ShareThisEgypt, home to one of the world's oldest cultures, draws 9 million visitors a year. The tourist industry generates 20 percent of the country's foreign currency revenue.
Its archaeological treasures are among the most impressive on Earth. Along the banks of the Nile River are vestiges of civilizations that flourished from 3,000 B.C. to the end of the Roman Empire in the early fifth century A.D.
The oldest of the great pyramids at Giza, the last remaining of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was built around 2,500 B.C. Over the millennia, pharaohs dedicated to their many gods colossal temples that still stand today. Egypt's hieroglyphics are the world's oldest-known writing system.
Although Egypt is the size of California and Texas combined, most of the country is uninhabitable desert. Ninety-nine percent of Egyptians live on 5.5 percent of the total land area, the narrow green strip that runs along the 4,165-mile-long Nile River. It flows from its source in Burundi through seven countries before meeting the Mediterranean Sea on Egypt's northern coast.
This country was a tourist destination as early as 450 B.C., when Greek historian Herodotus traveled there and wrote extensively about its history, geography and ethnography. He was particularly taken with the pyramids and temples, but also noted the complexity and sophistication of the culture.
(Elizabeth Downer can be reached at edowner(at)post-gazette.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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