Egypt: More Than Just Pyramids - Afropolitain Magazine

Contrary to what you have been taught in history class, Egypt is more than just pyramids. While the pyramids of Egypt are an awe to behold, the country has much more to offer.

Landscape and Population

Egypt wasn’t always desert. During the last Ice Age, the Egyptian desert was a grass-grown plain dotted with trees and small lakes. With a total estimate of about 92.1 million people, Egypt is the largest Arab country in the world. By virtue of area, Egypt is the 30th biggest country in the world. It measures approximately 1,001,450 square miles, which is almost 10 times larger than South Korea.

Egypt has the most Facebook users compared to any other country in the Middle East. It ranks 21st in the world, with an average of more than 20.14 million internet users. This social network highly contributed and led to the success of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The tradition of exchanging wedding rings traces its origin back to ancient Egypt.

Sports and Recreation

The most popular sport in Egypt is football (soccer) but they also take part in tennis, squash, and swimming. The national football team, the Pharaohs, was the first African representative at the World Cup (1934) and has won the African Cup of Nations a number of times since that competition began in 1957. In 2010 Egypt became the first country to win three consecutive African Cup of Nations titles. Volleyball is another team sport that enjoys a wide following, and various martial arts (including judo and tae kwon do) are popular individual sports.

Food and Restaurants

Soft drinks are also popular in Egypt. Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola are widely available, along with other familiar brands such as Sprite, 7-Up, and Fanta Orange Soda. Many of the Western fast-food chains have restaurants in Egypt, including Arby’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Subway, and Wimpy’s, and other Western chain restaurants like Chili’s and TGIFriday’s. There are also restaurants that serve Chinese, Korean, Indian, and other cuisines from around the world.

Modern Architecture

Buildings in Egypt are known for architectural excellence. The country has many of the tallest buildings in Africa. The Cairo Tower with dimensions of 187 m (614 ft) is the tallest building in Egypt. There is also the El Gezira Tower Movenpick Hotel with 43 floors and dimensions 142 m (466 ft). Noteworthy is also the fourteen El Maadi Residential Towers which have 35-42 floors each and are between 140 m (460 ft) and 122 m (400 ft) tall. In fact, in 2019 Egypt commenced construction of the tallest building in Africa. The 390 metre Iconic Tower is in the new administrative city being built outside of Cairo

Entertainment

Egypt also has one of the most active movie-making industries in the world, producing between sixty and one hundred films every year. Egypt also receives movies from overseas. However, such films are often edited to remove offensive material. The film industry has created film stars who are just as popular in Egypt as many of the Western movie stars are to people in North America and Europe.

Fashion and Style:

Lifestyles in the larger cities vary greatly from those of the countryside and are, in many ways, more akin to patterns found in urban culture worldwide. Although modesty is maintained in urban modes of dress, urban clothing styles differ only marginally from those found in many European cities.

Among others, in Cairo, there is the fashion week and forum within the international standards. It is identical to similar fashion events being part of the world fashion calendar. With a strong international profile, fashion weeks have played a major role in the last 70 years. They have contributed to the growth and development of apparel, beauty, and all other segments of the fashion industry.