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 El Arish, Egypt
Asyut, Egypt
Alexandria / Nouzha, Egypt
Alexandria Borg El Arab, Egypt
Cairo Airport, Egypt
Hurguada, Egypt
Luxor, Egypt
Mersa Matruh, Egypt
Port Said, Egypt
Sharm El Sheikhintl, Egypt
Asswan, Egypt
El Tor, Egypt
Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea,
between Libya and the Gaza Strip
Geographic coordinates: 27 00 N, 30 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total: 1,001,450 sq km
land: 995,450 sq km
water: 6,000 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly more than three times the size
of New Mexico
Land boundaries:
total: 2,689 km
border countries: Gaza Strip 11 km, Israel 255 km, Libya
1,150 km, Sudan 1,273 km
Coastline: 2,450 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: desert; hot, dry summers with moderate winters
Terrain: vast desert plateau interrupted by Nile valley
and delta
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Qattara Depression -133 m
highest point: Mount Catherine 2,629 m
Natural resources: petroleum, natural gas, iron ore, phosphates,
manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc, asbestos, lead, zinc
Land use:
arable land: 2%
permanent crops: 0%
permanent pastures: 0%
forests and woodland: 0%
other: 98% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 32,460 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: periodic droughts; frequent earthquakes,
flash floods, landslides, volcanic activity; hot, driving windstorm
called khamsin occurs in spring; dust storms, sandstorms
Environment - current issues: agricultural land being lost
to urbanization and windblown sands; increasing soil salination
below Aswan High Dam; desertification; oil pollution threatening
coral reefs, beaches, and marine habitats; other water pollution
from agricultural pesticides, raw sewage, and industrial effluents;
very limited natural fresh water resources away from the Nile which
is the only perennial water source; rapid growth in population overstraining
natural resources
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands,
Whaling
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note: controls Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge
between Africa and remainder of Eastern Hemisphere; controls Suez
Canal, shortest sea link between Indian Ocean and Mediterranean
Sea; size, and juxtaposition to Israel, establish its major role
in Middle Eastern geopolitics
Geography
Egypt's land area is approximately 1,001,450 sq km in northeastern
Africa. To the north of Egypt is the Mediterranean while Sudan is
to the south of its border. Libya shares its western border while
the Red Sea and Israel shares its eastern border.
Egypt is mainly a desert country, with the River Nile dividing
the country unevenly in two, and the Suez Canal together with the
Sinai Peninsula provide a third division. The landscape is mainly
made up of flat desert, without any vegetation apart from the few
oases that have survived in the Western Desert. Over 90% of the
land area is covered by deserts - the Libyan Desert to the west,
the Sahara and Nubian Deserts to the south and the Arabian Desert
to the east. More than 90% of the population is centered around
the River Nile. It is only the Nile valley and the Nile Delta that
is both habitable and arable. Narrow strips are also inhabited on
the Mediterranean coast and on the African Red Sea coast.
Climate
Egypt is mostly hot and dry throughout the year. Milder weather
is experienced by places such as Alexandria and the Mediterranean
coast whereas the heat in Cairo and other inland areas is unbearable
with temperatures rising to as high as 50ēC in some parts of the
country. Temperature in the desert is dramatic and can fluctuate
up to a difference of 37ēC in a day.
During winter, temperatures can fall to freezing and heavy winter,
rain can be expected along the Mediterranean coast. Spring in Egypt
is often surrounded by ‘khamsin‘, a predictable hot and
bitter wind which brings blinding sand and dust storms. In the desert,
the wind can lift sand up to 2 meters from the ground, creating
a shifting, billowing layer above the land.
Egypt
GEOGRAPHY
Size: Approximately 1 million square kilometers.
Topography: Four major regions: Nile Valley and
Delta, where about 99 percent of population lives; Western Desert;
Eastern Desert; and Sinai Peninsula.
Climate: Except for modest amounts of rainfall
along Mediterranean coast, precipitation ranges from minimal to
nonexistent. Mild winters (November to April) and hot summers (May
to October).
