43 Facts About Egypt

Egypt, officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country in Northeast corner of Africa. 

Egypt has an area of 1,001,450 square km. 

Egypt is divided into 27 Governorates. 

Egypt’s capital city is Cairo. 

Arabic and Egyptian Arabic are its official and national languages. 

The Egyptian Pound (EGP) is its official currency. 

Egypt shares four borders with the Gaza Strip, Israel, Libya, and Sudan.

Egypt is one of human history's most fascinating early ancient civilizations.

Egypt's pyramids were built as tombs for pharaohs and their royal families to connect them to Ra, the sun god. So far, more than 130 pyramids have been discovered.

It is estimated that thousands, if not millions, of Egyptians died while constructing the pyramids. They were buried in tombs near their revered pharaoh's pyramid, however, for their honoured trouble.

The workers who built the pyramids were paid a gallon of beer every day.

Imhotep, an Egyptian architect, built the first pyramid in 2600 BC.

Imhotep was the first documented physician, engineer, and architect.

Cats were not your pet, but they were revered. Having a cat purring in the house brought good luck to the ancient Egyptians.

Cats were not the only fortunate creatures. While modern women only gained property rights in the 19th century, and the world first saw women doctors and business moguls, Egyptian women could own property, conduct business, become doctors, and become priestesses.

Egypt's gods were so numerous that they ruled over almost everything, from human emotions to natural order and disasters. Woe to anyone who defied the wishes of the more than 1,000 gods.

Although all gods were feared and revered, Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun, was the most feared.

However, the river god Khnum received the honour of creation.

Imagine stripping naked an Egyptian mummy! If you have the guts to do it, you will discover that the bandage can stretch up to 1.6 kilometres.

The ancient Egyptians believed that by preserving the dead bodies, the souls of the mummified would roam forever in the afterlife. That is why the dead are mummified.

The intestines and all internal organs except the heart were removed and placed in canopic jars during the mummification process. They sucked the brains out through the nose.

Ramses II, Egypt's greatest pharaoh, ruled for 60 years and had over 90 children from eight wives and nearly 100 concubines.

The title of the first Egyptian pharaoh, however, goes to King Menes, who died in the jaws of a hippo after ruling for 60 years beginning in 3200 B.C.

Ironically, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility was depicted as a bipedal hippo with feline or cat-like legs.

Pharaohs hid their hair within the crown or a headdress known as nemes.

Pepi, Egypt's longest-serving king, took the throne at the age of six and reigned for 94 years.

Egyptians, both men and women, wore stunning shapes and colours of makeup known as khol. The makeup was used not only for beauty, but also for sun protection and healing powers.

The Egyptians played dice with sticks instead of dice, and there was even a chance game called the senet dating back to 3500 B.C.

Beer was such a popular drink among the ancient Egyptians that beer offerings allowed even the dead to get drunk.

By 3,300 BC, the Egyptians had developed their first writing system, known as hieroglyphs. There are over 700 Egyptian hieroglyphs that have been recorded.

Egypt was known by many names, including Kemet, Deshret, and Hwt-ka-ptah. The Greeks, most likely unable to pronounce it correctly, changed it to Aegyptus. Go figure out where Egypt came from.

Have you ever wondered where the concept of a 365-day, 12-month year came from? The ancient Egyptians once again outpaced the rest of the world by being the first to adopt the concept.

The ancient Egyptians invented toothpaste before modern civilization. They made the toothpaste with ashes and powdered ox hooves, as well as burnt eggshells and pumice.

As early as 450 B.C., ancient Egyptian physicians practised specialisation.

Ancient Egyptian physicians' use of mouldy substances to treat infections suggests an early understanding of antibiotics.

The Ancient Egyptians may have been the first to keep animals as pets.

Evidence from ancient Egyptian tombs suggests that modern-style toilets were in use in the past.

The mystery of Heracleion's lost city was finally solved 1200 years later when the city was discovered buried under the sea.

The Great Sphinx of Giza, built between 2558 and 2532 BC, is the world's largest monolith statue.

The mystery surrounding the sphinx's missing nose and beard has given rise to a number of theories and myths. According to an AD 1378 myth, a Sufi Muslim cleric was hanged for vandalism after destroying the Sphinx's nose in a fit of rage over peasant offerings to the Sphinx.

Egypt is home to one of the world's largest dams, the Aswan high dam, which was built to contain the raging waters of the Nile, the world's longest river.

Around 800 people were killed in Egypt's 2011 revolution, which culminated in President Hosni Mubarak's dramatic resignation.

And from the ashes of 2011, Facebook Jamal Ibrahim arose, a name given to a daughter by a father grateful for Facebook's role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution.