Lyon

In the Marillion song Bitter Suite from "Misplaced Childhood" there is a reference to Lyon. Some famous Egyptians include:. Lyon is twinned with:. To bolster its media industry, especially with the keen competition from the Persian Gulf states and Lebanon, it has built a large media city that it has promoted as the "Hollywood of the East." Egypt is the only Arab country with an opera house. The long list of notable Lyonnais includes:. Though considered a low-income country, Egypt has a thriving media and arts industry, with more than 30 satellite channels and more than 100 motion pictures produced each year. Despite occasional problems with the technology infrastructure or lack of cards in vending machines, it seems to have been adopted as a viable means of public transport. Egypt also has a strong Christian heritage as evidenced by the existence of the Coptic Orthodox Church headed by the Patriarch of Alexandria, which has a following of approximately 50 million Christians worldwide (one of the famous Coptic Orthodox Churches is Saint Takla Haimanot Church in Alexandria http://www.St-Takla.org).

The system was introduced in May 2005 and was a huge success in its first few months of operation. The head of Al-Azhar is traditionally regarded as the supreme leader of Sunni Muslims all over the world. Known as Vélo'v, it is owned and operated by the advertising company JCDecaux, which refers to it as Cyclocity. Al-Azhar University (Arabic: جامعة الأزهر ) is the oldest Islamic institution for higher studies (founded around 970 CE), with its corresponding mosque Al-Azhar. Lyon has a public bicycle network of 2000 bikes which can be picked up and dropped off at points around the city. Egypt also hosts two major religious institutions. In addition to the extensive metro and bus system, Lyon has a tramway system. The Egyptian Academy of the Arabic Language is responsible for regulating the Arabic Language (Arabic:اللغة العربية ) throughout the world.

The TCL (Transport en Commun Lyonnais : Lyon's Public transport) serves 62 communes of the Lyons agglomeration and constitutes the second grid system jointly French. Egypt's capital city, Cairo, is Africa's largest city and has been renowned for centuries as a center of learning, culture and commerce. Metro: see Lyon Metro. An oasis is a fertile or green area in the midst of a desert. 1982. Oases include: Bahariya Oasis, Dakhleh Oasis, Farafra Oasis, Kharga Oasis, Siwa Oasis. It was the first city to be connected by the TGV c. These deserts were referred to as the "red land" in ancient Egypt, and they protected the Kingdom of the Pharaohs from harm.

Lyon is connected to the North (Lille, Paris) and the South (Marseille, Montpellier) by the TGV. Deserts: Egypt includes parts of the Sahara Desert and of the Libyan Desert. Airport: Saint-Exupéry International Airport. Towns and cities include Alexandria, one of the great ancient cities, Aswan, Asyut, Cairo, the modern Egyptian capital, El-Mahalla El-Kubra, Giza, the site of the Pyramid of Khufu, Hurghada, Luxor, Kom Ombo, Port Safaga, Port Said, Sharm el Sheikh, Shubra-El-Khema, Suez, where the Suez Canal is located, Zagazig, and Al-Minya. The red vestments of the canons of Lyon are said to have given rise to red becoming the signature color of the cardinals, in a decree promulgated under Pope Innocent IV at the First Council of Lyons, 1245. Egypt's important role in geopolitics stems from its strategic position: a transcontinental nation, it possesses a land bridge (the Isthmus of Suez) between Africa and Asia, which in turn is traversed by a navigable waterway (the Suez Canal) that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. The archdiocese dates to Roman times before Franks entered modern France (see history above). Egypt is bordered by Libya on the west, Sudan on the south, and on Israel on the northeast.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of the city holds the title "Primate of the Gauls" (Primat des Gaules) and is the leading Archbishop of France. Egypt also has a strong Christian heritage as it is the home of the Coptic Orthodox Church headed by the Patriarch of Alexandria, which has a following of approximately 50 million Christians worldwide. Two of France's best known wine-growing regions are located near Lyon: the Beaujolais to the North, and the Côtes du Rhône to the South. Al-Azhar University is the oldest Islamic institution for higher studies (founded around 970 CE), with its corresponding mosque Al-Azhar. During the event, the local population places candles in their windows and the city of Lyon organizes and projects impressive large-scale light shows onto the sides of important Lyonais monuments, such as the mediaeval Cathédral St-Jean. The department supports Sunni Islam and has commissions authorised to give Fatwa judgements on Islamic issues.