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
GEOGRAPHY
Physical Size and Borders
Egypt, covering 1,001,449 square kilometers of land, is about the
same size as Texas and New Mexico combined. The country's greatest
distance from north to south is 1,024 kilometers, and from east
to west, 1,240 kilometers. The country is located in northeastern
Africa and includes the Sinai Peninsula (also seen as Sinai), which
is often considered part of Asia. Egypt's natural boundaries consist
of more than 2,900 kilometers of coastline along the Mediterranean
Sea, the Gulf of Suez, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Red Sea (see
fig. 1).
Egypt has land boundaries with Israel, Libya, Sudan, and the Gaza
Strip, a Palestinian area formerly administered by Egypt and occupied
by Israel since 1967. The land boundaries are generally straight
lines that do not conform to geographic features such as rivers.
Egypt shares its longest boundary, which extends 1,273 kilometers,
with Sudan. In accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement
of 1899, this boundary runs westward from the Red Sea along the
twenty-second parallel, includes the Sudanese Nile salient (Wadi
Halfa salient), and continues along the twenty-second parallel until
it meets the twenty-fifth meridian. The Sudanese Nile salient, a
finger-shaped area along the Nile River (Nahr an Nil) north of the
twenty-second parallel, is nearly covered by Lake Nasser, which
was created when the Aswan High Dam was constructed in the 1960s.
An "administrative" boundary, which supplements the main Egyptian-Sudanese
boundary permits nomadic tribes to gain access to water holes at
the eastern end of Egypt's southern frontier. The administrative
boundary departs from the international boundary in two places;
Egypt administers the area south of the twenty-second parallel,
and Sudan administers the area north of it.
Egypt shares all 1,150 kilometers of the western border with Libya.
This border was defined in 1925 under an agreement with Italy, which
had colonized Libya. Before and after World War II, the northern
border was adjusted, resulting in the return of the village of As
Sallum to Egyptian sovereignty. Egypt shares 255 kilometers of its
eastern border in Sinai with Israel and 11 kilometers with the Gaza
Strip.
Egypt is divided into twenty-six governorates (sometimes called
provinces), which include four city governorates: Alexandria (Al
Iskandariyah), Cairo (Al Qahirah), Port Said (Bur Said) and Suez;
the nine governorates of Lower Egypt in the Nile Delta region; the
eight governorates of Upper Egypt along the Nile River south from
Cairo to Aswan; and the five frontier governorates covering Sinai
and the deserts that lie west and east of the Nile. All governorates,
except the frontier ones, are in the Nile Delta or along the Nile
Valley and Suez Canal.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Natural Regions
Egypt is predominantly desert. Only 35,000 square kilometers- -3.5
percent of the total land area--are cultivated and permanently settled.
Most of the country lies within the wide band of desert that stretches
from Africa's Atlantic Coast across the continent and into southwest
Asia. Egypt's geological history has produced four major physical
regions: the Nile Valley and Delta, the Western Desert (also known
as the Libyan Desert), the Eastern Desert (also known as the Arabian
Desert), and the Sinai Peninsula (see
fig. 3). The Nile Valley and Delta is the most important region
because it supports 99 percent of the population on the country's
only cultivable land.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Nile Valley and Delta
The Nile Valley and Delta, the most extensive oasis on earth, was
created by the world's second-longest river and its seemingly inexhaustible
sources. Without the topographic channel that permits the Nile to
flow across the Sahara, Egypt would be entirely desert; the Nile
River traverses about 1,600 kilometers through Egypt and flows northward
from the Egyptian-Sudanese border to the Mediterranean Sea. The
Nile is a combination of three long rivers whose sources are in
central Africa: the White Nile, the Blue Nile, and the Atbarah.
The White Nile, which begins at Lake Victoria in Uganda, supplies
about 28 percent of the Nile's waters in Egypt. In its course from
Lake Victoria to Juba in southern Sudan, the elevation of the White
Nile's channel drops more than 600 meters. In its 1,600-kilometer
course from Juba to Khartoum, Sudan's capital, the river descends
only 75 meters. In southern and central Sudan, the White Nile passes
through a wide, flat plain covered with swamp vegetation and slows
almost to stagnation.
