In 2015, the population of Egypt was estimated to be around 90 million people. The majority of the population is ethnically Arab with a small percentage of other ethnicities such as Bedouins, Nubians, and Copts. The economy of Egypt is primarily based on agriculture and services, followed by industry and tourism. In terms of foreign relations, Egypt is a member of several international organizations including the United Nations, African Union (AU) and Arab League (AL). See ehealthfacts for Egypt in the year of 2005.
In 2015, politics in Egypt were dominated by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi who had been in office since 2014. He was re-elected in 2018 with an administration that focused on restoring stability to the country and reviving the economy through economic reforms. Opposition to Sisi’s government came from both civil society groups who wanted more democratic reforms and opposition parties who wanted less government intervention in economic affairs. In addition, there were tensions between Egypt and its neighbors over border disputes which led to disputes over access to regional waters.
Yearbook 2015
Egypt. At the beginning of the year, the country’s president Hosni Mubarak, along with his sons, were freed in a case of embezzlement. It was the second time in a short time that the court freed Mubarak from serious charges in connection with the bloody revolt in 2011. Mubarak’s successor, Muhammad Mursi, however, was sentenced to death in May for being sentenced to prison riots in January 2011.
During the year, the death sentences were set against the 183 members of the Muslim Brotherhood who were accused of attacking a police station in 2013. Without explanation, the court later upheld the judgments against some thirty members of the Brotherhood, including its leader Mohammed Badie.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Cairo is the capital of Egypt which is located in Northern Africa. The human rights organization Amnesty International criticized Egypt for violating both international law and its own laws, saying that the residents completely lacked legal security. Several hundred democracy activists were sentenced to life imprisonment for participating in riots, rioting for violence and attacks on security forces.
- Also see AbbreviationFinder.org for Egypt country abbreviations, including geography, history, economy and politics.
During the summer, several coordinated attacks were carried out by the IS-linked terror group Sinai Province, which changed its name from Ansar Beit al-Madis last year after swearing allegiance to the terrorist network IS. The worst hit by terrorist attacks was the Sinai Peninsula, where mainly army postings were attacked in several cities. In July, a Croatian man was kidnapped on his way to Cairo.
At the end of June, the country’s prosecutor Hisham Barakat was killed in an explosion. Barakat, as a state prosecutor, had brought thousands of Islamists to justice and had several threats directed at them before the attack. Following the assassination of Barakat, President Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi demanded stricter anti-terrorism legislation, and in August, the president approved a new anti-terror law aimed at stopping militant Islamists. But the law also included impunity for police and military who used force in their professional practice and stricter penalties for journalists reporting attacks and military operations in a way that runs counter to the official version of the government. The death penalty was introduced for those convicted of forming or leading a terrorist group.
The election, which should have been held in March, was postponed until October, as the Supreme Court considered that the electoral law was contrary to the constitution. Between October 17 and December 2, two rounds of elections were held in different parts of the country. At the second round of voting, 28 percent of voting participants were calculated. The election, described by critics as a father because many opposition parties were banned from participating, became a huge success for President al-Sisi. All of the 120 seats added through party lists went to the Alliance For Egypt’s sake, which consisted of parties loyal to the president.
The day after the second round, a terrorist attack occurred against a hotel in al-Arish in northern Sinai, where several judges who supervised the election lived. One of the judges was shot dead and six other people were killed in the attack.
On October 31, a Russian aircraft crashed over the Sinai Peninsula. The plane was on its way from the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to Saint Petersburg and all 224 passengers were killed. An investigation revealed that the plane had been broken in the air, and both the UK and the US found it could be a terrorist act, while Egypt and the Russian Federation initially dismissed this as speculation, saying it had been a mere accident. Three weeks later, the Russian security service announced to the FSB that the incident was caused by a terrorist attack after finding explosives in the wreckage. However, Egyptian investigators claimed that there was no evidence of a terrorist act.
Egypt – Cairo
Cairo
Cairo, Arabic al-Qāhira, capital of Egypt, located on the Nile 15 km south of the Nile Delta; 9. 3 million residents (2019), with suburbs 19. 5 million. Cairo is the largest city in Africa and the Arab world. Administratively, the urban area consists of the three merged units Cairo, Giza and Shubra al-Khayma as well as a number of small built communities. Most of the city lies on the eastern side of the Nile, between the river and the Muqatta Mountains, but the city spreads rapidly in all directions.
