Facts and figures about your holiday destination
Egypt is located in northeastern Africa. The country stretches 1.030 km in length and 960 km in width. It covers a total area of approximately 1 million square kilometers on the African continent, roughly three times the size of Germany.
In total, five main landscapes shape the face of Egypt: the Sinai Peninsula, the Arabian Desert to the east, the Libyan Desert to the west of the Nile, the Nile Valley carved into the desert plateau by the Nile, and the approximately 24.000 sq km Nile Delta north of Cairo.
96% of the area is desert – the so-called Eastern and Western Deserts – and only 4% is arable, cultivable land, stretching along Egypt's lifeline, the Nile, which is 6.671 km long in total. The west borders Libya and the south Sudan. The Eastern and Nubian Deserts together form a single geological unit.
The Libyan Desert, also called the Western Desert or Great Sand Sea, covers approximately 2/3 of the country's area and is a limestone plateau containing several depressions and numerous oases.
The coastline stretching from Suez to Berenice is bordered by a plain of sand and gravel.
The Eastern Desert, covering 220.000 square kilometers, is bordered to the east by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez. North of Hurghada, the Red Sea Mountains begin, beyond which the landscape transitions into a desert of sand and gravel until it reaches the green fringes of the Nile Delta. The highest mountain in the country is Gebel Shayab at 2.185 meters.
Mineral resources are found particularly in the southern part of the Eastern Desert.
Minable minerals include phosphate, manganese and iron ore, kaolin, lead, zinc, titanium, tungsten, and asbestos. The region's rich gold deposits are also noteworthy. The precious metal was mined here, particularly in antiquity. Phosphorus is still mined today in the hinterland of Safaga, Quseir, and Marsa Alam. The search for oil, one of the country's most important exports, has also been successful. Drilling fields have been developed in the coastal regions of the Red Sea between Ras Gharib and Gebel az Zayt, in El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast, and on the Sinai Peninsula.
