"Going up the Nile is like running the gauntlet before Eternity," Kipling wrote. Along the eternal way: the great monuments of Abu Simbel, Luxor, and the Valley of the Kings. And, near Cairo, Egypt's symbols, the Pyramids ("All things dread Time," Harriet Martineau quoted an anonymous sage as saying, "but Time dreads the Pyramids").

• TOTAL AREA: 1,001,450 sq km

• LAND AREA: 995,450 sq km

• WATER AREA: 6,000 sq km

• POPULATION: 78,887,007

• RELIGIONS: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic 9%, other Christian 1%

• LANGUAGES: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by educated classes

• GOVERNMENT TYPE: Republic

• CAPITAL CITY: Cairo

• OFFICIAL CURRENCY: Egyptian pound (EGP)

• TIME ZONE: GMT/UTC +2