Egypt and its borders

Egypt stood a strong independent nation, with Pharoahs,pyramids, and gods that could intiminate an army. Although for so long Egypt stood on its own it eventually had a weak period that left it open to foreign influence. The geography of Egypt has left its borders open to foreign predators but also desired by many governments in Asia as well as Europe. In 1517 Egypt at one of its weakest points was taken over by the Ottoman Empire, the Ottoman-Mamluk War was a serious conflict between the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, this conflic started nearly 50 years early when both Egypt and the Ottomans wanted control over the spice trade and the Ottomans also seeked to control the Holy Cities of Islam. The borders of Egypt however did not change it just enlarged the spread of the Empire. Through the control of the Ottoman the French did step in and attempt control in 1798 but did not hold strong and in 1805 the Ottomans took possession again by 1805.

Egypt become an vassal state when the Ottomans took control in 1805, which gave it the ability to rule itself but then with trade booming the Europeans entered the race to have a part of Egypt again. The Suez Canal was a prime location for trade and transportation, the building of the canal led to extremed debt for Egypt and led for them to sell a portion to the British government in 1875, with Britian and France so closely linked at the Suez Canal, Egypts politics began to be adjusted and by 1882 it became a British protectorate. This rule did not last very long in 1953 Egypt gained its independence after a revolution that was meant to just overthrow King Farug but quickly moved to a movement meant to abolish the constitutional monarchy in Egypt.

Although Egypt had its independence it has not had a smooth road since then, it has gone through numerous leaderships and even faced a second revolution in 2011. The area is one of danger, the people live under tyranny with stric Muslim laws which are imposed on all Egyptians and faces many power struggles on a daily basis. Although the Egyptian kingdom held a strong hold on the land for so long since foreigners have stepped in their involvement has caused much termoil and is still working towards becoming a strong independent nation.

sources:
Din, Khaled Mohi El. Memories of a revolution: Egypt, 1952. Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press, 1995.

Reader, John. Africa: a biography of the continent. New York: Vintage, 1999.

Missionaries in Egypt

The stories of Egypt are well known in the bible, Moses captivates us with the stories of the Red sea, Exodus describes the plagues that would fall down on Egypt. Both the New Testaments and Old Testament tell grand stories focused around Egypt geographically as well as people from Egypt. Although the bible tells stories of Egypt many people within its borders practiced a more polytheistic religion involving the Pharoahs and the many Gods who were connected to them. Egypt however was an open land where missionaries from all over traveled to bring the Gospel, and even missionaries from other religous groups passed through the country.

Many types of missionaries have brought their beliefs into Egypt, Anglican, Mormon, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Muslim. The push of missionaries first were noticed when Mark the Evangelist arrived around 33 A.D. With the Gospel arriving full force in Egypt telling grand stories of Jesus entering Egypt by 300 AD Alexandria become one of the great centers for Christianity. Egypt was an area that could be greatly influenced, Islam even sent missionaries into the area to push the work of Allah. Islam quickly became the official religion within Egypt leaving Christianity with a small portion of 9% of the population being Christian.

The location of Egypt is why we see the push of Christianity from the west and Islam from the east, it stands between to large religions. The missionaries which traveled into the Egyptian borders were able to have easy access due to the water ways that surrounded the land but also a settled people. Most of AFrica during the time that the Gospal was introduced in Egypt was unsettled and unestablished, Egypt however had been a strong nation for centuries and was more open for travelers. This allowed for many forms of Christianity and Islam to enter and impact the people of the land.
Although missionaries of Christ have been in Egypt for thousands of years, the word of God has not reached many of the people, Islam has been more successful in introducing their faith and Christianity should step forward and push for a better hold on the land that thrives.


sources:

Sharkey, Heather J. American evangelicals in egypt. Place of publication not identified: Princeton University Pres, 2015.
Reader, John. Africa. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2007

First Contact

Egypt is in the prime geographic location within Africa for contact with not only the countries it borders but also the continents and land that lies beyond African borders. These borders allowed for Egypt to have contact with non-African people a lot earlier than most of its surrounding brethren. Contact with both Asian and European groups since the early fourth century. The contact from outside countries did not originate for trade or natural resources, it originate for expansion both politically and religiously.

European contact originated in 332 BC, the ruler of Macedonia Alexander the Great conquered Egypt and expanded the Hellenistic empire to stretch across Egypt. Egypt had been under self-rule for 3,000 years and had always been independent but during a spurt of weak pharaohs, Alexander the Great was able to take over and deem the first non-Egyptian pharaoh, Ptolemy I Soter. Although the contact with Europe spread in a lot of Greek culture to win over the Egyptians they named themselves pharaohs and even portrayed themselves in public monuments in Egyptian style and dress. This Ptolemaic rule extended through Cleopatra VII died shortly after the death of her lover Mark Antony, after her death the native Egyptian rebelled and this rebellion led to the decline of Ptolemaic Egypt and it was shortly followed by the annexation by Rome.

