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History of Egypt

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Through hard work and determination Egypt was able to overcome obstacles and rose to the top as one of the most advanced civilizations of its time. Become technologically advanced and the growth in their agriculture found from the deserts, Egypt is a force to be reckoned with. Starting with some basic background history, in the mid 1990 it was estimated that Egypt’s population was made up of 52.5 million people. The area size of Egypt is 386,700 square miles which is 1.001 million km² long. Majority of Egypt’s ethnic group are Egyptians, whose native language is Arabic. Only three percent of Egypt is made up of minorities, the largest of these minority groups are from the tribes of Bedouins, whose native language is also Arabic. Other ethnic groups are Armenian, Greeks, French, and Italians. Majority of Egyptians believe in the Islamic faith with a small 8.2 percent believing in Christianity. Although education is important to the Egyptians, school was only common for the wealthy, and those who were boys. It was estimated that merely three-fourth of the people over the age of ten were illiterate, which consisted of mainly all girls. Fortunately for girls, the school system changed to accommodate the more demanding society. In the 1980s the total number of females in college had doubled and the rate of girls being in school in general rose from nothing to thirty-two percent. (Country Studies) In the nineteenth century began the rapid growth of urbanization. The government officials and those who were in charged made it easier for individuals to own land, so that not only the elite could afford it, but also the poor. This impacted the standard of living immensely for the tribal groups of Bedouins who was granted land only the terms that they were to use it to farm for the rest of their lives. (Country Studies) In the past those who lived in the urban area had barely any form of communication to farmers and villagers who lived in the rural area, but this all changed in the twentieth century because of mass media and a temporary migration to find new jobs. The migration and move availability on education for all became the sign of a new social movement and acted as the link between urban and rural Egyptians. (Country Studies) The prosperity level increased as time went on but not by a lot. The highest wage earned worked in the oil or finance industry. Though agriculture was a huge part of employment jobs farmers still remained the lowest paid. Since wage was the government’s largest budget, there was limited room to raise salaries. There was definitely a unfair treatment in how things were decided. Workers who were in the public sector were able to be unionized and bargain collectively while workers who were in the private sector had no unionization so there were no bargains. (Country Studies) Things that Egyptian mainly exported were raw cotton, cotton textiles, and encouraged exporting on other manufacturing products because of the depletion of natural resources such as oil. The two main imports were capital and intermediate goods and food mainly wheat. Since the rise in world oil prices, the merchandise import rose immensely and gave Egypt more purchasing power. (Country Studies) In 1970, Anwar al-Sadat became president of Egypt and was a hero to many Egyptians because he nationalized the Suez Canal which was the waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. In 1981, Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated by hijab members was replaced by Vice President, Hosni Mubarak. Starting in 2005, the evolution of Muslim Brotherhood started, and began taking over the political government. Since the Muslim Brotherhood had a huge support group, they became elected officials. Than in 2007, the Muslim Brotherhood was put on trial for convicted corruption within the organizations funding and in 2008, twenty-five leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood was sentenced to jail. Calling for a new beginning, President Barack Obama tries to establish peace between the Muslims and the United States. (BBC News) http://countrystudies.us/egypt/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13315719

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