Spotlight on Egypt Company www.crabtreebooks.com
Created by Dedicated by Emese Felvégi For my family Editor-in-Chief Writing team Emese Felvégi Editor Kathy Middleton Proofreader Crystal Sikkens Fact editor Marcella Haanstra Photo research Emese Felvégi Design Katherine Berti Print and production coordinator Katherine Berti Prepress technician Katherine Berti Illustrations Katherine Berti: pages 4, 5 (top) Photographs BigStockPhoto: page 10 (inset left) Peter and Marc Crabtree: pages 6, 12 (top and bottom), 13, 22 (bottom), 31 (bottom) Photos.com: pages 24, 29 (dates), 31 (top left) Cover and all other images by Shutterstock Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Kalman, Bobbie, 1947- Spotlight on Egypt /. (Spotlight on my country) Includes index. Issued also in an electronic format. ISBN 978-0-7787-3457-4 (bound).--isbn 978-0-7787-3483-3 (pbk.) 1. Egypt--Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series: Spotlight on my country DT49.K34 2011 j962 C2010-904122-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kalman, Bobbie. Spotlight on Egypt /. p. cm. -- (Spotlight on my country) Includes index. ISBN 978-0-7787-3483-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-7787-3457-4 (reinforced library binding : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-4271-9536-4 (electronic (pdf)) 1. Egypt--Juvenile literature. 2. Egypt--Civilization--To 332 B.C.-- Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series. DT49.K35 2011 962--dc22 2010024603 Company www.crabtreebooks.com 1-800-387-7650 Printed in the U.S.A./082010/BA20100709 Copyright 2011 CRABTREE PUBLISHING COMPANY. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Company. In Canada: We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities. Published in Canada 616 Welland Ave. St. Catharines, Ontario L2M 5V6 Published in the United States PMB 59051 350 Fifth Avenue, 59th Floor New York, New York 10118 Published in the United Kingdom Maritime House Basin Road North, Hove BN41 1WR Published in Australia 386 Mt. Alexander Rd. Ascot Vale (Melbourne) VIC 3032
Contents Welcome to Egypt! 4 The people of Egypt 6 The land of Egypt 8 The Nile River 10 Life in Cairo 12 Desert life 14 Plants and animals 16 What are pyramids? 18 Ancient beliefs 20 Religion today 22 The history of Egypt 24 Egypt s culture 26 The tastes of Egypt 28 Pictures from Egypt 30 Glossary and Index 32
Welcome to Egypt! Egypt is a large country. A country is an area of land on which people live. Countries have borders, or imaginary lines that separate them from other countries. Egypt shares its borders with Libya, Sudan, the Gaza Strip, and Israel. Cairo is Egypt s capital city. SIWA MEDITERRANEAN SEA Alexandria Giza FAIYUM Cairo WEST BANK GAZA Port Said SUEZ ISRAEL JORDAN CANAL Suez SINAI PENINSULA LIBYA WESTERN DESERT FARAFRA BAHARIYYA El-Minya EGYPT Assiut NILE RIVER GULF OF SUEZ EASTERN DESERT SAUDI ARABIA Qina SAHARA DESERT N DAKHLA KHARGA Luxor Edfu RED SEA W S E LAKE NASSER Aswan NUBIA SUDAN 4
ARCTIC PACIFIC EQUATOR NORTH AMERICA ATLANTIC EGYPT EUROPE AFRICA ASIA PACIFIC W N E SOUTH AMERICA INDIAN AUSTRALIA/ IA S SOUTHERN ANTARCTICA Where in the world is Egypt? Egypt is located in the continent of Africa. A small part of Egypt is in the continent of Asia. A continent is a huge area of land. The other continents are North America, South America, Europe, Australia/Oceania, and Antarctica. The seven continents are shown on the world map above. Find Egypt on this map. 5
The people of Egypt The population of Egypt is over 80 million people. Population is the number of people living in a country. There are four groups of people who live in Egypt: Arabs, Bedouins, Nubians, and the Siwan people. People who live in Egypt came from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Africa. Egyptians speak a language called Arabic. Some Egyptians also speak English and French. These schoolgirls come from different backgrounds, but they are all Egyptians. 6