Egypt Facts

Check out these amazing facts about the Ancient Egyptians right here at Kidspress Magazine. Digg in!

• The formal name of Egypt is the Arab Republic of Egypt.

• Egypt is the 30th largest country in the world by area.

• Ninety-five percent of Egypt is desert. The majority of Egypt’s population lives on only five percent of the territory.

• Egypt has the largest Arabic population in the world.

• On average, only an inch of rain falls in Egypt per year.
  

  The famous Sphinx recently had a nose. It was destructed in 1798 by soldiers of the Napoleonic army, who used it as a target in training shooting.

• Egypt’s Nile River is the world’s longest, running 4,135 miles (6,670 km).

• The Nile is said to flood from the tears of the Goddess Isis. This is celebrated with the festival, ‘The night of tear drop’.

• Luxor in Egypt are known as the world’s largest open air museum.

• The word pharaoh began as a nickname for the Egyptian king. It means “great house”.

• Ancient Egyptians believed that mummification ensured the deceased a safe passage to the afterlife.

• Ancient Egyptians mummified not only people but animals as well.

• The famous Great Pyramid at Giza was built as a burial place for King Khufu and took more than 20 years to build.

• Egypt’s first pyramid was a step pyramid built by famed Egyptian architect Imhotep.

• The pyramids of Egypt are the last remaining ancient wonder of the world.

• Hieroglyphs was created in about 3000 BCE and most likely came from an early wall drawings.

• Cats were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt.

• For ancient Egyptians, bread was the most important food and beer was their favorite drink.

• Egyptians invented the 365 days calendar.

• The Ancient Egyptians were scientists and mathematicians.

• The ancient Egyptians worshiped more than 1,000 different gods and goddesses.

• Facebook, the world famous social networking site had played an important role in the recent revolution that occurred in 2011.

• In Egypt, there are more than five million users Facebook – more than any other country in the Middle East.

• Soccer is the number one sport; tennis, squash and wrestling are also favorites.