Egyptians

There are an estimated 105.3 million Egyptians.^[37] Most are native to Egypt, where Egyptians constitute around 99.6% of the population.^[38]

Approximately 84–90% of the population of Egypt are

Their characteristic rootedness as Egyptians, commonly explained as the result of centuries as a farming people clinging to the banks of the

variety of concoctions surrounding the simple bean. Most of all, they have a sense of all-encompassing familiarity at home and a sense of alienation when abroad ... There is something particularly excruciating about Egyptian nostalgia for Egypt: it is sometimes outlandish, but the attachment flows through all Egyptians, as the Nile through Egypt.^[43]

A sizable Egyptian diaspora did not begin to form until well into the 1980s, when political and economic conditions began driving Egyptians out of the country in significant numbers. Today, the diaspora numbers nearly 4 million (2006 est).^[44] Generally, those who emigrate to the United States and western European countries tend to do so permanently, with 93% and 55.5% of Egyptians (respectively) settling in the new country. On the other hand, Egyptians migrating to Arab countries almost always only go there with the intention of returning to Egypt; virtually none settle in the new country on a permanent basis.^[45]

Prior to 1974, only few Egyptian professionals had left the country in search for employment. Political, demographic and economic pressures led to the first wave of emigration after 1952. Later more Egyptians left their homeland first after the 1973 boom in oil prices and again in 1979, but it was only in the second half of the 1980s that Egyptian migration became prominent.^[45]

Egyptian emigration today is motivated by even higher rates of unemployment, population growth and increasing prices. Political repression and human rights violations by Egypt's ruling régime are other contributing factors (see Egypt § Human rights). Egyptians have also been impacted by the wars between Egypt and Israel, particularly after the Six-Day War in 1967, when migration rates began to rise. In August 2006, Egyptians made headlines when 11 students from Mansoura University failed to show up at their American host institutions for a cultural exchange program in the hope of finding employment.^[46]

Egyptians in neighboring countries face additional challenges. Over the years, abuse, exploitation and/or ill-treatment of Egyptian workers and professionals in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Libya have been reported by the Egyptian Human Rights Organization^[47] and different media outlets.^[48][49] Arab nationals have in the past expressed fear over an "'Egyptianization' of the local dialects and culture that were believed to have resulted from the predominance of Egyptians in the field of education"^[50] (see also Egyptian Arabic – Geographics).

A Newsweek article in 2008 featured Egyptian citizens objecting to a prudish "

'People of the Black Lands' in hieroglyphs

Ancient Egypt saw a succession of thirty dynasties spanning three millennia. During this period, Egyptian culture underwent significant development in terms of religion, arts, language, and customs.

Egypt fell under

The

Another important continuity during this period is the Egyptian attitude toward foreigners—those they considered not fortunate enough to be part of the community of rmṯ or "the people" (i.e., Egyptians.) This attitude was facilitated by the Egyptians' more frequent contact with other peoples during the New Kingdom when Egypt expanded to an empire that also encompassed Nubia through Jebel Barkal and parts of the Levant.

The Egyptian sense of superiority was given religious validation, as foreigners in the land of Ta-Meri (Egypt) were anathema to the maintenance of Maat—a view most clearly expressed by the

The ancient Egyptians used a solar calendar that divided the year into 12 months of 30 days each, with five extra days added. The calendar revolved around the annual Nile Inundation (akh.t), the first of three seasons into which the year was divided. The other two were Winter and Summer, each lasting for four months. The modern Egyptian fellahin calculate the agricultural seasons, with the months still bearing their ancient names, in much the same manner.

The importance of the Nile in Egyptian life, ancient and modern, cannot be overemphasized. The rich alluvium carried by the Nile inundation was the basis of Egypt's formation as a society and a state. Regular inundations were a cause for celebration; low waters often meant famine and starvation. The ancient Egyptians personified the river flood as the god Hapi and dedicated a Hymn to the Nile to celebrate it. km.t, the Black Land, was as Herodotus observed, "the gift of the river."

