History of Egypt

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Egypt is widely known around the world. From its ancient history to its large impact in today’s world, it has come to be a country that affects the world around it. Egypt has made quite the improvement in its own country as well. Egypt went from being one of the first ancient civilizations to today, leading in production of natural resources. Egypt’s history contains a change in religious beliefs, a strengthened culture and economic advances.

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            In ancient Egypt, religion was very important. At this time, most Egyptians were polytheistic, meaning they believed in many gods. One god that the Egyptians believed in was Ra, the god of the sun. The Egyptians built temples and sacred areas, in order to better worship their gods. It has also been recorded that Egyptians would have days off in order to fully worship.[1]Their rituals, like mummification, were influenced by their strong belief in gods and the afterlife. In Biblical times, Egyptians still believed in gods, but a faith in God was prominent as well. In the Bible, in Exodus, it says that “against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgments.”[2] The true God was known, but some still chose not to believe. However, over the years, the religion of this country has changed. Missionaries from Christian and Islamic nations came to share their faith. It was from this that the nation’s religious beliefs changed. Today, the country is predominately Muslim. This is due to the Islam nation overtaking the country and enforcing Islamic rule.[3] As time has gone on, Egypt experienced changes that affected their religion practices and culture.

            Egypt also has had changes in their culture. Because of their change in religion, they do not all practice ancient Egyptian rituals. One ritual that is rarely practiced is mummification. When a pharaoh or other Egyptian died, they would be mummified. Mummification is when a dead body is preserved using oils and spices, and then wrapped up with cloth. Following this process, a mask would cover the face of the deceased, and then the body would be buried with jewels and other precious things to that person.[4] Today, this is not done, as the country has advanced, and their culture has changed. Another changed cultural aspect of Egypt is its technological advances. As Egypt continued to grow and advance, many new accomplishments were gained for the country. In the 1800s, a railway was constructed, allowing another means of transportation, other than the Nile River and surrounding seas.[5] With this advancement for the country, Egyptians were able to transport imports and exports more easily, compared to floating up or down the Nile, or traveling on foot. Another cultural change in Egypt is the laws it has established. In recent years, Egypt has been controlled by Muslims. Due to this, Arabic Law is what now controls Egypt. Before this new constitution was established, laws came from a charter that dated back to 1971.[6] While the charter did have some of the same basic frame work as the new constitution, there is still a difference. The new constitution is based on Islamic faith, which the charter was not. This means that the constitution has laws that must go along with, not against, Muslim beliefs. This has changed the culture in that it now requires everyone who lives in Egypt, Islamic or not, to follow the Islamic laws.

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            One last change that has come about Egypt in its history is the economic advances it has made. Trade was and still is an important factor in a country’s economy. As stated before, Egyptians used to trade by the means of the Nile and sometimes on foot. The Nile allowed Egyptians to travel north and south of them to trade goods with other countries. One country that helps Egypt’s economy is Vietnam, who exports pepper, rice and coffee to Egypt[7]. Egypt also exports materials to other countries. Oranges are a large export that has enhanced the economy of Egypt. Egypt exports oranges because they are able to plant a larger amount in the country.[8] Other fruits are exported from Egypt. In the last couple of weeks, it has made know the strawberries from Egypt are used in Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Virginia. Egypt is the seventh largest producer of strawberries and the third largest producers of oranges in the world.[9] From ancient times to now, the economy of Egypt has boosted based on availability of products. As stated, Egypt first began trading with countries on their borders, but today they export and import from countries around the world with a much bigger variety of products. In 2013, there were economic problems due to war, but at that time, it was said that the country was on the right track to being where they needed to be on an economic level.[10] Still, this is an improvement from the ancient year of Egypt.

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            Today, the country of Egypt compared to ancient Egypt is very different. Egypt has changed and advanced in so many ways. This country, despite war, religion and cultural issues, has become a country that has made something of itself. Egypt has experienced a change in religion, culture and economy, yet still is semi flourishing in today’s world. The people of Egypt have proved to be ones that persevere and continue to work hard to advance the country that they love, regardless of the changes that have happened.

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[1] Luiselli, M. M. “Personal Piety in Ancient Egypt.”

[2] Ulmer, Rivka. "The Egyptian Gods in Midrashic Texts.”

[3] "Egypt". Encyclopædia Britannica

[4] Ikram, Salima. "The ABCs of Mummification."

[5] Zhuldyz, Turekulova. "Cultural and civilizational processes in Egypt in the XIX century."

[6] Pillay, N. “The Rule of Law and the New Egyptian Constitution.”

[7] Thanh, Dieu. "Climbing Egypt's trade pyramid."

[8] Azalle, A. I. M., Mohammed, Z. S., Ebeid, A. E. B., & Saleh, O. E.-S. (2014). “An economic study of Egyptian orange and its contribution to the development of Egyptian exports.”

[9] Khalil, Hoda A. and Shimaa M. Hassan. "Ascorbic Acid, Beta]-Carotene, Total Phenolic Compound and Microbiological Quality of Organic and Conventional Citrus and Strawberry Grown in Egypt."

[10] "-Egyptian economy recovering, says central bank chief."
[11] “ S is for Scrumptious Strawberries” https://escapadethroughegypt.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/s-is-for-scrumptious-strawberries/
[12] http://memoriesoflonda.com/picvrw/list-of-ancient-egyptian-laws.html

[13] "The Great Pyramids & Great Sphinx of Giza " http://hawkebackpacking.com/egypt_2009_cairo_pyramids.html

[14] "11 Things You May Not Know About Ancient Egypt." http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/11-things-you-may-not-know-about-ancient-egypt

Geography Changes

Today, Egypt takes up 1,001,449 square kilometers of land. It has borders with a few different countries. These countries are Libya, Israel, Syria, and the Gaza strip. Each country's border serves as a line to distinguish where Egypt begins and/ or ends. Over the years, some borders have changed for various reasons. [1]
The Gaza strip used to be a part of Egypt but is not today. Israel has owned it since 1967. Before war broke out between the two countries, Egypt had the Gaza strip, a Palestinian area, under their territorial belt. However, after war, Israel wanted their land back in exchange for peace between the two countries. [2]
Egypt also shares a border with Libya that was established in 1925. Libya was colonized by Italy, so the border lines were established with them at this time.[1] More recently the border between Libya and Egypt were causing difficulty for those traveling between the two countries. In 2004, the those that were going from one country to the other had to show their visa or work permit or money in order to cross the border. This was due to relations with Israel and their nuclear weapons. However, this border difficulty only lasted for two weeks.[3]
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Along with political borders, Egypt also has natural borders. These borders include the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. These two bodies of water separate the country from southern Asian countries and Southern European countries.
In 2009, Egypt started to build a wall between them and Gaza in order to stop the transferring of illegal weapons and other things of that matter. The wall is made of steel and is underground. [5] Today, Egypt is known for their steel wall, which caused controversy.
All of the borders of Egypt define what and who they are as country. They have changed over the years, but seem to be pretty stable at this point.



[1]http://worldfacts.us/Egypt-geography.htm
[2]http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/1355655254?pq-origsite=summon
[3]http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&u=vic_liberty&id=GALE|A114328981&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&userGroup=vic_liberty&authCount=1
[4]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhLI-Ch7esPC9qJbnO2s0G3eO_VHjD2Zf1jJ2zOX3crRC94K-cQGhTessTg17rpZvBO_qCtj8QG-4UgXp_IsilBJb7fEhePbicCV0_mdkmei1BiAArHo5bWePT5bMjCo4KedJIoVXjjwY/s1600/egypt-map.gif
[5]http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/science/article/pii/S003043871000027X

Missions in Egypt

In Egypt today, there is Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Islam is the leading religion, making up about 85- 90% of the country. Christians are present, but not many. Judaism is very little, with less  than 200 people claiming it today in Egypt.[1] Sunni Muslims believed that the Koran was what was to be followed in order to live a correct Muslim lifestyle. Sunni Islam has dominated Egypt since 647, when Alexandria was taken over. At this time, armies of Muslims had begun to invade Africa and Asia. They really wanted to expand their religion and territory. From then on, Egypt was a predominately Muslim country.[2] Since then, Sunni Islam has grown in the country. In 970 C.E., Al-Azhar University was established, a place of study for Muslims. Not only has the religion of Islam changed the people and education of Egypt, it has also affected the law. Today, the law is to agree with Islamic law causing those that live in Egypt, even if not Muslim, to follow their teachings.[1]
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Coptic Christians are also present in Egypt, though not many. Coptic Christians is a type of Christianity that began in Egypt in 55 A.D. It is said that John Mark of Biblical times started this specific type of Christianity. He traveled to Egypt with other apostles and later founded a school in Alexandria in 68 A.D. From this school, monasteries were established. However, when Muslims began to invaded the country, these Christians began to convert to Islam due to the new laws in the country.[4] In 1854, Presbyterians came to Egypt as missionaries. They are still there today, witnessing to the Egyptians.[5]
Judaism is also still in Egypt today, yet very few. Jews were in Egypt in Biblical times, but over the decades, they have diminished. Because of the strong Islamic influence today, not many remain. [6]

[1]http://www.citylighttours.com/default.aspx?id=219&Name=Religion_in_Modern_Egypt
[2]http://countrystudies.us/egypt/67.htm
[3]https://www.jihadwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/egyptian-christians-persecuted.jpg
[4]http://christianity.about.com/od/Coptic-Orthodoxy/a/JZ-Coptic-Christianity-History.htm
[5]http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8827.html
[6]http://www.projetaladin.org/holocaust/en/muslims-and-jews/muslims-and-jews-in-history/history-of-the-jews-in-egypt.html

Egypt's First Contacts

As usual, countries do not stay within their own cultures. We have seen in especially more prominent countries, that different people travel and migrate to new countries. In the United States, one can find a huge amount of variety of cultures. Today, it is very unlikely that a country is one hundred percent all the same as far as culture and beliefs. This is just the same case for Egypt. Egypt today is not just made up of Egyptians. Egyptians were obviously the first ones living in Egypt, but over time, different cultures moved here for various regions. This migrating to Egypt affected the country of Egypt as well as affected the different countries that came to Egypt. Christians and Arabs moved to Egypt most likely for their resources. As mentioned in earlier posts, Egypt contained resources like papyrus, flax, and gold.
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Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, the French sent out various types of scientists in order to learn more about the country. France was hoping to expand their territory and use all of the resources that could be found in Egypt. Based on the exploration of Egypt, the French believed they could highly improve the country by making Egypt one of their colonies. In 1789, the infamous Napoleon Bonaparte from France invaded Egypt in hopes to acquire more land for the French. Eventually, this led to a few battles between the Egyptians and French. By the 1800s, the French still had yet to take over or strengthen trade with Egypt. In the same century, a plague struck Upper Egypt. It killed many Egyptians and has been confirmed that it was in fact brought to Egypt from the French. Not only did the French cause death through disease, but Egyptians had also died in the battle with the French. The French also damaged the environment as well when they invaded and attacked. [2]

[1] https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8HKSzy9bs7u7Fg9XmwYUjVngQGthEL7Gx9g836EvxPMNIO-8HBnRIZpZ-SEnrBbmKLde10Ljxq_rWIu3HfBkcDHXCs2AD7TgZOGzTfv5BogJiSaAcXmxjWlJzVV1IzwcaS4RDo-1qTpc/s1600/Ancient+Egyptian+Life.jpg
[2] ABUL-MAGD, ZEINAB. "A Crisis of Images: The French, Jihad, and the Plague in Upper Egypt, 1798—1801." Journal of World History 23, no. 2 (2012): 315-43. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23320151.

Trade in Egypt

In Egypt, trade was and still is a key element in the economy of the country. Egypt has supplies that other countries wanted, and those countries had materials that Egypt needed and wanted. Due to this, the idea of trade came about. When the country was first established, the Nile River was not just a source of water, but a means of transportation for trade for Egypt and other countries in Africa. The Nile River allowed for Egyptians to travel to trade as well as other African and European countries to come to Egypt for trading.
In ancient times, Egypt traded with surrounding countries. Egypt exported papyrus, fish, and rope to others. Egypt imported copper, ivory, and livestock. [1] One crop that Egypt exported was flax. Egyptian farmers worked most of the year to grow crops to trade. Flax was a main trading good. Egyptians often traded flax for gold. [2]
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Trades between two parties were usually oral agreements. In earlier times, many could not write or read.[3] While items that could be used to build or create something were traded, eventually trade also developed into the exchange of people. While the slave trade was not as prominent in Egypt when compared to other African countries, slavery was still an occurrence. Slaves were traded in order to have that slave perform a certain task. Slaves were often traded for silver and other valuable goods. [4]

While flax and papyrus was among the main trading goods in ancient times, that has now changed. Today, items that Egypt trade are food and household items. Egypt receives food items, like pepper, from Indonesia. In the past several years, Egypt has strengthened its trade ties with Indonesia and Russia. [5] Egypt today trades with countries worldwide. They continue to trade through land, rivers and now the seas.


