by Tom McCloughlin
Egypt was once one of the world’s most advanced civilisations and has long been the focus of studies and historical work to discover what made it tick. With all this analysis, we have discovered huge amounts of interesting facts and information about this fascinating country, though you might be surprised to find there are plenty more nuggets out there which you’re not yet aware of…
Egypt is a very dry country and on average, there is only about an inch of rainfall per year, making it a great place to go to escape the rainy weather at home!
2. The 12 Month Calendar
It was in ancient Egypt where the 365 day/12 month calendar was invented! As with previous calendars, it is based on lunar and solar cycles. Originally the calendar had 30 days for each 12 months but 5 days were added as 365 days seemed to synch better with the solar years. Some time later the leap year concept was introduced and the modern day calendar as it is today was born!
3. The First Subway in Africa
It was is in the Egyptian city, Cairo where Africa had it’s first subway introduced! Even now there is only one other city with a subway in Africa – Algiers, which had it’s subway created in 2011.
4. Mummified Animals
Everybody knows that the ancient Egyptians mummified people but not everybody knows that they also mummified animals. One of the most interesting discoveries by archaeologists was a 15 foot mummified crocodile!
5. Sites Galore
Egypt has a plethora of sights to see including the third most UNESCO World Heritage sights in Africa with six cultural sites and one natural site.
6. Bustling Cities
Greater Cairo has a population approaching 20 million making it the largest city in both Africa and the Middle East! As well as the increasing number of residents, Cairo is also one of the most popular tourist destinations in Egypt and all the visiting tourists make the city even busier!
7. Sharm el Sheikh
Sharm el Sheikh is the most popular destination for beach lovers to soak up the sunshine in Egypt and incredible statistics from the Egyptian government state that 86% of the housing in the area is hotels.