Egypt

Abstract

The area of Arab Republic of Egypt is about 386,299 square miles (1 million square kilometres). However, only 4 per cent can be said to be permanently settled and cultivated. The population is thronged in a narrow valley some two to twenty miles wide, cut across by the river Nile and Delta region. In addition, there is a new valley consisting of a series of depressions in the western desert and extending parallel to the Nile. The cultivatable land in these depressions is more than 3 million acres, but their agricultural development depends mainly on the availability of underground water.