User:Keshiastiles

Egypt

Insert Picture of Map*

Historical Information Egypt’s has a sorted past with through its long history. Egypt's was broken up into 8 different kingdoms: Early Dynastic, Old Kingdom, 1st Intermediate, Middle Kingdom, 2nd Intermediate, New Kingdom, Late Dynastic, and then the Greek-Roman. The best approximation for the first dynasty is about 3000 BC with King Menes. During this time, the "society was evolving beyond its mere agricultural needs"1; therefore, a more civilized skilled set of workers had to evolve as well to keep up with the increasing needs of the population.

During the 1st Intermediate Kingdom, the Egyptian people had a new crisis to overcome: the Nile River was no longer providing enough water for the people. So the nomarchs, or provincial governors, had to come up with a plan on how to properly irrigate their country to provide for the people. During this time, the people were divided into two ruling dynasties: Heracleopolitan and Theban and stayed this way until the creation of the Middle Kingdom.

The Middle Kingdom started when the civil war between the two dynasties finally came to an end with the Theban victory led by Mentuhotep II. The country of Egypt was finally reunited again and it became a prospering nation. Throughout Ancient Egypt's history, the many ruling dynasties were continually usurped of their power for short times as power was not a stable thing at all times until Alexander the Great.

When Alexander the Great, from Macedonia, arrived in Egypt and conquered the country. This marked the beginning of the Greek-Roman era. Egypt was peaceful and properous under Alexander until he died, and his generals spilt up all the land between themselves. The last of the Roman Emperors came out of power in 396 AD1.

insert image of Sphinx/Giza Pyramid *

Even after the Roman period, the country was plagued by conquest from outside parties. Between 639 and 642, Arabs arrived in Egypt and conquered the land through a vicious fight that lasted about 3 months. The Arabs were officially out of the country by 1171 with the final ruler Salah Eddin, who is known for forcing the Palestine crusaders out of the country.

Napoleon arrived in 1798 and quickly defeated the Egyptians with his army of about 40,000. This was a conquest that changed the country of Egypt in the most drastic way: they began to look at the West for their industrial and technological superiority. The Egyptians began to reform into a more modern culture and were trained by the French in many different fields.

The father of modern Egypt, Mohamad Ali, did not come about however until 1805, and he set the country on its full absorption of modern ideas and concepts. In 1948, there was a war with Israel when the Arab people requested assistance. They did not really want to join; however, they could not stand aside and not help their allies. In 1953, the monarchy ended and Egypt was officially a Republic with Mohamad Naguib as its first President. Currently Hosny Mubarak is in power of modern Egypt , and it is currently under a "cold" peace with Israel2.

insert image of modern Egypt*

Economic Information

Many of the Egyptians are still low-class farmers that have not come fair in technological terms from the ancient farmers of the land, also known as fellahins. Over half of the Egyptian people are still in this class even with the media industry that is providing great economic growth. Aside from agriculture Egypt also has economic growth from exporting oil and natural gas. They also experience a high-level of tourism in their country, and like San Diego, a great portion of their income comes from the tourists buying goods and sourvaniers.

The population in Egypt continues to grow, mostly around the Nile River's major cities of Cario and Alexandria; however the majority of the people are still below the poverty line living as farmers3. About 20% of the population is estimated to be under the population line as of 2005, and the poorest 10% of the population only receives 3.7% of the nation's income while the richest 10% of the population receives 29.5% of the income4.

The people are quite divided economically throughout the region with many making millions a year while the poorest may be earning on average less than $20 a month. Those with government jobs are promised lifetime work and even retirement, but in return they only make around one hundred dollars a month. Many people will take the government jobs for the retirement plan while taking on a second job to account for the low income it provides them at the time5. The umemployment rate is also quite high, with the CIA World Factbook stating that in 2008, it was at 9.10% of the population, which is still increasingly better than the 12% rate in 20034.

Insert Economic Activity Map*

Currency Information

The national currency is the pound which is equal to 100 pastries. It can be in the form of paper or coin. The coins are in denominations of five, ten, twenty, twenty-five, and fifty piastres while the paper money is in denominations of one, five, ten, twenty, fifty, and one-hundred Egyptian Pounds.

Some difference in currency as compared to the United States is, while the United States currency does not get smaller or larger depending on its monetary worth the Egyptians currency does. As the coin or bill's worth increases, so does its size. The bills are also written in 2 different languages one language on each side: English and Arabic.

The English side of the bill has beautiful pictures of Ancient Egypt while the Arabic side of the bill has extravagent paintings of important mosques. No two bills or coins look the same, and this is what makes Egyptian currency so interesting and beautiful6. Below is the currency table showing how Egyptian currency compares to the US dollar:

insert image of currency chart and pictures of currency*

The People of Egypt and Their Way of Life

Due to the extreme temperatures in Egypt, most of the population is located along the more temperate area of the Nile River in the two most populated cities: Cairo and Alexandria. There are actually several thousand people per square kilometer. This makes finding a home difficult as people must find a home anywhere they can. Since space is limited Egyptians often live in very large groups together. The average family size is about eleven people across multi-generations.

The richer portion of the country actually lives quite well, and often the families will send off their children to prestigoius colleges around the World to get a better quality of learning. Although education is free all over Egypt but the richer families look down on the free colleges and prefer to outsource their children's education to the costly universities7.

Children in modern Egypt lead a life much like the children in America live. They watch television shows and actually love to watch "Candid Camera" because they find it hilarious. They have their own famous pop music that children listen to and even have access to fast food restuarants that we see everyday. The only difference is these restaurants such as KFC, McDonalds, and Burger King is expensive for the common Egyptian. Only the richer families are who can afford these extra and special expenses of eating out would have access to them. Many of the restuarantsfound in Egypt are for the extensive tourism that exists from Americans and Europeans9.

Cultural Information

Religion is a big factor is Egypt 90% of the population Islamic and the other 10% is a combination of Christian-related religions. In the Islamic religion Muslims believe it is the man's duty to take care of his family by working while the woman's job is inside the home caring for the children. This tradition is still held today; however, some women are starting to work outside the home even though this is looked down upon.

Women's "inherent sexuality is believed to be constantly endangering the social harmony of society, and is, therefore, best controlled through women's modesty8" and by keeping them inside the home as much as possible. While they keep women home, it is not seen as being a negative part of their family life. Instead, they feel that everyone has their own role in the family and that they complement each other8. "Egypt has emerged as one of the most cultured nations of the world10" and that is the reason that tourists flock to this location. Egypt has a ton of music, art, architecture, and various other visible elements of culture around them. Egyptian people are open to modern ideas but they hold tightly onto their cultural background as a nation because of the richness and complexity of their 5000 year existance. People come from all over the world to learn about the background of Egypt and visit its most obvious pieces of history: the pyramids. Egypt is one of the few places where one can see the history of the country because its people want to kept it alive. Unlike the United States, we only have a few monuments left as we look more toward the future modernization that America boosts, instead of the interesting past that our country has10.

Diet

The mashed fava bean is considered the national dish, and is called "eish masri" or "eish baladi". These mashed beans accompany almost every meal because they are a cheap side dish that provide a high level of nutrients. They also use a large amount of garlic and onioin in every dish to add a spicy and delicious flavor to their meals. Egyptians eat a lot of fresh vegetables not only for health reasons but because it is what most people can afford. From these vegetables they make a dish known as “mashi”. It consists of stuffing spicy rice in vegetables like green peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes which is completed by rolling it in grapevine or cabbage leaves. The richer portion of the country can afford to eat more meat such as lamb and chicken, and beef. Beef is eaten rarely due to its expense and due to religious belief pork is never eaten.

Aside from the wonderful food Egypt is also know for drinking hot tea with mint, Turkish coffee called irk sus, licorice root drink, and fresh fruit juices. While many people get their foods from open air markets, there are also high level grocery stores (example: www.metro-markets.com/meat.php) From this site, you can see how expensive some of the foods are and why many people cannot afford to consume meat12.

Insert image Eyptian Market*

A typical family in Cairo will spend about 387.85 EGP on food in one week, or only $68.53 in U.S dollars.. Most of their money is spend on meat and fish because that is the most expensive part of their diet; however, they get more fruits and vegetables for only about a third of the cost they spent on meat.

This is a typical grocery list for a family of about 11 people:

Grains and Starchy Foods - $2.73 Dairy - $11.11 Meat, Fish, & Eggs - $33.22 Fruits and Vegetables - $10.53 Condiments - $7.05 Prepared Foods - $0.09 Beverages - $2.47

insert pie chart*