Asian contact with Egypt was not too different from the Greek and Roman spread into the borders, this time however it was to purposely spread the Muslim beliefs. In 641 AD the Muslims began to cross into the Arabian peninsula and pushed even further into the Egyptian borders. The Muslims wanted to have the territory not for political rule but for Islam. This contact from Asia has held very strong in Egypt, most Egyptians are Muslim and this is with thanks due to the conquest in 641 AD.

Although Egypt has seen many types of people pass through the doors it has shaped the country into its modern religious beliefs, style, and society. Many of the style and society structure that we see today in Egypt is thanks to the Hellenistic Empire which includes the portion of Christian people within its borders, the Asian conquest held a strong influence on the religious lifestyle that holds steady in Egypt.

Sources:

Reader, John. Africa: a biography of the continent. New York: Vintage, 1999

Quirke, Stephen. Exploring religion in ancient Egypt. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.

history without words

sources:

https://smartbridge.com/remodeling-recursive-hierarchy-tables-for-business-intelligence/

https://www.pinterest.com/eleanorwhyton/ancient-egyptian-dress/

http://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/shrouded-history-nitocris-was-last-pharaoh-sixth-dynasty-woman-005347

Natural Resources:
Resources within egypt are fairly rich, the primary resources are oil and gas. The crude oil is found mainly in the Gulf of Suez and in the Western Desert and the natural gas is found mainly off the Mediterranean seashore and even in the western desert.Since 1995 there has been a decline in crude oil and Egypt has turned its focus to natural gas, it increased by approximately 75%, the excess amount of natural gas will meet the countries needs for many years while still being able to export plenty for trade. But oil and gas is not the only resource that Egypt is rich with such as iron ore, phosphate, limestone, talc, and zinc but the more dominate resources that bring income into Egypt's borders Honey, Papyris Plant, River Nile.

Change:
Over the years Egypt has always been known for its beauty and gems, the area has been self sustaining for many years with the Nile alotting for most of their natural resources. Once gas and oil were found the country began to excel a lot more and exporting began to build the country. This increase in exports helped to build relationships between other countries such as the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Trading:
Ancient Egypt imported and exported goods from numerous neighboring countries. They started exporting stone and pottery vases, linen, papyrus, gold vessels and dried fish, mostly beautiful arts created within its boards but Egypt imported a lot more goods such as horses, cattle, cedar wood, silver and copper. At the start of trade in Egypt Caravan routs were one of the most important means of exchanging these goods, one route led to the south and the other to the north. The Nile was also used as an important trade route connecting north to south leading to the Mediterranean exposing Egypt to many more resources to link the country with more international trade. With international trade being exposed Egypt was able to prosper as it found new resources. The oil and gas trade took up over half the exports that left the borders.Egypts main trading partner is EU, its covers 22.9% of Egypt's trade volume in 2012 and ranked first both as Egypt's import and export partner.Trade between EU has steadily progressed especially since 2004 and the growing finds of oil fields helped to build the trade even more.

Sources:

Amarsys. Egypt: BG plans third pipeline to its West Delta Deep Marine gas project offshore Egypt. Accessed April 2017. https://www.energy-pedia.com/news/egypt/bg-plans-third-pipeline-to-its-west-delta-deep-marine-gas-project-offshore-egypt.

"Pic 2 Fly." Egyptian Trade Goods submited images. Accessed April 2017. http://www.pic2fly.com/Egyptian Trade Goods.html

Chakravarti, Leila Zaki. Made In Egypt : Gendered Identity and Aspiration on the Globalised Shop Floor (1). New York, NY, US: Berghahn Books, 2016. Accessed April 2017. ProQuest ebrary.

PBS. Accessed April 2017. http://www.pbs.org/empires/egypt/newkingdom/resources.html.

Religion

Modern Religion
Egypt declared Islam the state religion in the 1971 constitution, the largest sect is Sunnis. Sunnis Islam is one of the larges groups of Islam, the difference between the two sections of Islam Sunni and Shia is the disagreement over the choice of Muhammad's successor. About 90% of the population in Egypt is Muslim while the remaining 10% is made up of mostly Christians. Although the constitution does allow for religious freedom the government has a long history  with suppressing those rights. One of the codes within the constitution prohibits religious practices that conflict Islamic law, so allowing religious freedom is still very limited within Egypt. Since most of the people in Egypt are Muslim a majority of the capital city Cairo is made up of Muslim people too, their are numerous mosques all over the city ranging from small local mosques to the Mosque of Ibn Tulun the largest in the city, religion pervades most of the life in Egypt, even closing schools on Fridays to recognize the Muslim holy day. But Egypt has not always been a land of Muslim believers, over the years Egypt has seen many prophets and religions pass through its borders.