Egypt also hosts two major religious institutions. December 8 each year is marked by "la Fête de la Lumière" (the Festival of Lights), a celebration of thanks to the Virgin Mary, who purportedly saved the city from a deadly plague in the Middle Ages. Imams are trained in Imam vocational schools and at Al-Azhar University.

The Lumière brothers invented cinema in the town in 1898. Al-Awkaf controls all mosques and Muslim clerics. For several centuries Lyon has been known as the capital of gastronomy, fine handweaving, and the silk trade. Christians represent about 6% of the population, primarily the Coptic denomination, though other Christian groups are present, including standard Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox, in Alexandria and Cairo, whose adherents are mainly descendants of Italian, Greek, and Armenian immigrants.
There are also some few, small Jewish communities that are numbered as few as 300 Egyptians.

There are also many who consider themselves as atheists, agnostics, and skeptics, although their numbers can not be identified.

The mainstream Hanafi school of Sunni Islam is largely organised by the state, through Wizaret Al-Awkaf (Ministry of Religious Affairs). Lyon was an early center for printing books, and nurtured a circle of 16th century poets. Egypt is predominantly Muslim, covering about 94% of the population, most belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. Interpol headquarters is located in this neighborhood. According to the constitution, any new legislation must implicitly agree with Islamic (Arabic: الإسلام) laws.

This area also contains the Parc de la tête d'or, one of Europe's largest urban parks. Several important Jewish archeological and historical sites also remain. Across the Rhône from the presqu'ile sits modern Lyon, home to the urban center Lyon Part-Dieu; central France's only skyscraper; and most of the city's population. The once-vibrant Jewish community in Egypt has virtually disappeared, with only a small number remaining in Egypt and those who visit on religious occasions. Specifically, it is the largest clear square (i.e., without any patches of greenery, trees or any other kind of obstacles) in Europe. Egypt also hosts some 90,000 refugees and asylum seekers, made up mostly of 70,000 Palestinian refugees and 20,000 Sudanese refugees. On the peninsula (presqu'ile) between the rivers Rhône and Saône, is the third largest public square in France, and one of the largest in Europe, the Place Bellecour. Ethnic minorities include a small number of Bedouin Arab nomads in the Sinai and eastern and western deserts, as well as some Nubians clustered along the Nile in Upper (southern) Egypt who are estimated to be about 0.8% of the population.

The Saint-Jean and the Croix-Rousse areas, which are noted for their narrow passageways (traboules) that pass through buildings and link the streets either side, were designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1998. The Egyptian people have spoken only languages from the Afro-Asiatic family (previously known as Hamito-Semitic) throughout their history starting with Old Egyptian to modern Egyptian Arabic. Croix-Rousse the hill that works was traditionally home to the many small silk workshops, an industry for which the city was renowned. The bulk of modern Egyptian society still maintains a homogenous genetic tie to ancient Egyptian society, which has always been rural and quite populous compared to neighboring countries. Fourvière, known as the hill that prays is the location for the highly decorated Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica, several convents, the palace of the Archbishop, the Tour métallique (a highly visible TV tower) and a funicular. North African and Eastern Mediterranean influences are more predominant in the north, while the south which bears the same influences is also home to people who are related to Nubians and Africans further southeast such as Ethiopians. The Rhône and Saône rivers meet at the south end of the city, which is dominated by the two hills Fourvière and the Croix-Rousse. The Egyptians are a fairly homogeneous people.

(See also Klaus Barbie.) The traboules, or secret passages, through the houses enabled the local people to escape Gestapo raids. Approximately 90% of the population adheres to Islam and most of the remainder to Christianity (primarily the Coptic denomination). Lyon was a centre for the occupying German forces and also a stronghold of resistance during World War II, and the town is now home to a resistance museum. Nearly all the population is concentrated along the banks of the Nile, notably Alexandria and Cairo, and in the Delta and near the Suez Canal. The 1831 uprising saw one of the first recorded uses of the black flag as an emblem of protest. Egypt is the second most populous country in Africa, at about 77,500,000 people. The silk workers of Lyon, known as canuts, staged two major uprisings: in 1831 and 1834. In its annual report, the IMF has rated Egypt as one of the top countries in the world undertaking economic reforms.

