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• Egypt is located in far north-east Africa. It is about 1085 km north to south, and 1255 east to westand its total area is approximately 997 738 square kms.
• The Nile, the longest river in the world, runs through Egypt and is 6741 km long.
• The general landscape of Egypt is bare like a desert. Less than 10% of Egypt's area is settled or used in some way and more than 90% makes up the Libyan Desert, some of the Sahara Desert and the Arabian desert.
• In the Libyan Desert there is a great amount of sand and also many 'depressions' where the land is well below sea level.
• The Quttarah Depression has an area of 18 100 square kms and is 133 metres below sea level!

Clickable Map of Egypt

Comparison Between Egyptian and Indian Geography

Criteria	Egyptian Geography	Indian Geography
Images
Topography	Very Simple geography consisting of the Nile Valley and bounded on the south, east and west by a impenetrable desert, and on the north by the sea Egyptians divided the land into two types: The "black land" - fertile land on the banks of the Nile, black silt was deposited there every year after the Nile flooded. The "red land" - which is the barren desert Egypt was protected from outside influences, which allowed it to evolve to a homogeneous culture with slow change over time. The Nile river flows north from the heart of Africa to the Mediterranean Sea. Its flood plain were an extensive oasis. Humans were drawn there because they could grow crops and settle into permanent villages. The annual flooding of the Nile deposited nutrient rich silt on the land, creating all the ingredients needed to support life and the growth of a civilization.	Complex and diverse topography - Many rivers also flowed through ancient India such as the Indus river and the Ganga. The people of ancient India lived in a land of extremes encompassing desert, mountains, forest, and jungle, this resulted in a highly diversified culture with many cultural practices, languages, customs and religions The Himalaya on the north protected the Indian subcontinent from foreign invasions, but the subcontinent in itself was divided internally
Climate	Very dry climate with almost no rainfall on a regular basis. The people depend on the annual summer floods of the Nile River for water The floods begin in June and end in October - small variations in flood levels greatly influenced the whole country and resulted in good harvests or famines - Storage of grain in central government granaries became essential for maintaining life in low floods	Climate varies from tropical in the south, the Thar Desert in central India and a temperate climate in the Himalayan north, where elevated regions receive sustained winter snowfall.
Transportation	Only local traffic between villages makes use of land routes, which scarcely exist Easy transportation by sailing in the Nile - a fusion of culture developed such as could never be achieved in countries like India with natural inland frontiers. This ease of transportation resulted in a strong central and united government capable of ruling all the country easily	Difficult transportation and communication with many isolated regions Many independent Kingdoms developed and were rarely united under a single government. The subcontinent was first united under the Maurya Empire n 322 BC by Chandragupta Maurya, but this unity only lasted till 185 BC
Human Settlements	Country was divided into 42 Nomes (provinces), every Nome had its capital city - The Nomes not only remained in place for more than three millennia, the area of the individual Nomes and their order of numbering remained remarkably stable: Lower Egypt, from the Old Kingdom capital Memphis to the Mediterranean Sea, comprised 20 Nomes. Upper Egypt was divided into 22 Nomes. All cities and villages within the Nile Valley - main cities retained importance through entire history, although some cities were favored at certain times when ruling Pharaohs established their dynasties in their home towns, but abandoning cities was very uncommon (Akhetaten being a rare example)	Thousands of cities and villages emerged, flourished and declined through the whole country in river banks, forest and mountains No main settlement retained importance in history, many cities and settlements where entirely abandoned, buried and forgotten (such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus Valley)

Capital Cities and necropolises

Lower Egypt Nomes

Upper Egypt Nomes

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