Wednesday, January 17, 2018

Up with Geography: Egypt

Country Name:
Egypt

Capital:
Cairo

Continent:
Africa

Maps:

African continent. Egypt outlined in dark ink.

A close-up of Egypt & its neighbors.

Neighbors:
Israel, Sudan, Libya

Water Borders:
Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea, Gulf of Suez

Total Area:
387,048 square miles

Five Largest Cities:
Cairo, Alexandria, Giza, Shubra El-Kheima, Port Said

Famous Geographical Point:
Lake Nasser

Famous Person:
Omar Sharif, actor

Book Set In/About:
Beer in the Snooker Club by Waguih Ghali

Set in turbulent, post-colonial 1950s Cairo, an intellectual young man struggles to find himself while caught between Egyptian & English influences.

Movie Set In/About:
"Al-mummia (The Mummy)" (1969), directed by Chadi Abdel Salam

Based on a true story, an Egyptian tribe with little means for income steals artifacts to sell on the black market, setting off an investigation.

Headline of the Day:
"Anwar Sadat's Nephew Backs out of Egypt Presidential Election" in The Telegraph.

2 comments:

Patricia said...

There was a period when Matt's mother was visiting Egypt quite often. Maybe annually? But that period seems to have ended.

I think I would like the temperature in Egypt. The political climate, not so much.

When I worked for Whole Foods in Massachusetts, one of my co-workers was from Egypt. He was very tiny, shorter than five feet, which I assume was due to nutrition. He was very enthusiastic and driven, being a dedicated cashier and also studying to be an accountant. I'm sure he's quite successful now. He was bursting with energy.

balyien said...

I have no connection to Egypt, other than that one of my brothers-in-law went there with his wife on their honeymoon, and I believe they got food poisoning. In spite of this, they loved Egypt. I wouldn't mind seeing the pyramids. We recently watched this British documentary series about the pyramids that was very interesting but I kept getting distracted by the host, who grows increasingly more sunburned as the show goes on, even though she uses a sun umbrella the whole time. Either she didn't account for the sun reflecting off of the sand & thus didn't wear sunscreen or she needs like SPF 70.