Destination Egypt, a Nations Online profile of the transcontinental country situated in northeastern Africa and the Sinai Peninsula in Western Asia (Middle East).
The country borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea to the east. It is bordered by Libya in the west, the Palestinian territory (Gaza Strip) and Israel in the northeast, and Sudan in the south. Egypt shares maritime borders with Cyprus, Turkey and Greece in the Mediterranean Sea, and with Jordan and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.

Modern Egypt became independent in 1922. From 1958 until 1961, Egypt was united with Syria as the United Arab Republic.

The Arab Republic of Egypt (its official name) covers an area of 1 million km², which is about twice the size of France or more than twice the size of the US State of California.

Large parts of the country are covered by the sparsely populated desert areas of the Eastern Sahara. The country's main population is concentrated on the alluvial plains of the Nile Valley, the Nile Delta, the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern coastal areas of the Red Sea. Only an estimated 6 to 7% of the territory of Egypt is inhabited.

Background:
In about 3100 B.C., Egypt was united under a ruler known as Mena, or Menes, who inaugurated the 30 pharaonic dynasties into which Egypt's ancient history is divided -- the Old and the Middle Kingdoms and the New Empire. The pyramids at Giza (near Cairo), which were built in the fourth dynasty, testify to the power of the pharaonic religion and state.

Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world. Nominally independent from the UK in 1922, Egypt acquired full sovereignty following World War II.
The completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1971 and the resultant Lake Nasser have altered the time-honoured place of the Nile River in the agriculture and ecology of Egypt.

A rapidly growing population (the largest in the Arab world), limited arable land, and dependence on the Nile are straining resources and putting stress on society. The government has long struggled to ready the economy for the new millennium through economic reform and massive investment in communications and physical infrastructure.