50 Fun Facts About Egypt

What is the capital of Egypt?

Greater Cairo is home to more than 22 million people, making it the largest urban area in Africa and the Arab world.

Which river runs the length of Egypt into the Mediterranean?

It supplies about 90% of Egypt's water, and almost the entire population lives within a few kilometres of it.

Which man-made waterway links the Mediterranean and the Red Sea?

It has no locks, so seawater flows freely through it, and it earned Egypt a record $9.4 billion in 2023.

What is the official language of Egypt?

Coptic, the last stage of the ancient Egyptian language, survives only as the liturgy of the Coptic Orthodox Church.

Which religion is Egypt's official state religion?

Egypt also has the largest Christian population in the Middle East and North Africa, mostly Coptic Orthodox.

What is the currency of Egypt?

The Arabic name, junayh, comes from the English guinea; each one is divided into 100 piastres.

Which Egyptian site is the only surviving Wonder of the Ancient World?

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was also on the list but was brought down by earthquakes centuries ago.

What is Egypt's second-largest city?

The Mediterranean port is nicknamed the Bride of the Mediterranean and was the country's capital under the Ptolemies.

Egypt borders which country to the west?

About 330,000 Egyptians live across that border, the second-largest Egyptian community in the Arab world.

Which Egyptian winger is the Premier League's all-time top foreign scorer?

His two goals in the final qualifier sent Egypt to the 2018 World Cup, their first in 28 years.

Which conqueror founded Egypt's second city in 331 BC?

It grew up beside an Egyptian settlement called Rhacotis, which became the new city's Egyptian quarter.

The Sinai Peninsula is the only part of Egypt on which continent?

The canal is the conventional boundary, so the peninsula counts as West Asia while the rest of the country is African.

What is the nickname of Egypt's national football team?

Egypt was the first country outside Europe and the Americas to play at both the Olympics and the World Cup.

Which president was forced out by the 2011 Egyptian revolution?

He had ruled for nearly 30 years, renewing his term through single-candidate referendums until 2005.

Who became president of Egypt in 2014?

Presidential terms were stretched to six years in 2019, and he won a third term in December 2023.

Anwar Sadat signed a 1979 peace treaty with which country?

The deal got Egypt suspended from the Arab League for a decade and was a main motive for Sadat's assassination in 1981.

Which Cairo plaza was the focus of the 2011 protests?

The name means Liberation Square; it was briefly renamed for Sadat in 1981 but nobody used the new name.

Which president nationalised the canal in 1956, provoking the Suez Crisis?

Pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union forced the invaders out, and his popularity across the Arab world soared.

Who invaded Egypt in 1798, defeating the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids?

The French stay was short, but it brought the printing press to Egypt and cleared the way for Muhammad Ali Pasha's rise.

Which Egyptian writer won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature?

He published 35 novels, all set in Egypt, including The Cairo Trilogy, and remains the only Arabic-language laureate.

Egypt joined which country in 1958 to form the United Arab Republic?

The union lasted only until 1961, but Egypt kept the name until Sadat renamed the country in 1971.

Which country helped Egypt build the Aswan High Dam?

When finished in 1970 it was the tallest earthen dam in the world and created the 479 km-long Lake Nasser.

Mohamed Morsi, elected president in 2012, belonged to which movement?

He lasted just over a year before the military removed him on 3 July 2013.

The city of Luxor was formerly known by what name?

The Karnak and Luxor temples stand inside the modern city, with the Valley of the Kings across the river.

How many Africa Cup of Nations titles had Egypt won before the 2025 tournament?

Egypt's seven titles were a record going into the 2025 tournament; the three-in-a-row from 2006 to 2010 has never been matched by any other nation.

Which 10th-century Cairo university is Islam's preeminent seat of learning?

By some measures it is the second-oldest continuously operating university in the world.

Which king abdicated after the Free Officers coup of 1952?

His baby son reigned in name for less than a year before the monarchy was abolished in June 1953.

Which Egyptian dish of lentils, rice and pasta is UNESCO-listed heritage?

It is usually topped with tomato sauce and crispy fried onions and sold from dedicated street shops.

Which French diplomat formed the Compagnie de Suez in 1858?

Construction took a decade, and the canal opened on 17 November 1869.

Amr Shabana, Ali Farag and Ramy Ashour were world number ones in which sport?

Egypt has won the world team championship five times, most recently in 2019.

Who became the first president of Egypt in 1953?

He was pushed out within 18 months and kept under house arrest while Nasser consolidated power.

The Ottomans conquered Egypt in 1517 by defeating which rulers?

The Mamluks kept much of their local power under Ottoman rule until Muhammad Ali massacred the survivors in 1805.

Cairo became the capital of which caliphate in the 10th century?

The city was founded in 969 and soon eclipsed Fustat, the earlier Arab capital just to its south.

What is the highest mountain in Egypt?

It stands next to Mount Sinai, the peak traditionally identified as where Moses received the Ten Commandments.

Into how many governorates is Egypt divided?

Each has a capital, and state television runs six local channels to cover them all.

On which day is the spring festival Sham Ennessim observed?

Egyptians of all faiths picnic outdoors and eat fesikh, a salted fish, in a tradition thought to go back 4,500 years.

In its 1940s–60s golden age, Egypt ranked where among world film producers?

More than 4,000 films have been made in Egypt, roughly three quarters of all Arab production.

Egypt was the first Arab country to launch its own satellite, named what?

Cairo's Media Production City still supplies much of the Arab world's television output.

Where did the 2021 Golden Parade take 22 royal mummies?

The televised procession carried the kings and queens across Cairo in custom vehicles with a full military escort.

Which country bought Egypt's canal shares from Isma'il Pasha in 1875?

Seven years later British troops occupied the country, and they did not fully leave the Canal Zone until 1956.

In which year did British forces occupy Egypt after the Urabi revolt?

The occupation lasted, in various forms, until the 1952 revolution and the final troop withdrawal in 1956.

Which country left joint Anglo-Egyptian rule to become independent in 1956?

The 1899 condominium had put it under joint administration, though Britain held the real power.

Who founded EgyptAir in 1932?

The same industrialist financed Studio Misr in 1936, which dominated Egyptian cinema for three decades.

Which novel by Muhammad Husayn Haykal is considered the first modern Egyptian novel?

It kicked off a movement to modernise Arabic fiction during the Nahda, the Arab cultural renaissance.

What was the first Egyptian talkie?

Egyptian cinema is the oldest in Africa and the Arab world, with screenings dating back to 1896.

The British exiled Saad Zaghloul to which island in 1919, sparking a revolution?

The uprising pushed Britain to declare Egypt independent in February 1922, with Fuad I taking the title of king.

Which energy company discovered the giant Zohr gas field in 2015?

The find helped end the six-hour daily blackouts Egypt had suffered in the summer of 2014.

The Siwi language of Siwa Oasis belongs to which language family?

The oasis sits far out in the Western Desert near the Libyan border, which kept it culturally distinct.

The Benban Solar Park, one of the world's largest, is near which city?

The far south gets almost no rain, which makes it ideal for solar but also explains why the Nile matters so much.

The Egyptian Museum in Cairo opened in which year?

Its Tutankhamun treasures moved out in 2025 to the Grand Egyptian Museum beside the Giza plateau.