When Alexander died, a story began to circulate that Nectanebo II was Alexander's father. This made Alexander in the eyes of the Egyptians a legitimate heir to the native pharaohs.^[56] The new Ptolemaic rulers, however, exploited Egypt for their own benefit and a great social divide was created between Egyptians and Greeks.^[57] The local priesthood continued to wield power as they had during the Dynastic age. Egyptians continued to practice their religion undisturbed and largely maintained their own separate communities from their foreign conquerors.^[58] The language of administration became Greek, but the mass of the Egyptian population was Egyptian-speaking and concentrated in the countryside, while most Greeks lived in Alexandria and only few had any knowledge of Egyptian.^[59]

The Ptolemaic rulers all retained their Greek names and titles, but projected a public image of being Egyptian pharaohs. Much of this period's vernacular literature was composed in the demotic phase and script of the Egyptian language. It was focused on earlier stages of Egyptian history when Egyptians were independent and ruled by great native pharaohs such as Ramesses II. Prophetic writings circulated among Egyptians promising expulsion of the Greeks, and frequent revolts by the Egyptians took place throughout the Ptolemaic period.^[60] A revival in animal cults, the hallmark of the Predynastic and Early Dynastic periods, is said to have come about to fill a spiritual void as Egyptians became increasingly disillusioned and weary due to successive waves of foreign invasions.^[61]

When the Romans annexed Egypt in 30 BC, the social structure created by the Greeks was largely retained, though the power of the Egyptian priesthood diminished. The Roman emperors lived abroad and did not perform the ceremonial functions of Egyptian kingship as the Ptolemies had. The art of mummy portraiture flourished, but Egypt became further stratified with Romans at the apex of the social pyramid, Greeks and Jews occupied the middle stratum, while Egyptians, who constituted the vast majority, were at the bottom. Egyptians paid a poll tax at full rate, Greeks paid at half-rate and Roman citizens were exempt.^[62]

The Roman emperor Caracalla advocated the expulsion of all ethnic Egyptians from the city of Alexandria, saying "genuine Egyptians can easily be recognized among the linen-weavers by their speech."^[63] This attitude lasted until AD 212 when Roman citizenship was finally granted to all the inhabitants of Egypt, though ethnic divisions remained largely entrenched.^[64] The Romans, like the Ptolemies, treated Egypt like their own private property, a land exploited for the benefit of a small foreign elite. The Egyptian peasants, pressed for maximum production to meet Roman quotas, suffered and fled to the desert.^[65]

The cult of

At the threshold of the Byzantine period, the New Testament had been entirely translated into Coptic. But while Christianity continued to thrive in Egypt, the old pagan beliefs which had survived the test of time were facing mounting pressure. The Byzantine period was particularly brutal in its zeal to erase any traces of ancient Egyptian religion. Under emperor Theodosius I, Christianity had already been proclaimed the religion of the Empire and all pagan cults were forbidden. When Egypt fell under the jurisdiction of Constantinople after the split of the Roman Empire, many ancient Egyptian temples were either destroyed or converted into monasteries.^[68]

One of the defining moments in the history of the Church in Egypt is a controversy that ensued over the nature of Jesus, which culminated in the final split of the Coptic Church from both the Byzantine and Roman Catholic Churches. The

Before the

The new Muslim rulers moved the capital to Fustat and, through the 7th century, retained the existing Byzantine administrative structure with Greek as its language. Native Egyptians filled administrative ranks and continued to worship freely so long as they paid the jizya poll tax, in addition to a land tax that all Egyptians irrespective of religion also had to pay. The authority of the Miaphysite doctrine of the Coptic Church was for the first time nationally recognized.^[72]

According to

Dhul-Nun was regarded as the Patron Saint of the Physicians and is credited with having introduced the concept of Gnosis into Islam, as well as of being able to decipher a number of hieroglyphic characters due to his knowledge of Coptic.^[76] He was keenly interested in ancient Egyptian sciences, and claimed to have received his knowledge of alchemy from Egyptian sources.^[77]

By the 15th century most Egyptians had already been converted to Islam, while Coptic Christians were reduced to a minority.[80]^[81] The Mamluks were mainly ethnic Circassians and Turks who had been captured as slaves then recruited into the army fighting on behalf of the Islamic empire. Historian James Jankwoski writes:

Ultimately, Mamluk rule rested on force. The chronicles of the period are replete with examples of Mamluk violence against the indigenous population of Egypt...From horseback, they simply terrorized those lesser breeds who crossed their paths. The sudden and arbitrary use of force by the government and its dominant military elite; frequent resort to cruelty to make a point; ingenious methods of torture employed both for exemplary purpose and to extract wealth from others: all these measures were routine in the Mamluk era. Egypt under the Mamluks was not a very secure place to live.^[82]