The Blue Nile, which originates at Lake Tana in Ethiopia, provides
an average of 58 percent of the Nile's waters in Egypt. It has a
steeper gradient and flows more swiftly than the White Nile, which
it joins at Khartoum. Unlike the White Nile, the Blue Nile carries
a considerable amount of sediment; for several kilometers north
of Khartoum, water closer to the eastern bank of the river is visibly
muddy and comes from the Blue Nile, while the water closer to the
western bank is clearer and comes from the White Nile.
The much shorter Atbarah River, which also originates in Ethiopia,
joins the main Nile north of Khartoum between the fifth and sixth
cataracts (areas of steep rapids) and provides about 14 percent
of the Nile's waters in Egypt. During the low-water season, which
runs from January to June, the Atbarah shrinks to a number of pools.
But in late summer, when torrential rains fall on the Ethiopian
plateau, the Atbarah provides 22 percent of the Nile's flow.
The Blue Nile has a similar pattern. It contributes 17 percent
of the Nile's waters in the low-water season and 68 percent during
the high-water season. In contrast, the White Nile provides only
10 percent of the Nile's waters during the highwater season but
contributes more than 80 percent during the lowwater period. Thus,
before the Aswan High Dam was completed in 1971, the White Nile
watered the Egyptian stretch of the river throughout the year, whereas
the Blue Nile, carrying seasonal rain from Ethiopia, caused the
Nile to overflow its banks and deposit a layer of fertile mud over
adjacent fields. The great flood of the main Nile usually occurred
in Egypt during August, September, and October, but it sometimes
began as early as June at Aswan and often did not completely wane
until January.
The Nile enters Egypt a few kilometers north of Wadi Halfa, a Sudanese
town that was completely rebuilt on high ground when its original
site was submerged in the reservoir created by the Aswan High Dam.
As a result of the dam's construction, the Nile actually begins
its flow into Egypt as Lake Nasser, which extends south from the
dam 320 kilometers to the border and an additional 158 kilometers
into Sudan. Lake Nasser's waters fill the area through Lower Nubia
(Upper Egypt and northern Sudan) within the narrow gorge between
the cliffs of sandstone and granite created by the flow of the river
over many centuries. Below Aswan the cultivated floodplain strip
widens to as much as twenty kilometers. North of Isna (160 kilometers
north of Aswan), the plateau on both sides of the valley rises as
high as 550 meters above sea level; at Qina (about 90 kilometers
north of Isna) the 300-meter limestone cliffs force the Nile to
change course to the southwest for about 60 kilometers before turning
northwest for about 160 kilometers to Asyut. Northward from Asyut,
the escarpments on both sides diminish, and the valley widens to
a maximum of twenty-two kilometers. The Nile reaches the Delta at
Cairo.
At Cairo the Nile spreads out over what was once a broad estuary
that has been filled by silt deposits to form a fertile, fan-shaped
delta about 250 kilometers wide at the seaward base and about 160
kilometers from north to south. The Nile Delta extends over approximately
22,000 square kilometers (roughly equivalent in area to Massachusetts).
According to historical accounts from the first century A.D., seven
branches of the Nile once ran through the Delta. According to later
accounts, the Nile had only six branches by around the twelfth century.
Since then, nature and man have closed all but two main outlets:
the east branch, Damietta (also seen as Dumyat; 240 kilometers long),
and the west branch, Rosetta (235 kilometers long). Both outlets
are named after the ports located at their mouths. A network of
drainage and irrigation canals supplements these remaining outlets.
In the north near the coast, the Delta embraces a series of salt
marshes and lakes; most notable among them are Idku, Al Burullus,
and Manzilah.
The fertility and productivity of the land adjacent to the Nile
depends largely on the silt deposited by floodwaters. Archaeological
research indicates that people once lived at a much higher elevation
along the river than they do today, probably because the river was
higher or the floods more severe. The timing and the amount of annual
flow were always unpredictable. Measurements of annual flows as
low as 1.2 billion cubic meters and as high as 4.25 billion cubic
meters have been recorded. For centuries Egyptians attempted to
predict and take advantage of the flows and moderate the severity
of floods.
