Post B1J1UXET2cCv0IjRNA by opencage@en.osm.town
(DIR) More posts by opencage@en.osm.town
(DIR) Post #B1J1UReTmzRvhEr85I by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:44Z
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It's been too long since our last #geoweirdness thread, so today we turn our attention to Egypt 🇪🇬, a land known for its pyramids, pharaohs, and great civilizations. A bit of geo-flavoured archeological digging turned up some good old-fashioned geographic oddities. Join us in our look at the land of the Nile.1/
(DIR) Post #B1J1USy0tqfXm70FAe by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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2/ First some context: Egypt 🇪🇬 is big. It is the 3rd largest by population country in Africa (behind Nigeria 🇳🇬 and Ethiopia 🇪🇹), at around 107 million, making it the most populous country in the Arab world.An estimated 51% of Egyptians are <25, and just 4% >65, making it one of the most youthful populations in the world.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Egypt
(DIR) Post #B1J1UUBWN74HYIKXrc by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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3/ The country covers just over 1 million sq km of territory. It shares land borders with four nations: Libya 🇱🇾 to the west, Sudan 🇸🇩 to the south, Israel 🇮🇱 and the Gaza Strip 🇵🇸 to the northeast. Its coastlines on the Mediterranean and Red Sea and the Suez Cana which connect them, are vital global waterways.
(DIR) Post #B1J1UV33A5t0EJNIIa by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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4/ In 2021 the Suez Canal was famously blocked when the container ship Ever Given ran aground https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Suez_Canal_obstructionBut less well known today is that in 1967 the Canal was closed by Egypt 🇪🇬 due to the war with Israel 🇮🇱. This trapped 15 boats in the canal for 8 years! Known as the "Yellow Fleet" they formed the "Great Bitter Lake Association" and issued their own postage stampshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleethttps://www.slow-journalism.com/delayed-gratification-magazine/eight-years-stuck-on-the-suez-canalhttps://www.shipsonstamps.org/Topics/html/gbla.htm#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UVhSjqDEFeHZI0 by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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5/ Ancient Egyptian civilizations were strides ahead of their time. They learned that the River Nile’s annual, predictable flooding (The Inundation) deposited fertile black silt, which led to better agricultural conditions, surplus crops, and thus rapid population growth. The result is that today roughly 95% of 🇪🇬 Egypt's population living along the banks of the Nile.#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UWKSOrP8CaWi4O by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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6/ The Hala'ib Triangle, a 20,580 km² coastal region on the Red Sea, is a long-standing territorial dispute between Egypt 🇪🇬 and Sudan 🇸🇩. The conflict originates from a discrepancy between the 1899 political boundary (Egypt's preference) and the 1902 administrative boundary (Sudan's preference). This resource-rich region, valued for suspected oil and minerals, is currently administered by Egypt.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halaib_Triangle#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UXET2cCv0IjRNA by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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7/ The Hala'ib Triangle dispute created an unintended consequence: Bir Tawil. This 2,060 km² desert area is unclaimed by either Egypt 🇪🇬 or Sudan 🇸🇩, as asserting ownership requires accepting the administrative line that concedes the much more valuable Hala'ib to the other nation. Several individuals and organizations have made "unofficial" attempts to claim it as a micronation.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempts_to_claim_Bir_Tawil_as_a_sovereign_state#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UY12833VQvSE4W by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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8/ The complexity of the 🇪🇬 Egypt-Sudan 🇸🇩 border extends beyond Hala'ib and Bir Tawil to a third area: the Wadi Halfa Salient (210 km2).Created by the same 1899/1902 boundary discrepancy and claimed by both nations, this salient was largely submerged by Lake Nasser, formed by the Aswan High Dam. The resulting underwater boundary has kept this dispute largely "out of the headlines.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Halfa_Salienthttps://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=11/22.0767/31.5606#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UgK7Ez4bCQRZvU by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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9/ Egypt 🇪🇬 is a transcontinental nation due to the Sinai Peninsula, which is geographically located in Asia. This distinctive feature establishes Egypt as a land bridge between the continents of Africa and Asia, historically positioning the country as a strategic crossroads for both commerce and geopolitical interests.All the way back in Feb 2021 "Name transcontinental countries" was our #fridaygeotrivia questionhttps://blog.opencagedata.com/post/geotrivia-feb2021-multicontinent-countries#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1UoQ58gbCJFISKu by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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10/ Moving to the West, away from the Nile, the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert is characterized by some of the world's largest sand dunes, reaching heights of up to 100 meters. This vast, nearly impassable terrain historically served as a significant natural barrier, effectively isolating 🇪🇬 Egypt's population centers from their western neighbors for centuries.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Sand_SeaBelow is the Great Sand Sea plotted on a map of topological features of the Sahara:
(DIR) Post #B1J1UwbihIf5henraS by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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11/ Running directly through the Great Sand Sea, 🇪🇬 Egypt's border with 🇱🇾 Libya is defined by the 25th meridian east, creating one of the world's longest, uninterrupted straight-line borders.This demarcation is a geometric boundary that largely disregards local human and physical geography, a characteristic feature of many historical colonial and post-colonial border agreements.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/25th_meridian_east#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1V4meIY9p3ryhjU by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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12/ As you can see in the previous map, Egypt 🇪🇬 was for a time (from 1958) a part of the United Arab Republic, a union between Egypt and Syria 🇸🇾. Syria left the union in 1961 following a coup.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_RepublicIn response Jordan 🇯🇴 and Iraq 🇮🇶 briefly created the rival Arab Federation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_FederationAs with much of Middle Eastern politics, it's complicated.#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1VCdN6vURPPhPNo by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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13/ Despite its immense geographical size, Egypt 🇪🇬 maintains a single time zone: Egypt Standard Time (UTC+2). However, the use of Daylight Saving Time (DST) has been highly unstable. After a seven-year suspension, the government reinstated DST (moving to UTC+3) in 2014, only to cancel it the following year, and again in 2016, leading to several rapid shifts in timekeeping. DST was formally reinstated in 2023.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time_in_Egypt#geoweirdness
(DIR) Post #B1J1VKnakoQ0jQXgQK by opencage@en.osm.town
2025-12-16T11:39:45Z
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14/ That wraps up our look at the #geoweirdness of Egypt 🇪🇬 What did we miss?If you like geographic oddities of the Arabic-speaking world you may enjoy our thread about the 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates https://en.osm.town/@opencage/111113713944602654or 🇲🇦 Morocco https://en.osm.town/@opencage/112457004112799165We have more threads about specific countries, border disputes, geocoding, etc linked on our blog: https://blog.opencagedata.com/geothreads