Egyptians under the Ottoman Turks from the 16th to the 18th centuries lived within a social hierarchy similar to that of the Mamluks, Arabs, Romans, Greeks and Persians before them. Native Egyptians applied the term atrak (Turks) indiscriminately to the Ottomans and Mamluks, who were at the top of the social pyramid, while Egyptians, most of whom were farmers, were at the bottom. Frequent revolts by the Egyptian peasantry against the Ottoman-Mamluk Beys took place throughout the 18th century, particularly in Upper Egypt where the peasants at one point wrested control of the region and declared a separatist government.^[83]

The only segment of Egyptian society which appears to have retained a degree of power during this period were the Muslim 'ulama or religious scholars, who directed the religious and social affairs of the native Egyptian population and interceded on their behalf when dealing with the Turko-Circassian elite. It is also believed that during the late periods of the Ottoman era of Egypt, native Egyptians were allowed and required to join the army for the first time since the Roman period of Egypt, including Coptic Christians who were civil servants at the time of Mohammed Ali Pasha.

From the Egyptian side, literary works from both the Mamluk and Ottoman eras indicate that literate Egyptians had not totally submerged their identity within Islam, but retained an awareness of Egypt's distinctiveness as a uniquely fertile region of the Muslim world, as a land of great historical antiquity and splendor... At least for some Egyptians, 'the land of Egypt' (al-diyar al-misriyya) was an identifiable and emotionally meaningful entity within the larger Muslim polity of which it was now a province.^[84]

Modern Egyptian history is generally believed to begin with the

The French occupation was short-lived, ending when British troops drove out the French in 1801. Its impact on the social and cultural fabric of Egyptian society, however, was tremendous. The Egyptians were deeply hostile to the French, whom they viewed as yet another foreign occupation to be resisted. At the same time, the French expedition introduced Egyptians to the ideals of the French Revolution which were to have a significant influence on their own self-perception and realization of modern independence.

When Napoleon invited the Egyptian ulama to head a French-supervised government in Egypt, for some, it awakened a sense of nationalism and a patriotic desire for national independence from the

The withdrawal of French forces from Egypt left a power vacuum that was filled after a period of political turmoil by Mohammed Ali, an Ottoman officer of Albanian ethnicity. He rallied support among the Egyptians until he was elected by the native Muslim ulama as governor of Egypt. Mohammed Ali is credited for having undertaken a massive campaign of public works, including irrigation projects, agricultural reforms and the cultivation of cash crops (notably cotton, rice and sugar-cane), increased industrialization, and a new educational system—the results of which are felt to this day.^[85]

In order to consolidate his power in Egypt, Mohammed Ali worked to eliminate the Turko-Circassian domination of administrative and army posts. For the first time since the Roman period, native Egyptians filled the junior ranks of the country's army. The army would later conduct military expeditions in the

The period between 1860 and 1940 was characterized by an Egyptian nahda, renaissance or rebirth. It is best known for the renewed interest in Egyptian antiquity and the cultural achievements that were inspired by it. Along with this interest came an indigenous, Egypt-centered orientation, particularly among the Egyptian intelligentsia that would affect Egypt's autonomous development as a sovereign and independent nation-state.^[86]

The first Egyptian renaissance intellectual was

Ismail's massive modernization campaign, however, left Egypt indebted to European powers, leading to increased European meddling in local affairs. This led to the formation of secret groups made up of Egyptian notables, ministers, journalists and army officers organized across the country to oppose the increasing European influence.[89]

When the British deposed Ismail and installed his son

Egyptian self-government, education, and the continued plight of Egypt's peasant majority deteriorated most significantly under British occupation. Slowly, an organized national movement for independence began to form. In its beginnings, it took the form of an Azhar-led religious reform movement that was more concerned with the social conditions of Egyptian society. It gathered momentum between 1882 and 1906, ultimately leading to a resentment against European occupation.^[90]

Sheikh Muhammad Abduh, the son of a Delta farmer who was briefly exiled for his participation in the Orabi revolt and a future Azhar Mufti, was its most notable advocate. Abduh called for a reform of Egyptian Muslim society and formulated the modernist interpretations of Islam that took hold among younger generations of Egyptians. Among these were Mustafa Kamil and Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed, the architects of modern Egyptian nationalism. Mustafa Kamil had been a student activist in the 1890s involved in the creation of a secret nationalist society that called for British evacuation from Egypt. He was famous for coining the popular expression, "If I had not been an Egyptian, I would have wished to become one."

