Egypt

Egypt is a country in the northeast corner of Africa. A small part of Egypt, called the Sinai Peninsula, reaches into Asia, which makes Egypt one of the few countries that sits on two continents. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the east. Sudan lies to the south, and Libya lies to the west. About 110 million people live in Egypt, making it one of the most populated countries in Africa.

Most of Egypt is desert. The Sahara, the largest hot desert in the world, covers most of the land. Hardly anything grows there. But cutting straight through the country from south to north is the Nile River, the longest river in the world. The Nile brings water and rich soil, and almost all of Egypt's cities, farms, and people are packed along its banks. Seen from space, the green strip of the Nile looks like a thin ribbon laid across a sea of sand.

The capital of Egypt is Cairo. It is the largest city in the Arab world, with more than 20 million people in its wider area. Just outside Cairo stand the Pyramids of Giza, built more than 4,500 years ago as tombs for ancient pharaohs. The Great Pyramid was the tallest building on Earth for nearly 4,000 years. Right next to it sits the Great Sphinx, a giant stone statue with a lion's body and a human face.

Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country. Ancient Egypt began around 3100 BCE and lasted about 3,000 years. After the fall of Cleopatra's kingdom in 30 BCE, Egypt was ruled by the Romans, then the Byzantines, then Arab Muslim rulers who brought Islam and the Arabic language in the 600s. Today most Egyptians are Muslim, and Arabic is the official language. A smaller group, called Coptic Christians, has lived in Egypt for almost 2,000 years.

Modern Egypt gained full independence from Britain in 1952. In 1869, engineers finished the Suez Canal, a human-made waterway that lets ships pass between the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Ships that use it can skip the long trip all the way around Africa. About 12 percent of the world's shipping passes through the canal each year.

Egypt today mixes the ancient and the modern. Farmers still plant crops in the dark Nile soil, just as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. A few miles away, cars speed past the pyramids on busy highways.