The construction of dams on the Nile, particularly the Aswan High
Dam, transformed the mighty river into a large and predictable irrigation
ditch. Lake Nasser, the world's largest artificial lake, has enabled
planned use of the Nile regardless of the amount of rainfall in
Central Africa and East Africa. The dams have also affected the
Nile Valley's fertility, which was dependent for centuries not only
on the water brought to the arable land but also on the materials
left by the water. Researchers have estimated that beneficial silt
deposits in the valley began about 10,000 years ago. The average
annual deposit of arable soil through the course of the river valley
was about nine meters. Analysis of the flow revealed that 10.7 million
tons of solid matter passed Cairo each year. Today the Aswan High
Dam obstructs most of this sediment, which is now retained in Lake
Nasser. The reduction in annual silt deposits has contributed to
rising water tables and increasing soil salinity in the Delta, the
erosion of the river's banks in Upper Egypt, and the erosion of
the alluvial fan along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Western Desert
The Western Desert covers about 700,000 square kilometers (equivalent
in size to Texas) and accounts for about two-thirds of Egypt's land
area. This immense desert to the west of the Nile spans the area
from the Mediterranean Sea south to the Sudanese border. The desert's
Jilf al Kabir Plateau has an altitude of about 1,000 meters, an
exception to the uninterrupted territory of basement rocks covered
by layers of horizontally bedded sediments forming a massive plain
or low plateau. The Great Sand Sea lies within the desert's plain
and extends from the Siwah Oasis to Jilf al Kabir. Scarps (ridges)
and deep depressions (basins) exist in several parts of the Western
Desert, and no rivers or streams drain into or out of the area.
The government has considered the Western Desert a frontier region
and has divided it into two governorates at about the twenty-eighth
parallel: Matruh to the north and New Valley (Al Wadi al Jadid)
to the south. There are seven important depressions in the Western
Desert, and all are considered oases except the largest, Qattara,
the water of which is salty. The Qattara Depression is approximately
15,000 square kilometers (about the size of Connecticut and Rhode
Island) and is largely below sea level (its lowest point is 133
meters below sea level). Badlands, salt marshes, and salt lakes
cover the sparsely inhabited Qattara Depression.
Limited agricultural production, the presence of some natural resources,
and permanent settlements are found in the other six depressions,
all of which have fresh water provided by the Nile or by local groundwater.
The Siwah Oasis, close to the Libyan border and west of Qattara,
is isolated from the rest of Egypt but has sustained life since
ancient times. The Siwa's cliff-hung Temple of Amun was renowned
for its oracles for more than 1,000 years. Herodotus and Alexander
the Great were among the many illustrious people who visited the
temple in the pre-Christian era.
The other major oases form a topographic chain of basins extending
from the Al Fayyum Oasis (sometimes called the Fayyum Depression)
which lies sixty kilometers southwest of Cairo, south to the Bahriyah,
Farafirah, and Dakhilah oases before reaching the country's largest
oasis, Kharijah. A brackish lake, Birkat Qarun, at the northern
reaches of Al Fayyum Oasis, drained into the Nile in ancient times.
For centuries sweetwater artesian wells in the Fayyum Oasis have
permitted extensive cultivation in an irrigated area that extends
over 1,800 square kilometers.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Eastern Desert
The topographic features of the region east of the Nile are very
different from those of the Western Desert. The relatively mountainous
Eastern Desert rises abruptly from the Nile and extends over an
area of approximately 220,000 square kilometers (roughly equivalent
in size to Utah). The upward-sloping plateau of sand gives way within
100 kilometers to arid, defoliated, rocky hills running north and
south between the Sudan border and the Delta. The hills reach elevations
of more than 1,900 meters. The region's most prominent feature is
the easterly chain of rugged mountains, the Red Sea Hills, which
extend from the Nile Valley eastward to the Gulf of Suez and the
Red Sea. This elevated region has a natural drainage pattern that
rarely functions because of insufficient rainfall. It also has a
complex of irregular, sharply cut wadis that extend westward toward
the Nile.
The Eastern Desert is generally isolated from the rest of the country.