[1] http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet?ee_website_action_key=action.display.module&story_id=&language_id=1&module_id=193&ee_messages=0001.flashrequired.text
[2] http://egyptiandiamond.com/ancient-egyptian-trade.php
[3] http://www.ancientegyptianfacts.com/ancient-egyptian-trade.html
[4] http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/timelines/topics/slavery.htm
[5] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/doi/10.1111/j.1467-6346.2015.06601.x/epdf
[6] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8GkH44q2ZuA/T8T4QkqwmvI/AAAAAAAAD_g/yLAMPSj6w9Q/s1600/Trade+in+Ancient+Egypt3.jpeg

Religion of Egypt

In Egypt, like many other Northern African nations, Islam is the main religion. Ninety percent of Egypt is Sunni Muslims. There are also Catholics, Protestants and Christians in Egypt. [1] However, Islam was not always the main religion of the nation. In ancient times, the beliefs of the Egyptians were very different. Before the the Egyptian nation became Islamic, there were beliefs in gods and goddess. [2] Egyptians at this time were very polytheistic. Most gods and goddesses in Egyptian culture were half animal and half human. There was a sky god, an underworld god, a sun god, and more of that nature. Their belief in gods, goddesses, and other mythical things came to affect their everyday life. Myths were told about the world around them and how it was formed. One myth says that the sun god saw a mound rise from the ocean, and then Re, also spelled Ra, the sun god, created light and everything else. [3]





The polytheism of the Egyptians also affected the death of an Egyptian. Once dead, the bodies of the deceased were taken care of in order to please the gods and goddesses. The influence of Egyptians' religion not only affected their own lives, but also the lives of others that came to Egypt. When the Romans and Greeks saw the Egyptians' religious practices, they adopted some similar ideas. However, other religions also affected Egypt. Christianity came to Egypt and was semi dominant for a small amount of time, but soon another religion would reign. Over time, Islam made itself known in the nation. Islam beat out other religions and became the prominent one in 647 A.D.[4] Today, Islam is still the leading religion. This has changed the way that Egyptians live their life in that most will not carry out the same rituals today as was done in ancient times.


[1] www.religionfacts.com/egypt
[2] http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/civil/egypt/egcr01e.shtml
[3]  http://www2.sptimes.com/Egypt/EgyptCredit.4.3.html
[4]http://cmes.arizona.edu/sites/cmes.arizona.edu/files/2c.%20History%20of%20Religion%20-%20powerpoint.pdf

Egyptian Unwritten Historical Record

Egypt is known for its historical cultural aspects. As one of the first civilizations, its art is widely studied. What is found in Egypt is very unique and unlike any other. In Egypt, there has been a multitude of abstract art found.[1] Painted pictures and sculptures are among this art. While Egypt is well known for its extravagant pyramids, what is in inside is also magnificent.

Inside the pyramids, hieroglyphics, the Egyptian form of writing, can be found, along with drawings that are painted. These pyramids were built as a place of rest for the bodies of deceased Egyptian pharaohs. Egyptians believed that if a body was mummified and placed in a chamber of a tomb in a pyramid with their valuables, they would be able to have those items when they reached afterlife. [2] The paintings in the chambers were created to tell the story of the pharaoh's life.[3] The pyramids, inside and out, show the rich culture that Egypt has. The pyramids show the value that these people had on life and the afterlife. The pyramid represents the huge amount of respect that the pharaohs of Egypt were given. Just buy building a special place, the pyramids show the significance. When one goes deep inside the pyramids, they will find the art of hieroglyphics with other paintings, as well as the mummified pharaohs and their belongings, proving an even deeper respect .


The pyramids as a whole represent a unwritten historical record for several reasons. The first reason being that the construction of the pyramids tells those that study it, that the Egyptians were not only hard workers, but wanted to be known. Based on the religious aspects seen, it can be clear that the Egyptians very much so valued the afterlife. Thirdly, the mummification inside the pyramids show that the Egyptians had respect for the pharaohs even after they had passed.

[1] https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/egypt-art/beginners-guide-egypt/a/egyptian-art
[2] http://www.mylearning.org/a-step-by-step-guide-to-egyptian-mummification/p-1683/
[3] http://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/inside-the-great-pyramid-75164298/?no-ist