Egypt

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic al-Gumhuriyyat Miṣr'Arabiyyah (جمهورية مصر العربية), commonly known as Egyptian Arabic Masr  (مصر), is a country located mainly in North Africa is located on the south coast of the eastern Mediterranean: the Levantine basin, only the northeastern part of Egyptian territory consists of the Sinai Peninsula is in Asia. The current Egypt occupies the geographical area that was once one of ancient Egypt.

With over 86 million inhabitants, Egypt is the third most populous country in Africa after Nigeria and Ethiopia. Growing very rapidly, its population has quadrupled in sixty years.

Its capital is Cairo (al-Qahira, القاهرة). If the official language is Arabic, the language spoken is Egyptian (Arabic dialect). The Siwi - Tamazight (Berber) in western countries - is still spoken in Siwa. Coptic, it survives as the liturgical language of Egyptian Christians. As for the Nubian, it remains a language spoken by the inhabitants of Upper Egypt, in the Aswan region, an area commonly known as Nubia. Its currency is the Egyptian pound.

Egypt multiplies extremes: the most populous Arab country, 90% of its population lives in a strip of fertile land along the Nile (24 km at its widest point near Fayoum, 10 km on average, but can n 'have a hundred meters). The remaining land is desert.

To the south, the Nile runs into a mountain barrier; as it moves towards the north, the landscape becomes increasingly flat and barren.
North of Cairo, the valley turns into a vast delta 200 kilometers wide, similar to a large fertile range into the Mediterranean Sea.
To the east of the valley is the Arabian desert to the west the Libyan desert, arid plateau dotted with bizarre geological formations and lush oases.
To the east, across the Suez Canal extends the Sinai Peninsula, extending the Arabian desert, where the Mount Catherine rises to 2,642 meters.

The air is very dry and clean, and only the Nile is not found there totally Saharan climate. In winter, the temperature is mild and night frosts are exceptional. Apart from the months of January, February and March, sometimes quite cold in the north, average temperatures are around 20 ° C on the Mediterranean coast (maximum 31 ° C) and 28 ° C in Aswan (maximum 50 ° C). In the desert, the extremes are de rigueur - glowing day, cold at night.

Become significantly wetter since the construction of the High Dam, Upper Egypt virtually ignored the rain in ancient times, to the point that it seemed like an omen, usually fatal in the eyes of its inhabitants.

The Nile Delta and especially the offshore experience less severe drought. During the winter, heavy showers are transforming the region into swamps, but these are relatively rare rainfall (average in Cairo is six days of rain per year). Alexandria is the Egyptian city that receives the most precipitation, about 19 cm / year, while qu'Assouan receives only about 10 mm every five years.

In spring, rampant often the khamsin, a dry wind, hot and dusty, scorching breath deserts southeast. At the speed of 150 km / h, he tears the leaves and gives the sky a deep orange hue; the air charge of the dust which makes breathing oppressive. During these fifty days (hence the name of this season), Egypt knows some severe thunderstorms once symbolized by the god Seth.

In summer, the temperature is high, but in the evening a regular northerly breeze cools the atmosphere; this dry heat is actually more tolerable than humid heat.

This great sun, the dry heat were not without influence on the manners of the ancient Egyptians: the need for clothing was not much felt, but the wig was useful to protect themselves from the sun; baths and toilet care refreshed skin, while makeup, cosmetics, perfumes protected the skin and eyes from the sun reverb, and masked the smell of perspiration.

It is also to collect some freshness that were built into thick brick, which is working under porches and affluent people hid their homes in the green gardens.