- Tourism
- Oil, natural gas, manufacturing
- Agriculture- making the most of their limited arable land (3%): Cotton, Corn, Rice, wheat, fava beans.
- The old pattern of dealing with the Nile [akhet(inundation), peret (land that emerges from flood), and shomu (water is short)] has been changed since 1970 building of the Aswan High Dam.
- The dam controls the flooding of the Nile, and increases the amount of reclaimed land.
Egypt's Demographics:
- 79 million people- biggest population of middle eastern nations, third biggest African Country (#1 Nigeria, and #2 Ethiopia).
- Cairo 6.7 million (metro 19.4 million)
- NYC: 8.3 million (metro 19.0 million)
- Official Language: Arabic (English, French, and German are also taught to some).
- Religion: around 90% Muslim, most of the rest are Christian (Coptic), but there are major conflicts (Egypt is 12th in religious violence, 5th worst for religious freedom).
Egypt's- Politics, Government, Revolution
- 1922- End of protectorate with the United Kingdom.
- 1953- Egypt declared a Republic.
- 1954-1970- ruled by Anwar Sadat: Switches allegiance to the United States. Attacked Israel over Sinai Peninsula, but later made peace. An Sadat assassinated in 1981.
- 1981-2011- ruled by Hosni Mumbarak: Kept alliance with the United States (helped in the Iraq war). Accused of corruption, political persecution, human rights violation. Driven from the office following mass demonstration last month.
What's Next For Egypt?
Who Knows?
- Egypt currently ruled by military, junta, but democratic election scheduled for September 2011.
- Some want Mumbarak arrested and tried for embezzling from the government.Our friend Sarah and other Egyptians say he may have stolen 50-70 billion dollars (other sources say more like 5 billion - still a huge amount).
- Revolution is in the air (to varying degrees) throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa: Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria,Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Libya.
- Libya has been ruled by Muammar Gaddafi since 1969: he is violently opposing Libya's uprising. Libya may descend into full civil war. The east is controlled by rebels, but he still holds the capital (Tripoli) - so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment