Africa & Sinai Peninsula
Geography of Egypt
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Geographic coordinates: 27 00 N, 30 00 E.
Area: 995,450 kmē
Area - comparative: slightly more than three
times the size of New Mexico (US).
Land boundaries: total: 2,689 km.
Border countries: Gaza Strip 11 km,
Israel 255 km, Libya 1,150 km, Sudan 1,273 km.
Coastline: 2,450 km
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm;
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation;
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;
territorial sea: 12 nm.
Climate: desert; hot, dry summers
with moderate winters.
Terrain: vast desert plateau
interrupted by Nile valley and delta.
Elevation extremes:
Lowest point: Qattara Depression -133 m
Highest point: Mount Catherine 2,629 m
Natural resources: petroleum,
natural gas, iron ore, phosphates,
manganese, limestone, gypsum, talc,
asbestos, lead, zinc.
Land use:
- arable land: 2%
- permanent crops: 0%
- permanent pastures: 0%
- forests and woodland: 0%
- other: 98% (1993 est.)
- irrigated land: 32,460 kmē (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: periodic droughts;
frequent earthquakes, flash floods,
landslides, volcanic activity; hot,
driving windstorm called khamsin
occurs in spring; dust storms, sandstorms.
Environment - current issues:
agricultural land being lost to
urbanisation and windblown sands;
increasing soil salination below
Aswan High Dam; desertification;
oil pollution threatening coral
reefs, beaches, and marine habitats;
other water pollution from agricultural
pesticides, raw sewage, and industrial
effluents; very limited natural
fresh water resources away from
the Nile which is the only perennial
water source; rapid growth in population
overstraining natural resources.
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change,
Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous
Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection,
Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83,
Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified:
Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol.
Geography - note: controls
Sinai Peninsula, only land bridge
between Africa and remainder of
Eastern Hemisphere; controls
Suez Canal, shortest sea link
between Indian Ocean and
Mediterranean Sea; size, and
juxtaposition to Israel,
establish its major role in
Middle Eastern geopolitics.
Other pages inthis series.
Egypts facts and history
in brief, part 1, History, part 1
Egypts facts and history
in brief, part 2, History, part 2
Egypts facts and history
in brief, part 3, Politics
Egypts facts and history in
brief, part 4, Geography
Egypts facts and history
in brief, part 5, Economy
Egypts facts and history
in brief, part 6, Pharaos of Egypt
All text is available under the terms of the
GNU Free Documentation License.
This information is correct in 2003. E. & O.E.
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