Bartholomew's Day Massacres in 1572. Economic conditions are starting to improve considerably after a period of stagnation due to the adoption of more liberal economic policies by the government, as well as increased revenues from tourism and a booming stock market. Lyon was a scene of mass violence against Huguenots in the St. Egypt is the third-largest recipient of such funds from the United States following the Iraq war. Thanks to the silk trade, Lyon became an important industrial town during the 19th century. foreign aid (since 1979, an average of 2.2 billion dollars per year). During the Renaissance, the city developed with the silk trade, especially with Italy; the Italian influence on Lyon's architecture can still be seen. The government has struggled to prepare the economy for the new millennium through economic reform and massive investment in communications and physical infrastructure, much financed from U.S.

When international banking moved to Genoa, then Amsterdam, Lyon simply became the banking center of France; its new Bourse (treasury), built in 1749, still resembled a public bazaar where accounts were settled in the open air. A rapidly-growing population (the largest in the Arab world), limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile all continue to overtax resources and stress society. The fairs in Lyon, the invention of Italian merchants, made it the economic countinghouse of France in the late 15th century. The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 and the resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honored place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt. 327). The United States as well has a large population of Egyptian immigrants. Fernand Braudel remarked, "Historians of Lyon are not sufficiently aware of the bi-polarity between Paris and Lyon, which is a constant structure in French development" from the late Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution (Braudel 1984 p. Egypt's economy depends mainly on agriculture, media, petroleum exports, and tourism; there are also more than 5 million Egyptians working abroad, mainly in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf area like UAE, and Europe.

In 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I. It has a territorial dispute with Sudan over the Hala'ib Triangle. Burgundian refugees from the destruction of Worms by Huns in 437 were resettled by the military commander of the west, Aëtius, at Lugdunum, which was formally the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom by 461. Egypt is on good terms with all of its neighbours, and was the first Arab nation to make peace with Israel. The great Christian bishop of Lyon in the 2nd century was the Easterner Irenaeus. Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Boutros Boutros-Ghali served as Secretary General of the United Nations from 1991 to 1996. The Christians in Lyon were persecuted for their religious views under the reigns of the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Former Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa is the present Secretary General of the Arab League.

Two emperors were born in this city: Claudius and Caracalla. The Secretary General of the League has traditionally been an Egyptian. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly thanks to its fortunate site at the convergence of two navigable rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. The League of Arab States headquarters is in Cairo. Agrippa recognized that Lugdunum's position on the natural highway from northern to south-eastern France made it a natural communications hub, and he made Lyon the starting point of the principal Roman roads throughout Gaul. Cairo has been a crossroads of Arab commerce and culture for millennia, and its intellectual and Islamic institutions are at the center of the region's social and cultural development. The three parts of Gaul mentioned by Caesar met at Lyon. Geography, population, history, military strength, and diplomatic expertise give Egypt extensive political influence in the Middle East.

Lug's 'totem' was a cock (rooster), hence the Modern French association with 'le coq'. Egypt is divided into 26 governorates (Muhafazat; singular – Muhafazah)& the city of Al Uqsur|al-Uqsur]] (Luxor), which is classified as a city rather than a governorate. The name was latinised as Lugdunum; Lug was equated by the Romans to Mercurius. Egypt continues to contribute regularly to United Nations peacekeeping missions, most recently in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Lyon was founded as a Roman colony in 43 BC by Munatius Plancus, a lieutenant of Caesar, on the site of a Gaulish hill-fort settlement called Lug[o]dunon—from the Celtic sun god Lugus ('Light', cognate to Old Irish Lugh, Modern Irish Lú) and dúnon (hill-fort). Egypt takes part regularly in military exercises with the US and other European and Arab allies, including the manoeuvres that take place in Egypt every two years. Lyon, similarly to Marseille and Paris is divided into 9 municipal arrondissements, referred to by number. Bilateral exercises and mutual training are carried out regularly, and, according to one US source, reflect the high level of professionalism and the growing excellence of the fighting men and women in the various branches of the Egyptian armed forces.

