and Israel continued and this “war of attrition” resulted in high Egyptian casualties and burdensome military expenditures. On October 6, 1973, the Yom Kippur War began. On the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Egypt launched and air and artillery assault across the Suez Canal. Egypt attacked Israel but they regained the initiative and were able to encircle Egyptian units on the outskirts of the Suez Canal. The United Nations then imposed a cease-fire between Egypt and Israel armies.

Finally in 1977, the United States decided to take Egypt in. The U.S.-Egyptian relations had formed. While this was going on, a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel was being agreed upon and on March 26, 1979 in Washington, D.C., the two nations signed for the peace treaty which was the Israeli-Egyptian settlement. This provided for the surrender of Sinai to Egypt from Israel in 1982. As a result Egypt regained their sovereignty.

In 1990, Iraq invaded and overtook Kuwait. Fearful that Iraq may take more, caused the Egyptians to help the United States in the Persian Gulf War in 1991. In just the next year in 1992, Fundamentalist Muslim rebels sought to topple the secular Egyptian government. At least 1,200 people have perished since the beginning of the rebellion. The conflict was primarily in the city in a guerrilla/terrorist war. The Egyptian Muslim Rebellion went on till the year 2000.

Now in the year 2004, Minister Narif of Egypt is attempting to change the government. He believes that there should be much younger people involved in Egypt’s government and at least three women. This is very different than Egypt’s usual government. He believes that these types of individuals also have creative ideas and different points of view.

Egyptian culture is centered basically around religion and family values. There is a great difference between the rural and urban people. The rural people still live the traditional life of their ancestors and depend entirely on agriculture and live in simple, mud brick houses. The male is still very much the dominant sex and the females still play the traditional feminine role. Family ties are very strong and neighbors are treated like family. The urban society still holds onto this traditional system of Egyptian values but to much less extent. They lead a more modern and westernized life style.

Egyptians are also very patriotic. They are known for their helpfulness and friendliness. The dress code is conservative; both men and women have to be decently covered, especially the women.

Culture activities not only include the theaters, opera, and symphony, but in the 1960s there has been a growing interest in folk dancing, which is performed by two National dance groups. Egypt is also the principal filmmaking country in the Arab world. And of course, one of the most popular skills practiced by the Egyptians is painting. The Egyptians paint beautiful paintings of major events, worshipped gods, victories, deaths, and tell many stories. These paintings have great detail with sharp unique colors. The paintings hold great emotion and experience through which the painter is expressing. Every picture holds a mysterious and or meaningful story behind it.

http://www.amun.com/egyppics/eng/sphinx.html

http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/Egypt/art_report.html

War and Conflict

There were many conflicts that came about in Egypt some of which resulted in war. Many conflicts were between France, Britain, and Egypt over the Suez Canal. France controlled Egypt until 1882 when Britain fought to win Egypt in order to use the Suez Canal. In 1918, there were many riots revolting against the British because they decided to stay even after they brought Egypt out of bankruptcy from former rulers. The British decided to stay and rule over Egypt so they could use the Suez Canal which was a shorter route to India. By 1922, Egypt was declared an independent monarchy, but the British still had the right to intervene. In 1956 the Suez Canal Crisis occurred where Britain, France, and Israel attacked Egypt for nationalizing the canal and used its revenues to finance the dam. The United States and the Soviet Union forced the three countries back. On October 6, 1973 Egypt was again attacked by Israel on the Suez Canal known as the Yom Kippur War. But the United Nations called an armistice. In 1991, the Egyptians helped provide troops to the United States to win the Persian Gulf War. Then in 1992, Muslim fundamentalists increasingly opposed the government and some 1,200 people were killed by the militants. This went on until 2000. This conflict was called the Egyptian Muslim Rebellion. The Fundamentalist Muslim rebels were determined to topple the secular Egyptian government. The conflict was primarily waged as an urban guerilla/terrorist war. The opposition Muslim Brotherhood took part in the elections in 2000, indicating that they felt armed force would not work. Recently, in 2004, the Egyptian-U.S. relationship is weary as a result of terrorism like on September 11. Congress has grown increasingly critical in its support for Egypt. Congress questions the line that Egypt has taken with Israel, its position on terrorism, issues of human rights, and economic and political reform. This U.S.-Egyptian relationship now must face new political realities, like Egypt’s struggling economic condition and concerns over governance and human rights.