Egyptian nationalist sentiment reached a high point after the 1906

Both the People and National parties came to dominate Egyptian politics until World War I, but the new leaders of the national movement for independence following four arduous years of war (in which Great Britain declared Egypt a British

When Egyptian novelist and Nobel Prize laureate Naguib Mahfouz died in 2006, many Egyptians felt that perhaps the last of the Greats of Egypt's golden age had died. In his dialogues with close associate and journalist Mohamed Salmawy, published as Mon Égypte, Mahfouz had this to say:

Egypt is not just a piece of land. Egypt is the inventor of civilization ... The strange thing is that this country of great history and unsurpassed civilization is nothing but a thin strip along the banks of the Nile ... This thin strip of land created moral values, launched the concept of monotheism, developed arts, invented science and gave the world a stunning administration. These factors enabled the Egyptians to survive while other cultures and nations withered and died ... Throughout history Egyptians have felt that their mission is to tend to life. They were proud to turn the land green, to make it blossom with life. The other thing is that Egyptians invented morality long before the major religions appeared on earth. Morality is not just a system for control but a protection against chaos and death ... Egypt gave Islam a new voice. It didn't change the basic tenets of Islam, but its cultural weight gave Islam a new voice, one it didn't have back in Arabia. Egypt embraced an Islam that was moderate, tolerant and non-extremist. Egyptians are very pious, but they know how to mix piety with joy, just as their ancestors did centuries ago. Egyptians celebrate religious occasions with flair. For them, religious festivals and the month of Ramadan are occasions to celebrate life.^[95]

Increased involvement by

Egyptians fought one last time in the 1973 October War in an attempt to liberate Egyptian territories captured by Israel six years earlier. The October War presented Sadat with a political victory that later allowed him to regain the Sinai. In 1977, Sadat made a historic visit to Israel leading to the signing of the 1978 peace treaty, which was supported by the vast majority of Egyptians,^[98] in exchange for the complete Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. Sadat was assassinated in Cairo by members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in 1981, and was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.

Hosni Mubarak was the president from 14 October 1981 to 11 February 2011, when he resigned under pressure of

After the resignation of Hosni Mubarak presidential powers were transferred to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, who relinquished power on 30 June 2012 when Islamist candidate Mohamed Morsi became the first democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history. After mass protests, he was deposed by a military coup a year after he came to power, and subsequently arrested and sentenced to death (later overturned), and died in prison six years later. The Muslim Brotherhood (officially listed as a terrorist group by Egypt after the coup) claimed that his death was due to being "prevented medicine and poor food."^[100] Morsi was also charged with leading an outlawed group, detention and torture of anti-government protesters, and committing treason by leaking state secrets.

In the 26–28 May 2014 Egyptian presidential election, former General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi won in a landslide, capturing 97% of the vote according to the government. Some regarded the election as undemocratic claiming that several political opponents were being detained or banned from running,^{[according to whom?]} but: "The European Union's Election Observation Mission (EOM) released a preliminary statement on Thursday after voting commenced, stating that 'the Presidential Elections Commission (PEC) administered the election professionally and overall in line with the law'."^[101] In 2018 el-Sisi was re-elected with 97% of the vote, in an election denounced by human rights groups as unfair and "farcical".^[102] A BBC article mentioned that "Three potential candidates dropped out of the race, while a fourth – a former military chief – was arrested and accused of running for office without permission."^[103]

In the

While Egyptian Arabic is considered derived from the formal Arabic language, it has also been influenced by many other languages such as French, Turkish, and Italian. This is widely thought to be the effects of being the victim of several invasions, including that of the Ottoman Empire as well as the French invasion. As each invasion came and went, the Egyptians kept the few words and phrases that made the language seem easier. Egyptian Arabic is also influenced by Greek, and its grammar structure is influenced by the Coptic stage of the ancient Egyptian language.

It is also noteworthy that the Egyptian dialect is the most understood throughout the Arabic-speaking countries. This is because Egyptian movies and Egyptian music have been the most influential in the region and are therefore the most widespread, and also because of the political and cultural influence Egypt has on the region. As a result, most of the countries in the region have grown up listening to Egyptian Arabic and therefore have no trouble understanding it, even though they actually speak their own, but they tend to adopt many elements of Egyptian Arabic. This situation is not reciprocal, however, meaning that the Egyptians do not understand any of the dialects of the region.