Lyon is the capital of the Rhône-Alpes région, the préfecture of the Rhône département, and the capital of 14 cantons, covering 1 commune, and with a total population of 445,452 (1999). Nothing could furnish clearer proof of this than the high degree of transparency surrounding all aspects of Egyptian-US military cooperation. . While military cooperation between the US and Egypt is close and diversified, this does not constitute a form of military alliance. Lyon is also the international headquarters of Interpol. Military cooperation between the two countries covers a number of strategic areas, including cooperation in the ongoing process of modernising Egyptian armaments and training the Egyptian armed forces. Lyonnaise Region is an unofficial, popular name, not to be confused with the administrative région of Rhône-Alpes, which is much larger than the Lyonnaise Region. Military relations between Egypt and the US are strong.

Today the region around Lyon is still known as Lyonnais (French: le Lyonnais), or sometimes even as the Lyonnaise Region (French: Région Lyonnaise). The length of the service depends on the level of education achieved by the conscripted. The city gave its name to the Lyonnais province, of which it was the capital. Full-time students may defer their service until the age of 28. Lyon is the capital of the Rhône-Alpes région, and the préfecture (capital) of the Rhône département. Conscription is compulsory for Egyptian men of 18 years of age. Together with its suburbs and satellite towns, Lyon forms the second largest metropolitan area in France after Paris, with 1,648,216 inhabitants at the 1999 census, and approximately the 20th to 25th largest metropolitan area of Western Europe. The Commander of the Air Defence Forces is Major General Abd El Aziz Seif.

Location: 45°46′1″N, 4°50′3″E. Gen.) Magdy Galal Sharawi. Lyon (often Lyons in English) (French pronunciation: /ljɔ̃/) is a city in east central France. The Commander of the Air Forces is Air Marshal (Lt. A historical article about a 19th century flood inspired the 1979 song The Flood at Lyons by Renaissance. The Commander of the Navy is Vice Admiral Tamer Abd El Aleem Mohamed Ismail. Yokohama, Japan, 1959 Yokohama's Sister City page. Sami Hafez Enan.

Frankfurt, Germany, 1960. Gen. Saint Louis, United States, 1975. The Chief of Staff is Lt. Milan, Italy, 1966. The Commander-in-Chief and commander of the army is Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Minister Of Defense and Military Production. Guangzhou, China, 1988. During peacetime, the title of Supreme Commander is ceremonial.

Birmingham, Great Britain, 1951 Birmingham's Partner City page. The Supreme Commander is Hosni Mubarak, wartime Field Marshal of the army, admiral of the navy, Chief Air Marshal (Colonel General) of the Air Forces and Air Defence Forces. Hector Guimard, Art Nouveau architect. The Egyptian Armed forces, has a combined troop strength of 450,000 active personnel. Bernard Pivot, journalist. Its inventory includes F-16s, Mirage 2000 aircraft, MiG-29 fighters, Apache helicopters, M1 Abrams Tanks and medium-long range missiles. Caracalla, IIInd century roman emperor. The Egyptian Armed Forces also ranks among the most battle-trained armed forces in the region.

Bertrand Tavernier, movies director. The Egyptian military is the strongest military power on the African continent, and the second largest in the Middle East, the largest being that of Israel - (Source: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies' annual Middle East Strategic Balance). Raymond Domenech, trainer French football team. The Coast Guard and Border Guard operate as subordinates to the Navy and Army Command respectively. Youri Djorkaeff, football player. The Egyptian Armed Forces (Arabic: القوات المسلحة المصرية) consists of the Army, Air Force, Navy and Air Defense. Henri Cochet, tennis player. Most Arab nations still give credence to Egypt playing that role, though its effects are often limited.

Bishop Mathias Loras, the first Bishop of the Dubuque, Iowa Diocese. Egypt has a major influence amongst other Arab states, and has historically played an important role as a mediator in resolving disputes between various Arab nations, and in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. Jean-Michel Jarre, musician. Egypt was the first Arab state to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, after the signing of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty at the Camp David Accords. Maurice Jarre, composer. The permanent headquarters for the League of Arab States (The Arab League) is located in Cairo. Marie-France Gaîté (la Gribouille), singer. Newspapers, however, have exhibited an increasing degree of freedom in criticizing the president, and the results of the recent parliamentary elections, which saw Islamist parties such as the banned Muslim Brotherhood winning many seats, genuinely indicate that a change of some sorts is underway.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, aviation pioneer and writer. A very small proportion of those eligible to vote actually turned out for the 2005 elections. Tony Garnier, architect and utopian planner. As a result, most Egyptians are skeptical about the process of democratisation and the role of the elections. Jules Favre, republican statesman. This poses major questions about the government's purported commitment to democracy. Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, painter. In addition, violence by pro-Mubarak supporters against opposition demonstrators and police brutality were evident during the elections.