Cairo has an international airport and is a hub for the road and rail networks. The city is the spiritual, cultural, political and economic center of Egypt – and in many respects the whole of the Middle East -. There are about 40 percent of Egypt’s industrial companies and a large part of the service sector. Cairo is the seat of government, parliament, the Supreme Court and all the higher state and religious administration. The city has several universities, including al-Azhar University, founded in 972. It is also a major tourist resort with, among other things, several museums, such as the National Museum, mosques, bazaars and the pyramids located just outside the city in Giza. In 1979, Cairo was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Architecture and cityscape
Through the Arab conquest and founding of Fustat 641, the trend towards what would become one of the architecturally richest cities of the Mediterranean in the next few centuries began. With its economic and political position, the city completely dominated Egyptian building history. The Islamic architectural tradition in Egypt is therefore primarily represented by buildings in Cairo.
The oldest mosque, Amr ibn al-As mosque from 641, is found as it was rebuilt especially in the early 800s. It is a traditional Arab mosque with a large square courtyard surrounded by column portico. The south of these, which is directed towards Mecca, is deepened into a five-story hall. Following the same plan type, but made up of walls and powerful pointed arches in plastered brick, Ahmad ibn Tulun’s Mosque 876-79 was erected. It is the remainder of Ahmad ibn Tulun’s government complex in his city expansion north of Fustat.
Even the subsequent expansion of the city through the government of the Fatimids, al-Qahira (Cairo), immediately found in the center a large mosque of the same type, the al-Azhar mosque from 970-972. It soon became the center of theological education. The university function is still present in the expanded mosque complex, which is one of the Muslim world’s intellectual centers.
The rectangular, walled city of the Fatimids remained the center of monumental buildings and remains one of the Muslim world’s most dense ensembles of monuments. The palaces, mosques and city functions were expanded during the dynasties of the Ayyubids and Mamluks. Also madrasas, mausoleums and hospitals were built along the main street between the city gates of the north and south, al-Muizz li-Din Allah. It extends between the still preserved city gates from the end of the 11th century to the north and south. There is also the city’s traditional shopping center, the bazaar Khan al-Khalili. The Mamluks’ many facilities also extended outside this central city. Sultan Hasan’s mosque and madrasa (1356–59), where four large Iwanans surround a courtyard, are the most monumental.
To the north of the city was a vast burial ground with mausoleums and tomb mosques. There, the characteristic dome architecture of the Mamluks appears in ornamentally treated natural stone. Among the richest designs are the mausolei complexes of the Sultans Barquq (1399–1412) and Qait Bey (1472–74). The burial area – “the city of the dead” – is now a densely populated residential neighborhood.
From the medieval monuments-rich urban formation also originates the high citadel. It is today dominated by Muhammad Ali’s mosque from 1830-48. The mosque is a late test of Ottoman architecture but is also a symbol of the founding of modern Egypt.
In today’s multi-million city, the rich treasure of historic Islamic monuments creates an inalienable identity. Even several construction during the decades around the turn of the 1900 shows reverberations of this tradition. However, much of the growing urban agglomeration is characterized by international modernism from the second half of the 20th century.
History
At the site of present-day Cairo, during ancient Egyptian times, there was a smaller city, called by the Greeks called Babylon. In 641, the Arabs subjugated Egypt. Their field camp outside Babylon was expanded to a fortified city, Fustat, from which the conquered areas were controlled. During the seventies and eighties, the Arabs built new capitals in the vicinity. The Fatimids conquered Egypt in 969 and built a fourth capital, the present Cairo, as rival to the Abbasid capital Baghdad. After a while, Cairo passed Alexandria in importance, and in the 12th century Saladin expanded the city to the south and built a citadel. In the middle of the 13th century, the Mamluks came to power, and under their rule, Cairo, which in 1340 had about 500,000 residents, was larger than any contemporary city in Europe, Africa or Asia Minor. Egypt was invaded by the Turks in 1517, which made Cairo the provincial capital of the Ottoman Empire, which became the beginning of a centennial decline for the city. A French army under Bonaparte occupied Cairo in 1798 but was driven away a few years later by British and Turkish forces. From 1805 Muhammad Ali and his successor resided as Turkish deputy kings in the city. Cairo was modernized at the turn of the century by the lord Ismail Pasha, who made the city a railway hub in northern Egypt and connected it to the Suez Canal. When the British occupied Egypt in 1882, Cairo had about 375,000 residents. After independence in 1922, Cairo became the capital of Egypt and during World War II was the headquarters of the Allied forces in the Middle East. When the British occupied Egypt in 1882, Cairo had about 375,000 residents. After independence in 1922, Cairo became the capital of Egypt and during World War II was the headquarters of the Allied forces in the Middle East. When the British occupied Egypt in 1882, Cairo had about 375,000 residents. After independence in 1922, Cairo became the capital of Egypt and during World War II was the headquarters of the Allied forces in the Middle East.