Originally the Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics. At first the meaning of the hieroglyphics was unknown, until in the year 1799 Napoleón Bonaparte's soldiers dug up the Rosetta stone. The Rosetta Stone was found broken and incomplete. It features 14 lines in the hieroglyphic script, 32 lines in Demotic, and 53 lines in Ancient Greek. Its decipherment lead to the understanding of the ancient Egyptian language.

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State documents from ancient Egypt categorized people into groups such as "Egyptians," "Asiatics," "Libyans," and "Nubians," based on sociocultural distinctions rather than rigid racial classifications.^[114] Egyptologists generally agree that skin color held little significance for the ancient Egyptians compared to cultural markers, in contrast to modern Western racial constructs.^[115] In the ancient Egyptian language, the word for "Egyptian" was synonymous with "person," reflecting a worldview in which cultural identity, rather than physical attributes, defined belonging. Outsiders were perceived as inferior, but this was due to their customs rather than their appearance.^[115]

Following the Islamic expansion, Egyptian Muslims ceased to be identified as "Copts," a term that thereafter became exclusive to Egypt's Christian minority and the Coptic Church.^[116] Over time, the Muslim majority came to identify as Arabs, adopting Arabic as their primary language.^[117][118]

During her stay in Upper Egypt, Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon recorded the grievances of an Upper Egyptian man regarding the Ahmad al-Tayyib Uprising,^[119] quoting him as saying: "Truly, in all the world, none are as miserable as us Arabs. The Turks beat us, and the Europeans hate us, and rightly so. By God, we had better lay down our heads in the dust [die] and let the strangers take our land and grow cotton for themselves."^[120]

Similarly, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, son of Muhammad Ali Pasha, distanced himself from Turkish identity despite his Albanian origins. When criticized for his remarks about the Turks, he reportedly declared: "I am not a Turk. I came to Egypt as a child, and since then, its sun has changed my blood, I have become fully Arab."^[121]

This section may be unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article or discuss the issue on the talk page . (August 2023)

The Orabi movement in the 1870s and 1880s was one of the earliest major Egyptian nationalist movements. It opposed what was perceived as the despotism of the Muhammad Ali family and sought to curb European influence in Egypt. The movement adopted the nationalist slogan "Egypt for Egyptians".[123] The Orabi revolt is often referred to in Egypt as the revolt of the fellahin (rural Egyptians), as Ahmed Orabi himself came from a rural background in Zagazig.

Following the French campaign in Egypt, Western ideas gained traction among Egyptian intellectuals,^{[citation needed]} a trend that continued under British occupation. Among these ideas, the French Enlightenment concept of reviving pre-Christian civilizations and cultures particularly resonated with Egyptian nationalists,^{[citation needed]} who emphasized Egypt's ancient Egyptian heritage as a defining cultural identity. Debates on identity intensified in the late 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in the context of anti-colonial struggles, leading to the rise of ethno-territorial Egyptian nationalism, often referred to as "Pharaonism." Following independence from Britain, previously marginalized political ideologies, such as pan-Arabism, gained prominence in state discourse, alongside a growing influence of Islamism.

"

Pharaonism is deeply rooted in the spirits of the Egyptians. It will remain so, and it must continue and become stronger. The Egyptian is Pharaonic before being Arab. Egypt must not be asked to deny its Pharaonism because that would mean: Egypt, destroy your Sphinx and your pyramids, forget who you are and follow us! Do not ask of Egypt more than it can offer. Egypt will never become part of some Arab unity, whether the capital [of this unity] were to be Cairo, Damascus, or Baghdad.[125]

Pharaonism played a significant role in shaping Egyptian anti-colonial discourse during the pre-war and interwar periods. Following a visit to Egypt in 1931, Syrian Arab nationalist Sati' al-Husri observed:

[Egyptians] did not possess an Arab nationalist sentiment; did not accept that Egypt was a part of the Arab lands, and would not acknowledge that the Egyptian people were part of the Arab nation.^[126]

During the late 1930s, Arab nationalism developed largely outside of Egypt, with its ideological foundations laid by Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese intellectuals.^[127]

Arab-Islamic political sentiment in Egypt gained momentum through solidarity with other anti-imperialist struggles in the Arab world. The rise of

The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking, and they are Muslim... But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the [twentieth] century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East... Egypt sees in the Arab cause a worthy object of real and active sympathy and, at the same time, a great and proper opportunity for the exercise of leadership, as well as for the enjoyment of its fruits. But she is still Egyptian first and Arab only in consequence, and her main interests are still domestic.[128]