Shlomo Aviner, renowned Religious Zionist rabbi. Concerns were once again expressed after the 2005 elections about government interference in the election process through fraud and vote-rigging. François Rabelais, 16th century writer. The President said his initiative came "out of my full conviction of the need to consolidate efforts for more freedom and democracy." However, the new law placed draconian restrictions on the filing for presidential candidacies, designed to prevent well-known candidates such as Ayman Nour from standing against Mubarak, and paved the road for his easy re-election victory. Louise Labé, 16th century poet. For the first time since the 1952 movement, the Egyptian people had an apparent chance to elect a leader from a list of various candidates. Cathédrale Saint-Jean. In late-February 2005, Mubarak announced in a surprise television broadcast that he had ordered the reform of the country's presidential election law, paving the way for multi-candidate polls in the upcoming presidential election.

Cité Internationale, 1998, Renzo Piano, architect. The last presidential election, in which Mubarak won a sixth consecutive term, was held in September 2005 (see below). Lyon Airport Railway Station, 1994, Santiago Calatrava, architect. Egypt also holds regular multi-party parliamentary elections. Opéra National de Lyon, renovation and expansion 1993, Jean Nouvel, architect. Although power is ostensibly organised under a multi-party semi-presidential system, whereby the executive power is theoretically divided between the President and the Prime Minister, in practice it rests almost soley with the President who has traditionally been elected in single-candidate elections for more than fifty years. Guillaume Gilbert, architect. Egypt is regarded by many as being ruled by a military dictatorship.

Satolas Airport, 1975. Atef Ebeid from his office. Sainte Marie de La Tourette monastery, 1960, Le Corbusier, architect. Ahmed Nazif was sworn in as Prime Minister on 9 July 2004, following the resignation of Dr. La Mouche Cattle Market and Abbatoir, 1914, 1928, Tony Garnier, architect. Prime Minister Dr. Tour métallique de Fourvière, 1894. He is the leader of the ruling National Democratic Party.

La Martiniere Lyons. Mubarak is currently serving his sixth term in office. École Nationale des Travaux Publics de l'État. President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has been the President of the Republic since October 14, 1981, following the assassination of former-President Mohammed Anwar El-Sadat. ESDES Business School. Egypt has been a republic since 18 June 1953. Université Catholique de Lyon. Sadat was murdered by a religious fundamentalist in 1981, and succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.

Université Louis Lumière (Lyon II). In 1979, Sadat made peace with Israel in exchange for the Sinai, a move that sparked enormous controversy in the Arab world and led to Egypt's expulsion from the Arab League (it was readmitted in 1989). Université Claude Bernard (Lyon I). Both the United States and the USSR intervened, and a cease-fire was reached between Egypt and Israel. Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III). In 1973, Egypt, along with Syria, launched a surprise attack on Israel in the October War (known also as the Yom Kippur War), which, despite not being a complete military success, was by most accounts a political victory. Institution des Chartreux http://www.leschartreux.com. Egypt's name was also restored.

Institut d'études politiques de Lyon. Sadat switched Egypt's Cold War allegiance from the Soviet Union to the United States, expelling Soviet advisors in 1972, and launched the Infitah economic reform, while violently clamping down on religious and secular opposition alike. Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon. Three years after the 1967 Six Day War, in which Egypt lost the Sinai to Israel, Nasser died and was succeeded by Anwar Sadat, who presented his takeover in terms of a Corrective Revolution. École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon. This attempt too was met with mixed reactions, and it was clear that many Egyptians resented finding that the name of their country, which had endured for thousands of years, was suddenly eliminated. École Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines. Between 1958 and 1961, Nasser undertook to form a union between Egypt and Syria known as the United Arab Republic.

