The Egyptians are the population of Egypt and one of the peoples of the Arab world. Their number is estimated at 104 million, the majority of whom are Muslims with a Christian minority.
The first article of the Egyptian constitution states that: The Egyptian people are part of the Arab nation working on its integration and unity, and Egypt is part of the Islamic world, belongs to the African continent, is proud of its Asian extension, and contributes to building human civilization.
The largest urban agglomeration is the capital and its extension, which is called Greater Cairo (about 20 million people), at which the Nile River branches, then the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, then the cities of Lower Egypt (Mansoura – Tanta – Mahalla al-Kubra) and in Upper Egypt, Assiut, the largest cities in Upper Egypt and Luxor, and in the far South Aswan, the capital of the Egyptian part of Nubia.
The language of Egypt People
Arabic is the official language of the Egyptians, from which the Egyptian dialect is derived. The ancient Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphs, which means the sacred inscription, and it was not a spoken language, but they spoke demotic, hieratic, ancient Coptic, and Coptic is used so far in churches only, then the Arabic language spread since the seventh century AD. In addition to the presence of local languages in some ancient peoples in Egypt, such as the Nubian language in Aswan Governorate and the Berber language in Siwa Oasis in the Western Desert. In addition to French, English is the most common foreign language understood by learners.
Identity
Egyptians attribute their identity to each era of Egypt’s history to varying degrees. Identity questions came to the fore in the 20th century as Egyptians sought to liberate themselves from British occupation, which led to the rise of Egyptian secular ethnic nationalism (also known as “Pharaonic”). After the Egyptians gained independence from Great Britain, other forms of nationalism developed, including secular Arab nationalism, in addition to Islamism.
Population
Egypt is the most populous country in the Middle East and the second-most populous country in Africa after Nigeria. Most of them are concentrated around the Nile Valley, especially in the two large cities, Cairo (in which about a quarter of Egypt’s population lives), and Alexandria, and most of the rest of the population lives in the delta and on both coasts of the sea. The Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the cities of the Suez Canal.
The total population of Egypt at home and abroad together amounted to about 85 million and 480,426 people in the 2006 census, and the number of the internal population reached 80 million and 579 thousand and 30 people, according to the census established in 2009 and announced in April 2010 AD.
The number of families is about 17,265,265 families, and the rate of population increase in recent years is estimated at about 1.3%. This is due to the high birth rate of 29 per thousand in 1995 AD, at a time when the death rate decreased to 9 per thousand, which led to an increase in the number of families. The rate of increase to about 20 per thousand in 1995 AD.
The state adopts and encourages a policy of birth control, which contributed to the birth rate reaching its current level (28 per thousand) after it was 41 per thousand during the late fourteenth century AH (the late seventies of the twentieth century AD), and 37% at the end of the eighties of the twentieth century.
The average population density in Egypt is 63 people/km², and the population density in the Nile Valley and Delta region is 900 people/km², where about 98% of the total population lives in it, while the area of this range does not exceed 4% of the total area of the country. The population density of the Nile Valley and its delta is considered one of the highest in the world.
Food
Egyptian cuisine is famous for its special taste with some rich influences that enrich it, especially Turkish influences and Levantine influences in sweets. Many Egyptian foods have been around for thousands of years among the Egyptians, such as bread that the Egyptians called (Baladi living), molokhia, lentils, the Eid cake on Eid al-Fitr, fava beans and fisikh among the Egyptians, colored eggs (Shamo eggs) in Sham El-Nessim, etc. Turkish cuisine has greatly influenced and was influenced by Egyptian cuisine. It gave Egyptian cuisine a distinct flavor in addition to its Egyptian flavour. Among the most famous Turkish foods found in Egyptian cuisine are kebabs, kofta, Circassian food, and shawarma, as well as sweets such as: baklava and…etc. Levantine sweets have also entered the Egyptian kitchen and are known as Levantine oriental sweets. It is one of the most famous Egyptian foods, Koshary, where it has its own shops spread in most regions. Hawawshi and moussaka are considered authentic Egyptian dishes and Umm Ali sweets, which originated in the Mamluk era in Egypt.
Historical background
The Egyptians established a great civilization, the ancient Egyptian civilization. That civilization extended for thousands of years. It is believed that many of the current peoples came from the lineage of the Egyptians. But with the mixing of peoples, civilizations, and displacements in the modern era, it is difficult to be certain of that, but the Egyptian race always preserves its authenticity and identity, so we find that the farmer only marries his relatives, whether in Upper Egypt or the Delta.
Many other peoples came to Egypt for learning and trade, such as the Greeks, the Nubians, the Libyans, the Persians, and the Arabs after the Islamic conquest of Egypt, but there was little mixing of the Egyptian ancestry with them, so we find that the names of the Egyptian ancestors are as they are, Al-Menouf relative to Manf, Al-Menoufia, Al-Suyuti, Al-Masry, and so on. And the decision taken by the Egyptian Ministers Center is that the percentage of Egyptian blood in citizens exceeds 91%, and there is a great fondness among scholars to learn about Egyptian origins, and there are some peoples who attribute themselves or themselves to the Egyptian offspring, such as the Egyptian Balkans. One of the famous sayings in this regard is that whoever drinks from the Nile becomes an Egyptian.