Egypt ˈiːdʒɪpt (
big '), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt (Arabic), is a
transcontinental country spanning the
northeast corner of Africa and
southwest corner of Asia via a
land bridge formed by the
Sinai Peninsula. Most of its territory of 1010000 km
2 lies within
North Africa and is bordered by the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, the
Gaza Strip and
Israel to the northeast, the
Red Sea to the east,
Sudan to the south and
Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East, and the 15th most populated in the world. The great majority of its over 84 million people live near the banks of the
Nile River, an area of about 40000 km
2, where the only
arable land is found. The large regions of the
Sahara Desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater
Cairo,
Alexandria and other major cities in the
Nile Delta.
Egypt has one of the longest histories of any modern state, having been continuously inhabited since the 10th millennium BC. Its monuments, such as the
Giza pyramid complex and its
Great Sphinx, were constructed by its
ancient civilization, which was one of the most advanced of its time. Its ancient ruins, such as those of
Memphis,
Thebes,
Karnak, and the
Valley of the Kings outside
Luxor, are a significant focus of archaeological study and popular interest. Egypt's rich cultural legacy, as well as the attraction of its
Red Sea Riviera, has made
tourism a vital part of the economy, employing about 12% of the country's workforce.
The
economy of Egypt is one of the most diversified in the Middle East, with sectors such as tourism, agriculture, industry and services at almost equal production levels. Egypt is considered to be a
middle power, with significant cultural, political, and military influence in the
Mediterranean, the
Middle East and the
Muslim world.
The English name
Egypt is derived from the
ancient Greek ' (Αἴγυπτος), via Middle French Egypte and Latin Aegyptus. It is reflected in early Greek Linear B tablets as a-ku-pi-ti-yo. The adjective aigýpti-, aigýptios was borrowed into Coptic as , , and from there into Arabic as ', back formed into
قبط ', whence English Copt. The Greek forms were borrowed from Late Egyptian (Amarna) Hikuptah "Memphis", a corruption of the earlier Egyptian name Hwt-ka-Ptah, meaning "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah", the name of a temple to the god Ptah at Memphis. Strabo attributed the word to a folk etymology in which ' (
Αἴγυπτος) evolved as a compound from ' (
Aἰγαίου ὑπτίως), meaning "below the
Aegean".
' (mesˤrIPA) is the Literary Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while ' (mɑsˤɾIPA) is the common pronunciation in
Egyptian Arabic. The name is of
Semitic origin, directly
cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the
Hebrew ('), literally meaning "the two straits" (a reference to the dynastic separation of upper and lower Egypt). The word originally connoted "metropolis" or "civilization" and means "country", or "frontier-land".
The ancient Egyptian name of the country is
⟨𓆎𓅓𓏏𓊖⟩, which means "black land", referring to the fertile black soils of the Nile flood plains, distinct from the deshret, or "red land" of the desert. This name is commonly vocalized as Kemet, but was probably pronounced /ku:mat/ in ancient Egyptian. The name is realized as ' and ' in the Coptic stage of the Egyptian language, and appeared in early Greek as Χημία ('). Another name was ' "land of the riverbank". The names of Upper and Lower Egypt were Ta-Sheme'aw "sedgeland" and Ta-Mehew "northland", respectively.