Ancient Religion

Religion in Egypt's history is complex with a broad system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were a major aspect of social and political life in Egypt. We are all very familiar with the pharaohs of Egypt. The center of the religion focused on Gods who were present in life and controlled all forces of nature; weather, motherhood, agriculture. The people of ancient Egypt's formal religion were set around the pharaoh, the pharaoh was the link between the people and the gods. This religion is what formed the many monuments and statues in which people from all over the world come to visit, the religious history of Egypt stretched over 3,000 years before we see the transition into the now Muslim country we see today. The transition was slow, and started prominently between 1650-1550 BC when increased contact with the outside people led to the adoption of many new religious beliefs, and then as Egypt grew weaker with foreigners seizing the country and assuming position of pharaoh, the title of pharaoh began to decline and emphasis on other religions began to dominate the culture.

Religious Myths

Many myths have risen from ancient Egypt ones of great gods swooping down and saving the nation or at sometimes even handing out punishments. Pharaohs were seen as the connection between the Gods and the people they were half human half god, and the many drawings and monuments of ancient Egypt show just those descriptions. Egypt lay very close to the Mediterranean world and many of the artifacts have been well preserved to help tell the stories of the time, one of the most well known myths is one that even Hollywood movies have emphasized "The Contending of Horus and Seth" the story depicts a jealous brother murdering to gain control of a nation. Seth believed because of his wisdom he should become the next leader for he had been the one in charge of guarding the ship of Ra as it sailed through monster territory, Isis the goddess of motherhood pushed for her son Horus to be the king and carry his father's legacy. The story tells of battle between the family were Isis loses her head and Horus his eyes. We see many of these depictions of the story not only in Hollywood films but also in the artwork throughout Egypt, the eye of Horus is one of the most renown images of Egyptian culture and statues of Isis headless are in numerous temples. The myths tell many stories of betrayal and conquest but overall show how many of the beliefs of greatness were spread. In Christianity we have many stories of prophets reaching extraordinary limits, Moses partying the Red Sea, Jesus turning water to wine and many other examples that show the power of our God. The myths of Egypt are no different they tell the stories of greatness and how these pharaoh and gods were everything but ordinary.

Religious Impact

Egypt was Christianized during the first century C.E., when the country was part of the Roman Empire, Coptic Christianity claimed direct descent from ancient Egyptians. The foreigners who came into the area had the largest impact on religion within Egypt, during a time of weakness Christianity took hold of the people and grew when Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 4th century C.E. Although Coptic traditions differed from that in Rome held strong in Egypt for over 150 years when the next wave of religion took hold on Egypt. By 647 C.E. all of Egypt was under Islamic rule, and then not too long after Coptic Christians became a minority.

sources:

"The Eye Of Horus, by Moffarammes." Moffarammes. September 16, 2011. Accessed April 2017. https://moffarammes.bandcamp.com/album/the-eye-of-horus.

Baines, John R. "Ancient Egyptian religion." Encyclopædia Britannica. June 29, 2016. Accessed April 2017. http://www.britannica.com/topic/ancient-Egyptian-religion.

Belcher, Stephen. African Myths of Origin. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2005.

Reader, John. Africa: a biography of the continent. New York: Vintage, 1999

Quirke, Stephen. Exploring religion in ancient Egypt. Malden, Mass: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015.

culture

Egyptian art

Egyptian art contained many different forms of art paintings, sculptures in stone, wood, and ceramics, drawings, jewelry, and ivories; all of these forms of are help show the culture and belief systems of the Egyptians. Egyptian art uses hierarchical proportion, where the size and portions of the figures within the are show their importance. Egyptian artwork focused on life after death, so we see many Gods and Pharaohs are larger and then it trickles down to servants, animals, and trees as small objects. Most of the artwork that still stands today is in that of monuments of pharaohs and Egyptian religious leaders. These strong beliefs caused for the art to be outwardly resistant to individual artistic judgement, the geography of Egypt also helped to create a stable environment for the art and culture to flourish. The most distinctive images of Egyptian artwork that stand out are those of the pharaohs with the body of a human yet head of a creature, these images are still most associated with the art and culture of Egypt.

Egyptian Architecture

Imagine Egypt, the first thing that comes to mind is three large pyramids, the Pyramids of Giza. Egypt was an area were the afterlife was the most important aspect, your life on earth was to earn and achieve riches to take with you to the afterlife. Large monuments were built and filled with riches included the mummified remains of the people. The monuments were built stone by stone, layer upon layer to reach towards the sky on the backs of many everyday servants and slaves. Due to lack of wood, the main building materials were mud brick and stone, most of the architecture in Egypt is based mainly on religious monuments. Then the inside of these structures were incased by beautiful pictures and hieroglyphics, emphasizing the lifestyle and beliefs of the people.

Egyptian art and architecture." Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed March 28, 2017. https://www.britannica.com/art/Egyptian-art.

Riggs, Christina. 2005. The Beautiful Burial in Roman Egypt : Art, Identity, and Funerary Religion. Oxford: OUP Oxford, 2005. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)