Egypt

Egypt: capital Cairo, population 118.4M, area 1,002,450 km². The 13th most populous country, in Africa. Facts, map, neighbours and more.

Egypt's inhabited corridor follows the Nile between desert plateaus before opening into a broad Mediterranean delta. Stone architecture, a three-script decree and a tomb containing 5,398 catalogued objects make unusually tangible records of its past. Its cultural continuity also appears in a 365-day calendar, a thirty-square board game, a stick contest and Cairo's hand-sewn tent panels.

• Built around 2600 BCE over about 26 years, the Great Pyramid originally rose 146.6 metres and remained the tallest human-made structure for more than 3,700 years.
• French soldiers found the Rosetta Stone at Fort Julien in July 1799; three versions of one decree helped Jean-François Champollion announce phonetic hieroglyphic decipherment in 1822.
• Suez Canal construction ran from 1859 to 1869, and the lock-free sea-level passage officially opened on 17 November, connecting the Mediterranean directly with the Red Sea.
• Howard Carter's team uncovered Tutankhamun's first tomb stair on 4 November 1922; the decade-long clearance eventually catalogued 5,398 distinct objects from four chambers.

• Imhotep served Pharaoh Djoser in the late 27th century BCE and is credited by Egyptologists with designing Saqqara's Step Pyramid, built entirely from stone.
• Hatshepsut financed an expedition to Punt around 1471 BCE that returned with 31 living myrrh trees; reliefs at Deir el-Bahari record the ships, cargo and travellers.
• Naguib Mahfouz became the first Egyptian and first native Arabic speaker to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, after writing more than 30 novels.
• Ahmed Zewail received the 1999 chemistry prize for femtosecond spectroscopy, using laser flashes measured in 10^-15 seconds to observe bonds breaking and forming during reactions.

• The Great Pyramid is the only substantially intact Ancient Wonder; builders used an estimated 2.3 million blocks, including Aswan granite pieces weighing up to 80 tonnes.
• Engineers cut Abu Simbel's temples into 1,036 blocks and rebuilt them 65 metres higher; the relocated complex reopened in 1968 before Lake Nasser submerged its original site.
• Karnak's Great Hypostyle Hall covered about 5,000 square metres beneath a roof supported by 134 papyrus-shaped columns in 16 rows, with central columns reaching 24 metres.
• Djoser's Step Pyramid rises roughly 60 metres in six tiers; builders repeatedly enlarged an initial stone mastaba until it became Egypt's earliest large pyramid complex.

• The ancient Egyptian civil calendar divided 365 days into three 120-day seasons plus five extra days; without leap years, its dates drifted one day every four years.
• Senet is attested around 3100 BCE and used 30 squares in three rows; two players raced pieces by casting sticks or knucklebones instead of rolling dice.
• UNESCO inscribed tahteeb in 2016; two opponents wield long sticks in a non-violent exchange before spectators and folk musicians, with rules requiring control and forbidding strikes.
• Cairo's khayamiya makers hand-stitch cotton appliqué while sitting cross-legged; their Street of the Tentmakers occupies a covered market built in the 17th century.

What is the capital of Egypt?

The capital of Egypt is Cairo.

What is the population of Egypt?

Egypt has about 118.4M people — the 13th most populous country in the world.

How big is Egypt?

Egypt covers 1,002,450 km², making it the 29th largest country by area.

Which region is Egypt in?

Egypt is in Northern Africa, Africa.