École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. Nasser came out of the war an Arab hero, and Nasserism won widespread influence in the region though was met with mixed reactions amongst Egyptians, many of whom had previously been indifferent to Arab nationalism. EM Lyon (École de Management de Lyon). After Naguib was also forced to resign in 1954 by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real architect of the 1952 movement, the latter assumed power as President and nationalized the Suez Canal leading to the 1956 Suez Crisis. École Centrale de Lyon. Finally, the Egyptian Republic was declared on 18 June 1953 with General Muhammad Naguib as the first President of the Republic. CPE Lyon. However, in 1952 a military coup d'état forced King Farouk I, a constitutional monarch, to abdicate in support of his son King Ahmed Fouad II.

Between 1924-1936 there existed a short-lived but successful attempt to model Egypt's constitutional government after the European style of government; known as Egypt's Liberal Experiment. Almost fully independent from the UK in 1922, the Egyptian Parliament drafted and implemented a new constitution in 1923 under the leadership of the popular revolutionary Saad Zaghlul. Ostensibly to protect its investments, Britain seized control of Egypt's government in 1882, but nominal allegiance to the Ottoman Empire continued until 1914. Following the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, Egypt became an important world transportation hub; however, the country also fell heavily into debt.

A local military caste, the Mamluks took control about 1250 and continued to govern even after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottoman Turks in 1517. Muslim rulers nominated by the Islamic Caliphate remained in control of Egypt for the next six centuries. It was the Muslim Arabs who introduced Islam and the Arabic language in the seventh century to the Egyptians, who gradually adopted both. Later, Egypt fell to the Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Persians again.

The last native dynasty, known as the Thirtieth Dynasty, fell to the Persians in 341 BC who dug the predecessor of the Suez canal and connected the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. A unified kingdom was founded circa 3200 BC by King Narmer, and a series of dynasties ruled in Egypt for the next three millennia. The regularity and richness of the annual Nile River flood, coupled with semi-isolation provided by deserts to the east and west, allowed for the development of one of the world's great civilizations. For details see the article Copt.

This word may in turn be derived from the ancient Egyptian phrase ḥwt-k3-ptḥ ("Hwt ka Ptah") meaning "home of the Ka (part of the soul) of Ptah," the name of a temple of the god Ptah at Memphis. The English name "Egypt" came via the Latin word Aegyptus derived from the ancient Greek word Αίγυπτος Aiguptos (see also List of traditional Greek place names). This name became keme in a later stage of Coptic. Misr, the Arabic and official name for modern Egypt, is of Semitic origin directly cognate with the Hebrew מִצְרַיִם Mitzráyim meaning "the two straits", and possibly means "a country" or "a state." The ancient name for the country, kemet, or "black land," is derived from the fertile black soils deposited by the Nile floods, distinct from the 'red land' (deshret) of the desert.

. Today, Egypt is widely regarded as the main political and cultural centre of the Arab and Middle Eastern regions. Egypt is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most stunning ancient monuments, including the Giza Pyramids, the Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings; the southern city of Luxor contains a particularly large number of ancient artifacts. About half of the Egyptian people today are urban, living in the densely populated centers of greater Cairo, the largest city in Africa, and Alexandria.

Large areas of land are part of the Sahara Desert and are sparsely inhabited. The vast majority of its 77 million population (2005) live near the banks of the Nile River (about 40,000 km²), where the only arable agricultural land is found. Egypt is the fifteenth most populous country in the world. Covering an area of about 1,020,000 km², Egypt shares land borders with Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, and Israel and the Gaza Strip to the northeast and has coasts on the north and east by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, respectively.

While most of the country is geographically located in Africa, the Sinai Peninsula east of the Suez Canal is in Asia. The Arab Republic of Egypt, commonly known as Egypt, (in Arabic: مصر, romanized Misr, in Egyptian Arabic Másr, listen (help·info)), is a republic in North Africa. Anwar Sadat (former president and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize). Mohamed ElBaradei (Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Winner of the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize).

Ahmed Zewail (Nobel Prize-winning chemist). Omar Sharif (actor). Umm Kulthum (singer). Naguib Mahfouz (Nobel Prize-winning novelist).

Boutros Boutros-Ghali (former Secretary General of the United Nations). Gamal Abdel Nasser (former president). Saad Zaghlul (leader of first modern Egyptian revolution).