Egypt

The Nile flows north through Egypt for more than 1,500 kilometers, creating a narrow green corridor through an otherwise dry landscape. For more than 5,000 years, its water and fertile riverbanks have supported farming and communities. Before modern dams controlled its flow, seasonal floods spread water and rich soil across the valley; today canals carry Nile water to farms and cities.

Most of Egypt is desert. West of the Nile, the vast Western Desert forms part of the Sahara and includes some of the driest places on Earth, while east of the river the land becomes rockier and more mountainous toward the Red Sea. In the northeast, a triangular desert peninsula called Sinai stretches into Asia, so Egypt has land in both Africa and Asia.

Egypt sits between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the east, placing it where Africa, Asia, and the Mediterranean world meet. For thousands of years, the Mediterranean connected Egypt with Europe, while Red Sea routes linked it with Arabia, East Africa, and lands around the Indian Ocean.

Near the Mediterranean, the Nile spreads into several branches across one of the world's largest river deltas, a broad green triangle of fertile farmland. Far out in the Western Desert, underground water supports isolated oases such as Siwa, Bahariya, and Dakhla, where farms and communities survive far from the Nile.

Although desert covers most of Egypt, nearly all of its cities and farmland cluster along the Nile and its delta—a narrow green ribbon through vast desert. More than 100 million people live on only a small fraction of the country's land because the river provides the water and fertile soil needed for farming and settlement.

The Nile gave ancient Egyptians water, fertile farmland, and a river route for moving people and goods. Successful farming supported large communities and a powerful government, whose rulers, called pharaohs, built temples, tombs, and pyramids. The river helped make one of the world's earliest major civilizations possible.

Egypt is part of the Arabic-speaking world, and most Egyptians are Muslim, but the country is also home to one of the world's oldest Christian communities. Egypt's Copts trace their roots back nearly 2,000 years. After Arab Muslim armies took control in the 600s, Arabic and Islam spread gradually over centuries while Coptic Christianity continued.

Greater Cairo is home to more than 20 million people, making it one of the world's largest urban areas. Along the Nile, pharaonic monuments, medieval mosques and churches, crowded markets, and modern apartment towers can all appear within the same sprawling cityscape. The pyramids of Giza rise at its western edge.

The Suez Canal is a human-made waterway cutting across northeastern Egypt between the Mediterranean and Red Sea. It lets ships travel between Europe and Asia without sailing all the way around Africa, making the canal one of the world's most important shipping routes. Ships pay Egypt fees to pass through it.

Because rain is scarce, farmers use Nile water to grow crops on the narrow strip of fertile land beside the river and across the delta. Irrigation canals carry water to fields growing wheat, vegetables, fruit, cotton, and other crops.

Egypt draws visitors from around the world with an incredible variety of attractions—from pyramids and ancient temples along the Nile to colorful coral reefs in the Red Sea. Tourism built around these very different places is an important part of Egypt's economy.

Many Egyptians work abroad, especially in other Arab countries, and send part of their earnings home to relatives in Egypt. These payments are called remittances, and they help families pay for everyday needs while also bringing billions of dollars into Egypt each year.