مصر (Miṣr)¹

How is the land laid out?

مصر (Miṣr or, more locally, Maṣr) is divided into three by the Nile (an-Nil) River,² the nation's centerpiece. West and east of the river is the Sahara³ desert. Most of the west is a windy, dusty plateau of either dry rock (hamada) or gravel (areg). This monotony is relieved by a depression, Qattara, and an oasis, Siwa, in the northwest, and an oasis, El Harga, in the southwest. In the east low mountains separate the Nile Valley from the Red Sea, and in the northeast is the mountainous, triangular Sinai Peninsula. A canal, Suwayz (Suez), separates it from the rest of مصر (Miṣr) and connects the Red and Mediterranean seas. The Nile river provides irrigation for farms in its valley and delta. In its southernmost reaches it is dammed to form Lake Nasser.

Map

Who lives there?

Almost all of Egypt's people, more than 60 million, crowd along the Nile and in its delta. Nearly everyone speaks Egyptian Arabic⁴ and most learn standard Arabic--the language of Islam, government formalities and television news. In the sparsely populated west, people speak Maghrebi Arabic.

About 19 out of 20 are Sunni Moslems; most of the rest are Coptic Christians.

All of Miṣr's cities are in the east: see Table of eastern Miṣr Cities.

Within the area

al-Wadi al-Jadid and Marsa Matruh Governorates

al-Baḥr-ah-Aḥmar, Aswān, Qinā, al-Uqṣur, Sawhāj, al-Asyūt, al-Minyā, Banī Suwayf, al-Fayyūm, al-Jizāh, al-Buhayrah, al-Minūfīyah, al-Qalūybīyah, al-Qāhirah, al-Iskandarīiyah, al-Gharbīyah, ad-Daqahlīyah, ash-Sharqīyah, Kafr-ash-Shaykh, Dumyāt, Būr Sa'īd, al-Ismā'īlīyah, as-Suways, Sina' ash-Shamalīyah and Sina' Janūbīyah

Footnotes

1. Egypt in English.
2. The world's longest river.
3. Translates from Arabic as wilderness. The Sahara is the world's largest desert.
4. Some regard Arabic as one language but speakers cannot understand each other's spoken dialects. Some would regard Egyptian Bedawi (Bedouin) Arabic and Sai'id Egyptian Arabic as separate languages. Some might group the former with one of the Saudi dialects. Some might group Western Bedawi (Arabic with spoken Egyptian (Cairene) Arabic but it is the same dialect as Libyan Spoken Arabic, which is similar to some of the Maghrebi dialects.