Download Egypt - Ms Hicks` Classes

Egypt
What Do You Know About Egypt?
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What is the capital of Egypt?
What continent is Egypt on?
What was Arab Spring?
How many pyramids are in Egypt?
Can you name any ancient Egyptian gods?
What is the Sphinx a statue of?
Who was Cleopatra?
Can you name any Pharaohs?
What bodies of water is Egypt on?
Quick Facts
• Population approx. 89 million
• Egypt is the most populous
country in the Arab World, the
• Capital city = Cairo
third-most populous in Africa
• A transcontinental country (on 2
(after Nigeria and Ethiopia), and
continents – Africa and Asia)
the fifteenth-most populous in
• The Nile is the world’s longest
the world
river
• Egypt has between 118-135
• The Sahara is the world’s largest
pyramids
hot desert
• Cancun is more south than Egypt
Brief History
• 5000 BC = People settle down and
grow crops along the banks of the Nile
• 2630 BC = Imhotep builds the first
pyramid
• 1347-1339 BC = The reign of
Tutankhamen
• 1182-1151 B.C = Reign of Ramses III,
Hebrew migration out of Egypt
• 332 B.C. = Alexander the Great
conquers Egypt
• 31 BC = Rome conquers Egypt.
Cleopatra commits suicide.
• 642 AD = Arab conquest of Egypt.
• 1517 = Egypt becomes a part of the
Ottoman Empire
• 1822 = Discovery of how to read
ancient hieroglyphics
• 1882-1922 = UK controls Egypt
• 1953 = Egypt becomes independent
• 2011 = Egyptian revolution, longtime
President Hosni Mubarak stepped
down amid mass protests
Egyptian Revolution 2011
• Egyptian protestors focused on lack of free speech and free elections, police
brutality, government corruption, high unemployment, inflation, and
continued use of emergency law.
• An estimated 800 people died and over 6,000 were injured in the process.
• Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11th.
• The Egyptian revolution sparked other revolutions in Yemen, Syria, Jordan,
Libya, and Bahrain
Weird Facts
• On average, only an inch of rain
falls in Egypt per year.
• Pharaoh Ramses II had over 90
children with his 8 official wives
and nearly 100 concubines
• Because hieroglyphs have no
vowels, we will never know for
sure how the ancients
pronounced their words.
Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt
Tourism in Egypt
• Tourism compromises 12% of the
work force in Egypt
• During the Egyptian Revolution of
2011, the number of visitors
plummeted by over 37% that year
• In the first half of 2014 the number
of tourists further declined by 25%
as compared with the same period
of 2013, while revenues shrank by
25% as well.
Cairo
• The capital and largest city, population over 10 million
• Mosques, marketplaces, museums
• Pyramids of Giza
Egyptian Museum
• It contains mummies, death
masks, sarcophaguses, relics
from Pharaohs’ tombs
• The Egyptian museum has been
arguing with the UK for decades
for them to return their
treasures
• Ex: the Rosetta Stone. Discovered in
Rosetta, Egypt by a French officer in
1799, this 2,200-year-old black basalt
stone is now a famous artifact as it held
the key for deciphering ancient
hieroglyphics. The stone was acquired by
the British when they defeated the
French in 1801, and transferred it to the
British Museum in London in 1802.
Although Egypt has continued to push for
the stone's return, the British Museum
refuses to budge.
• A German museum has a 3,400year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti. It
is the star attraction of the
Egyptian collection at the Neues
Museum in Berlin, drawing more
than 1 million viewers every year.
• The Egyptians lobbied to have it
returned, the Germans refused
• They say "She is and remains the
ambassador of Egypt in Berlin.“
• They also say she is too delicate to
survive the trip back to Egypt
Egypt Can’t Afford To Track Down Its
Treasures Anymore
• Egypt is not able to afford searches for ancient buried treasure
because of its economic crisis
• With an economy that thrives from tourism, it has been hit hard
since the 2011 revolution
• Over 20 museums have closed down since the revolution, and
they do not have the resources to run them anymore
The Great Pyramids
• The pyramids of Egypt are not only
the oldest of the seven wonders of
the ancient world, they are the only
ones to survive today.
• At the Giza Pyramid complex, there
are 6 pyramids and the Sphinx
• Contrary to popular belief, it is no
longer thought that the pyramids of
Giza were built by slaves
They originally looked like this!
• They were originally covered
in white limestone, and one
had a gold capstone at the
pinnacle
• This casing remained intact
until the 12th century, at
which time it was "quarried"
and used for the building of
mosques and fortresses in
Cairo
The Great Pyramid of Khufu
• Built as a burial place for King
Khufu (2589-2566 B.C.) and took
more than 20 years to build.
• It is built from over two million
blocks of limestone, each one
weighing as much as two and a
half elephants. It stands about
460 feet (149 m) high—taller
than the Statue of Liberty. The
base of the Great Pyramid takes
up almost as much space as five
football fields
Great Pyramid of Khufu
(2580–2560 BC)
Pyramid of Khafre
(2570 BC )
Pyramid of Menkaure
(2510 BC)
The Queens’ Pyramids
• This is how close
the pyramids
actually are to the
city!
The Great Sphinx
• A limestone statue of a reclining
sphinx (a mythical creature with
a lion's body and a human head)
• The face of the Sphinx is
generally believed to represent
the face of the Pharaoh Khafra
• Built 2558–2532 BC
The Nile River
• 6,853 km long
• Its water resources are shared
by eleven countries
• Most of the Egyptian population
lives very close to the river
• Without its floods and rich delta
land, Egyptian civilization would
never have become so powerful
Aswan Dam
• As an attempt to control the annual
flooding of the Nile
• Built in Egypt in 1971, one of the
largest dams in the world
• The rich silt that normally fertilized
the dry Egyptian land settled in Lake
Nasser after the building of the
dam, forcing farmers to use one
million tons of artificial fertilizer
every year.
• Created Lake Nasser, one of the
biggest man-made lakes in the
world
Temple of Philae
• Now is on an island downstream
of the Aswan Dam
• UNESCO moved the entire
ancient temple complex to a
higher island to prevent it from
being flooded
Valley of Kings
• For 500 years from the 16th to
11th century BC, tombs were
constructed for the Pharaohs
and powerful nobles of the New
Kingdom
• Contain 63 tombs and chambers,
and new ones are still being
found
• The tomb of Tutankhamun (with
its rumours of the Curse of the
Pharaohs), is one of the most
famous archaeological sites in
the world
Karnak
• A vast mix of decayed temples,
chapels, and other buildings
• The second largest ancient
religious site in the world, after
the Angkor Wat Temple of
Cambodia
• The second most visited
historical site in Egypt
• Approximately 30 pharaohs
contributed to the buildings
• Built from 2055 BC to 100 AD.
Luxor
• The city of Luxor has frequently
been characterized as the
"world's greatest open-air
museum", as the ruins of the
temple complexes at Karnak and
Luxor stand within the modern
city.
Abu Simbel
• Massive rock temples in southern
Egypt near the Sudanese border
• Built 1264 BCE
• With the passage of time, the
temples fell into disuse and
eventually became covered by
sand.
• The temple was forgotten until
1813.
• Between 1964-1968 UNESCO
had to move it piece by piece to
higher land
Saqqara
• A vast, ancient burial ground for
the Ancient Egyptian capital,
Memphis
• Saqqara features numerous
pyramids, including the world
famous Step pyramid of Djoser
• Located some 30 km south of
modern-day Cairo
• Built 2667–2648 BC
• Older than the Pyramids of Giza
Alexandria
• Egypt’s second largest city
• Located on the
Mediterranean Sea
• Its low elevation on the
Nile delta makes it highly
vulnerable to rising sea
levels
• Founded by Alexander the
Great in 331 BC
• Known for the Great
Lighthouse, Great Library
Sharm el-Shaikh
• A city on the tip of the Sinai
Peninsula
• A holiday resort and significant
centre for tourism in Egypt
• A major diving centre on the Red
Sea
Siwa Oasis
• An oasis in the Western Desert,
close to the Libyan border
• The population are mostly
Berber people, so they are
closer culturally to the Libyans
• Ancient fortress of Shali on top
of the hill lies in mostly ruin
• Rommel's tank corps also took
possession three times.
• German soldiers went skinny
dipping in the lake of the oracle,
contrary to local customs which
prohibit public nudity
Mt Sinai
• A mountain in the Sinai
Peninsula
• According to Jewish, Christian,
and Islamic tradition, this where
Moses received the Ten
Commandments
• The oldest working monastery at
its base
• Two ways up: one is longer but
easier, one is steeper and more
direct route (the 3,750 “Steps of
Penitence“)
Food in Egypt
• Kushari – the national dish of Egypt,
made of rice, macaroni and lentils mixed
together, topped with a spiced tomato
sauce, and garlic vinegar; garnished with
chickpeas and crispy fried onions
• Ful Mudamas – a fava bean spread
served with pita or French bread
• Fiteer baladi - Also known as Egyptian
pizza, the original is served plain, but it
can also be ordered sweet (with honey,
syrup, and/or powdered sugar), or savory
(with meat, vegetables, and/or cheese).
• Shawarma
• Falafel
Is Egypt Safe to Travel To?
• Global Affairs Canada advises
against non-essential travel to
Egypt due to the unpredictable
security situation.
• It advises against all travel to
the Sinai Peninsula, due to
terrorist activity and ongoing
military operations by the
Egyptian Armed Forces. This
does not include the coastal
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
• Global Affairs Canada advises
against all travel to within 50
kilometres of the border with
Libya, the Siwa Oasis due to
smuggling, terrorist activities,
the presence of armed groups
and ongoing military operations.
What do you think?
• Who owns ancient artefacts?
The country where it was found,
or the person who dug it up?
• Imagine you are an Egyptian historian.
You also feel a sense of moral outrage
when you see the treasures of your
country on display elsewhere in the
world without permission. You
consider them stolen. You feel angry
that people are basically gawking at
the dead bodies of fellow Egyptians.
You wish the treasures and bodies
would be returned to their home.
• Imagine you own a medium-sized museum
in a North American city. Your prized
possession is a gorgeous carved
sarcophagus with a royal mummy inside.
Your great grandfather, an archeologist,
brought it back from Egypt in 1925 and it
has been with your family ever since. The
Egyptian government writes to you, asking
you to please return it to them. You know
they can’t really do anything to make you
do it. Also, Egypt still has tons of mummies
and sarcophagi! What do you do?