People in Egypt
91 percent of the population of Egypt belong to the
Egyptian people. You speak arabic. But Nubians, Bedscha
and Berbers also live in Egypt.
The fellahs, who are farmers and cultivate arable
land, are the direct descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. 60 percent of Egyptians are fellahs. The
Christian Copts are also descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. These live mainly in cities and primarily in
Upper Egypt (that is, in the south of Egypt).
About 140,000 Nubians live in southern Egypt. They
live here and in northern Sudan in their old settlement
area of Nubia. The Nubians are darker-skinned than the
Arabs, they speak their own language that the Arab
Egyptians do not understand and they have their own
culture. They often live in brightly painted houses that
have a vaulted roof. That way it stays cooler inside.
Few people live in the desert. There are around
70,000 in Egypt. They include members of the nomadic
people of the Bedjah. They also speak their own
language. They live as Bedouins in the Arabian Desert,
east of the Nile. The Libyan desert, especially the
Siwa oasis, is inhabited by a small minority of Berbers
who speak a dialect called "Siwi".
Most Egyptians live on the Nile River, which flows
through the country from south to north. The fertile
farmland of Egypt lies on the banks of the Nile. Here
the landscape is lush and beautifully green. A
particularly large number of people settle on the Nile
delta in the north of the country. The rest of the
country is criss-crossed by a dusty and very dry desert
. Survival is much more difficult here. But some people
also live here.
Most of the population lives in the Egyptian capital
Cairo, which is also the largest city in Africa. But
Alexandria and Giza are also cities with several million
inhabitants.
The population of Egypt is growing steadily, every
year by 1.8 percent. This is a big problem for the
country because all of these people want to be fed and
find work.
Languages in Egypt
The Egyptian official language is Arabic. The
Egyptians speak a certain Egyptian-Arabic dialect
(Egyptian-Arabic). The Egyptian dialect differs from
Standard Arabic in vocabulary and pronunciation.
Standard Arabic is used in newspapers, however. The
written language is thus standard Arabic.
In the south of the country, the Nubians speak Nubian
. In some oases you also have your own language. French
is taught as a foreign language, but English is also
taught.
Religions in Egypt
Egypt is a state in which mainly Muslims live. Islam
has been the Egyptian state religion since 1980. 90 out
of 100 Egyptians are Muslims, namely Sunnis. But there
are also Christians in the country, the Copts. About
nine out of 100 Egyptians are Copts. Jews and members of
the Baha'i religion are small minorities. You can find
out more about the Baha'i religion on the children's
website religionen-discover.
In Egypt there are different interpretations of Islam.
Some want to open up more to the West and live more
freely, while others want to stick to old traditions and
rules. There are always arguments between the two
currents. Who are the Copts? Nine out of 100
Egyptians are members of Christianity. Most of these
Christians are Copts. Copts are members of the Coptic
Orthodox Churches. They used to speak the Coptic
language, which is now only used in the church. Most of
them live in the big cities of Egypt like Cairo and
Alexandria. Life is not easy for Copts in Egypt
because there are repeated attacks on members of this
religious community. Many Copts have left Egypt
precisely because they are repeatedly the target of
terrible attacks by Islamists. Islamists fight other
religions and their attacks are also sometimes aimed at
destinations where tourists go on vacation. On
discovering religions you can find out more about the
Coptic religion.
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