Sunday, July 22, 2012

Wonders of Africa

Location: Africa
Capital: Cairo
Official languages: Arabic, (most Egyptians understand Engish and French)
Population: 75 000 000 approximately

The official name of this country is Arab Republic of Egypt and its capital is Cairo, one of the biggest cities of Africa. It is located in North Africa and covers an area of around 1 001 450 square kilometers; but a great part of the Egyptian territory is occupied by the Sahara Desert. Egypt borders with the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Red Sea, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.

Egypt map

Egypt has about 75 millions inhabitants, most people life in urban areas near banks of Nile River, which has been the heart of the Egyptian history from pharaohs’ times. Almost 85% of the Egyptian population is Muslim and the rest is mainly Christian Coptic Orthodox. Egyptians are warm and have a distinct sense of humor as well as a great respect by foreign visitors.

Egypt is a fascinating country with a quite dry weather and hot, with average temperatures between 13 ºC (80 ºF, average minimum in winter) and 32 ºF (average maximum in summer).

The Egyptian economy depends mainly of Agriculture, Petroleum and Tourism. In the last years the government has implemented several liberal reforms to modern the country’s economy; because of these reforms, Egyptian economy has been growing at a rapid pace.

Although people usually think that Egypt is only history and archeology, true story is that this fascinating country has much more to offer. Nevertheless, it is also true, that Egypt is perhaps the first archeological destination of the world. Besides, the Egyptian culture is one of the oldest of the history and one of those that have lasted more; proof of this fact are the pyramids, which are the only one monument of the seven wonders of the ancient world that has survived until today.

The first human culture vestiges of Egypt dates from 10000 years BC. The first advanced civilizations were born in the Upper and Lower Egypt in the banks of the Nile River around 6000 years BC. The Badarian and Naqada cultures are considered precursors of the Dynastic Egyptian civilization which dates from 3150 BC.

The pyramids and other important monuments of Giza were constructed during the third and fourth dynasties (2700 – 2200 BC). The country reaches a prosperity time during the first intermediate period in the Middle Kingdom (2040 BC) mainly in the government of Amenemhat III. Nevertheless, after this period of boom, the Semitic Hyksos invaded Egypt (1650 BC) and they became the first foreign ruling dynasty of Egypt.

The main peak period of Egypt was during the eighteen Dynasty (1550 – 1070 BC), when the Egyptian power was expanded until Nubia to south and Levant in the east. The most famous pharaohs belonged to this period, amongst them Hatsheput (a female pharaoh), Thutmose III, Akhenaten , Tutankhamun and perhaps the most famous and powerful of all Egyptian kings, Ramesses II, who built most part of the Egyptian buildings that we see today and he was also who ruled for more time.

The last native dynasty of Egypt was the thirtieth in the IV BC. Later, Egypt was invaded by Persians, Greek and Romans. The country was governed by foreign powers during 2000 years.

In 639 AD the country was invaded by the Muslim Arabs. Since this date, Egypt became a Muslim country. In 1517 the Ottoman Turks conquered Egypt. Because of the brief French invasion (1798) leaded by Napoleon Bonaparte, Egypt suffered a series of political and social transformations. By 1866 the government in the country was influenced mainly by an Assembly of Delegates, whose members were elected across all Egypt. During this period the Suez Canal was inaugurated, therefore Egypt became an important commercial hub.

Nevertheless, because of Suez Canal, Egypt was invaded again by a foreign power. United Kingdom took control of the country to protect its economical interests in the Canal. The British Domination continued until February 22, 1922 when Great Britain declared the Independence of Egypt, because of the constant revolts against the British domain.

After its independence, Egypt implemented a Constitutional government, but it was overthrown in 1952 by a coup d’état. One year later, it was proclaimed the Egyptian Republic. In 1967 during the Six Days War, Israel invaded the Sinai. Since then relations between Egypt and Israel have been very belligerent.

Now, Egypt’s system of governments is democratic presidential. The president is nominated by a Representative Assembly composed by 350 members elected in a referendum. The president serves during six years and he can be re-elected several times

Africa is the continent where the human history began. It is also the second largest continent of the world with 30,272,922 square kilometers. It is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Suez Canal to the northeast. There are human vestiges of agriculture and cattle in Africa that dates from 6000 BC. Some of the most ancient examples of plants domestication were founded in both, Ethiopia and Western Africa.

Generally, the climate of Africa varies from tropical to sub-arctic on its highest peaks; including the desert in the northern half, while it is able to find both savanna plains and dense jungle regions in the central and southern areas. For this reason, Africa has the privilege to refuge the largest combination of density, wild animal populations and diversity including carnivores, herbivores, jungle creatures and aquatic life. It is estimate there are over a thousand, and even over two thousand languages in Africa, most of them are of African origin, however some are also of European or Asian origin. This influence have become Africa in the most multilingual continent in the world, so that, it is not rare to find most of the individuals speak fluently multiple languages.

Some of the oldest civilizations of Africa were Egypt and Phoenicia. Later, the north of Africa was occupied by the Roman Empire and after by the Arabian Islamic Caliphate. In the XIX century most territories of Africa were invaded by the colonial armies from the most powerful European countries like England, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Belgium. However, nowadays Africa has 910 844 133 inhabitants, 53 countries, and it is the poorest and most underdeveloped continent; but it is also a continent that hides amazing treasures and cultures. From Egypt to South Africa, you can find an endless number of impressive natural sites and monuments, including beautiful mountains, exuberant wild life in natural reserves, amazing water falls and much more. Unfortunately for long time, and until now, most African marvels were hidden because of either ravages of time, nature or repressive governments.

Join us to know more about the wonders of this exceptional continent!