There is no oasis cultivation in the region because of the difficulty
in sustaining any form of agriculture. Except for a few villages
on the Red Sea coast, there are no permanent settlements. The importance
of the Eastern Desert lies in its natural resources, especially
oil (see Energy
, ch. 3). A single governorate, the capital of which is at Al Ghardaqah,
administers the entire region.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Sinai Peninsula
This triangular area covers about 61,100 square kilometers (slightly
smaller than West Virginia). Similar to the desert, the peninsula
contains mountains in its southern sector that are a geological
extension of the Red Sea Hills, the low range along the Red Sea
coast that includes Mount Catherine (Jabal Katrinah), the country's
highest point--2,642 meters. The Red Sea is named after these mountains,
which are red.
The southern side of the peninsula has a sharp escarpment that
subsides after a narrow coastal shelf that slopes into the Red Sea
and the Gulf of Aqaba. The elevation of Sinai's southern rim is
about 1,000 meters. Moving northward, the elevation of this limestone
plateau decreases. The northern third of Sinai is a flat, sandy
coastal plain, which extends from the Suez Canal into the Gaza Strip
and Israel.
Before the Israeli military occupied Sinai during the June 1967
War (Arab-Israeli war, also known as the Six-Day War), a single
Egyptian governorate administered the whole peninsula. By 1982 after
all of Sinai was returned to Egypt, the central government divided
the peninsula into two governorates. North Sinai has its capital
at Al Arish and the South Sinai has its capital in At Tur.
Data as of December 1990
Egypt
Climate
Throughout Egypt, days are commonly warm or hot, and nights are
cool. Egypt has only two seasons: a mild winter from November to
April and a hot summer from May to October. The only differences
between the seasons are variations in daytime temperatures and changes
in prevailing winds. In the coastal regions, temperatures range
between an average minimum of 14° C in winter and an average
maximum of 30° C in summer.
Temperatures vary widely in the inland desert areas, especially
in summer, when they may range from 7° C at night to 43°
C during the day. During winter, temperatures in the desert fluctuate
less dramatically, but they can be as low as 0° C at night and
as high as 18° C during the day.
The average annual temperature increases moving southward from
the Delta to the Sudanese border, where temperatures are similar
to those of the open deserts to the east and west. In the north,
the cooler temperatures of Alexandria during the summer have made
the city a popular resort. Throughout the Delta and the northern
Nile Valley, there are occasional winter cold spells accompanied
by light frost and even snow. At Aswan, in the south, June temperatures
can be as low as 10° C at night and as high as 41° C during
the day when the sky is clear.
Egypt receives fewer than eighty millimeters of precipitation annually
in most areas. Most rain falls along the coast, but even the wettest
area, around Alexandria, receives only about 200 millimeters of
precipitation per year. Alexandria has relatively high humidity,
but sea breezes help keep the moisture down to a comfortable level.
Moving southward, the amount of precipitation decreases suddenly.
Cairo receives a little more than one centimeter of precipitation
each year. The city, however, reports humidity as high as 77 percent
during the summer. But during the rest of the year, humidity is
low. The areas south of Cairo receive only traces of rainfall. Some
areas will go years without rain and then experience sudden downpours
that result in flash floods. Sinai receives somewhat more rainfall
(about twelve centimeters annually in the north) than the other
desert areas, and the region is dotted by numerous wells and oases,
which support small population centers that formerly were focal
points on trade routes. Water drainage toward the Mediterranean
Sea from the main plateau supplies sufficient moisture to permit
some agriculture in the coastal area, particularly near Al Arish.
A phenomenon of Egypt's climate is the hot spring wind that blows
across the country. The winds, known to Europeans as the sirocco
and to Egyptians as the khamsin, usually arrive in April
but occasionally occur in March and May. The winds form in small
but vigorous low-pressure areas in the Isthmus of Suez and sweep
across the northern coast of Africa. Unobstructed by geographical
features, the winds reach high velocities and carry great quantities
of sand and dust from the deserts. These sandstorms, often accompanied
by winds of up to 140 kilometers per hour, can cause temperatures
to rise as much as 20° C in two hours. The winds blow intermittently
and may continue for days, cause illness in people and animals,
harm crops, and occasionally damage houses and infrastructure.
Data as of December 1990
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