Egypt: Geography, People, Environment• Modern-day Egypt is located in North Africa & Asia and is considered part of the

region known as the Middle East

• Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip & Israel to

the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south & Libya to the west

• The part of Egypt that connects Africa to Asia is known as the Sinai Peninsula

• Ships travel from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea via the Suez Canal

• Egypt’s capital, Cairo is the largest city on the continent of Africa

• Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world - its official language is Arabic and its

official religion is Islam

• People in modern-day Egypt call Egypt by its Arabic name, Misr

• In 3800 BCE, people began to develop a complex society along the Nile River

Valley - this civilization came to be known as Ancient Egypt

• Ancient Egypt had different borders than modern-day Egypt - at times, Ancient

Egypt was a vast empire that conquered many other lands

• When the Ancient Greeks visited, they called it Aígyptos meaning “below the Aegean

Sea” which is the body of water on the Greek coastline

• The Nile begins in Lake Victoria

in Uganda and flows North for

4200 miles (the longest in world!)

• Right before the Nile empties into

the Mediterranean Sea, it splits of

into several tributaries shaped

like a fan

• This area of extremely fertile land

at the mouth of a river is called a

Delta

• Along the length of the Nile lie 6

cataracts or waterfalls

• Most ancient Egyptians lived

North of 1st cataract

• Egypt is predominantly desert - 99% of the

population lives along the Nile

• Each year from June - Sept, rain/melting

snow from mountains at Nile’s source

cause the Nile to flood the flatland of the

Nile River Valley

• As the waters recede, they leave behind a

layer of silt (extremely fertile soil)

• Egyptian farmers planned their work

according to the annual flood

• Farmers practiced irrigation – bringing

water to fields through the use of canals

• B/c of the annual Nile flood, Egypt is often

called the “Gift of the Nile”