NAME : NUR HAZWANI BINTI HASHIM
ID :PTM140716779
ID :PTM140716779
Egypt is the oldest tourist
destination on earth. Egypt is a country in North Africa, on the Mediterranean Sea, and is among the oldest
civilizations on earth. The name 'Egypt' comes from the Greek aegpytos which
was the Greek pronunciation of the Egyptian name 'Hwt-Ka-Ptah' which means
"House of the Spirit of Ptah", who was a very early God of the
Ancient Egyptians. In the early Old Kingdom, Egypt was simply known as 'Kemet'
which means 'Black Land' so named for the rich, dark soil along the Nile River
where the first settlements began. Later, the country was known simply as Mirs which
means country, a name still in use by Egyptians for their nation in the present
day. Egypt thrived for thousands of years as an independent nation whose culture
was famous for great cultural advances in every area of human knowledge, from
the arts to science to technology and religion.
The great monuments which Egypt is still celebrated for reflect the depth and
grandeur of Egyptian culture which influenced so
many ancient civilizations, among them Greece
and Rome.
Evidence
of overgrazing of cattle, on the land which is now the Sahara Desert, has been
dated to about 8,000 bce. This evidence, along with artifacts discovered,
points to a thriving agricultural cultivation
in the region at that time. As the land was mostly arid even then,
hunter-gathering nomads sought the cool of the water source of the Nile River
Valley and began to settle their sometime prior to 5500 bce. Organized farming began and communities known as
the Badari Culture began to flourish alongside the river. The Badari were
followed by the Amratian, the Gerzean, and the Naqada cultures, all of which
contributed significantly to the development of what became Egyptian
civilization. The written history of the land begins at some point
between long years when Hieroglyphic script
is developed by the Naqada Culture who also established the industry sometimearound
Abydos. Mummification of the dead was in practice at the city of Hierakonpolis. The city of Xois is recorded as being already ancient
as inscribed on the famous Palermo Stone. As in other cultures world-wide, the
small agrarian communities became centralized and grew into larger urban
centers.
Ancient Greeks and Romans started the
trend, coming to goggle at the cyclopean scale of the Pyramids and the Colossi
of Thebes. During colonial times, Napoleon and the British looted Egypt’s
treasures to fill their national museums, sparking off a trickle of Grand
Tourists that eventually became a flood of travellers, taken on Nile cruises
and Egyptological lectures by the enterprising Thomas Cook. Today, the most
popular places to visit are not only the monuments of the Nile Valley and the
souks, mosques and madrassas of Islamic Cairo, but also fantastic coral reefs
and tropical fish, dunes, ancient fortresses, monasteries and prehistoric rock
art.
The land itself is a freak of nature,
its lifeblood the River Nile. From the Sudanese border to the shores of the
Mediterranean, the Nile Valley and its Delta are flanked by arid wastes, the
latter as empty as the former are teeming with people. This stark duality
between fertility and desolation is fundamental to Egypt’s character and has
shaped its development since prehistoric times, imparting continuity to diverse
cultures and peoples over seven millennia. It is a sense of permanence and
timelessness that is buttressed by relagion, which pervades every aspect of
life. Although the pagan cults of ancient Egypt are as moribund as its legacy
of mummies and temples, their ancient fertility rites and processions of boats
still hold their place in the celebrations of Islam and Christianity.
The result is a multi-layered culture,
which seems to accord equal respect to ancient and modern. The peasants of the
Nile and the Bedouin tribes of the desert live much as their ancestors did a
thousand years ago. Other communities include the Nubians of the far south, and
the Coptic Christians, who trace their ancestry back to pharaonic times. What
unites them is a love of their homeland, extended family ties, dignity, warmth
and hospitality towards strangers. Though most visitors are drawn to Egypt by
its monuments, the enduring memory is likely to be of its people and their way
of life.
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