Until the 1940s, Egyptian nationalism was largely territorial in nature, and pan-Arabism did not hold significant influence in mainstream Egyptian identity. Egyptians generally did not identify as Arabs, and this distinction was evident in diplomatic interactions. When nationalist leader

It was not until the

Egypt briefly united with Syria to form the United Arab Republic (UAR), a political entity that lasted for only three years. Even after its dissolution, Egypt retained the UAR name until 1971, when it officially became the Arab Republic of Egypt.^[132] However, the enthusiasm for Arabism began to wane following Egypt's devastating defeat in the 1967 Six-Day War. Disillusionment with Arab nationalist politics deepened as thousands of Egyptians lost their lives, leading many to question the pan-Arab ideology.^[133] Despite this, Nasser's brand of pan-Arabism left a lasting legacy, establishing Egypt as the self-proclaimed leader of the Arab world. His vision of Arab unity placed Egyptian sovereignty at the forefront, distinguishing it from the Eastern Arab states' aspirations.^[131]

Nasser's successor,

In 1978, Egyptian-American sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim conducted a study on national discourse among 17 Egyptian intellectuals regarding Egypt's identity and its peace negotiations with Israel. Of the 18 articles he reviewed, the majority acknowledged Egypt's Arab identity and opposed neutrality in the conflict. Eight articles acknowledged Arab identity but endorsed neutrality, while only three, authored by Louis Awad, explicitly rejected Arab identity and supported neutrality.^[136] Egyptian scholar Gamal Hamdan emphasized the uniqueness of Egypt's identity while simultaneously reaffirming its role as the "cultural hub" of the Arab world, famously stating, "Egypt in the Arab world is like Cairo in Egypt." He further argued, "We do not see the Egyptian personality, no matter how distinct it may be, as anything other than a part of the personality of the greater Arab homeland."^[135]

Today, perspectives on Egypt's identity remain divided. Many Egyptians see their national and Arab identities as inseparable, highlighting Egypt's central role in the Arab world. Others reject Arab affiliation, emphasizing Egypt's indigenous heritage, cultural distinctiveness, and sovereign political tradition, often pointing to the failures of pan-Arabist policies. Egyptian anthropologist Laila el-Hamamsy captured this tension, remarking: "In light of their history, Egyptians ... should be conscious of their national identity and consider themselves, above all, Egyptians. How is the Egyptian, with this strong sense of Egyptian identity, able to see himself as an Arab too?"^[137] She explained that over time, Egyptian nationalism evolved into Arab nationalism, arguing that "an increased tempo of Arabization" occurred as linguistic fluency in Arabic facilitated access to the broader Arab cultural heritage. "Thus, in seeking a cultural identity, Egypt has revived its Arab cultural heritage."^[136]

Although Egypt is geographically situated in North Africa, Egyptian national identity does not generally emphasize an affiliation with the broader African continent.^[138] Instead, Egypt is often regarded as part of the Arab world, with national and cultural narratives frequently emphasizing connections to the Middle East and the broader Arab identity rather than a continental African one.^{[139][140][141][142]}

Egyptian culture boasts five millennia of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest and greatest civilizations during which the Egyptians maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the

Egyptian culture demonstrates a remarkable continuity of beliefs, customs, and daily practices from ancient times to the present, despite successive waves of conquest and religious transformation.^[143] Many contemporary Egyptian traditions, particularly in rural areas, retain forms and meanings rooted in ancient Egypt. Examples include funeral rites, symbolic gestures of mourning, and daily rituals such as bread- and beer-making (e.g. sun-leavened bread and bouza respectively) as well as food preservation methods, continuing techniques that date back millennia.^[143]

Visual and ritual parallels can be observed between modern life and scenes from pharaonic tombs, including domestic behaviors, food customs, and expressions of grief. The Egyptian dialect itself contains words and grammatical structures inherited from the ancient Egyptian language, passed down through Coptic and blended with Arabic.^[143]

Religious and cultural shifts, from ancient Egyptian polytheism to

Throughout history, new foreign rulers encountered an enduring cultural foundation that adapted but did not disappear.[143] Despite modern ideological attempts, whether Arab nationalism or religious movements, to dissociate from Egypt's ancient past, periods of national revival often saw a return to ancient Egyptian aesthetics and concepts, such as in Mamluk architecture or the Nahda of the early 20th century. Egyptian cultural identity has thus remained fundamentally consistent beneath layers of religious, political, and linguistic change.^[143]

An Egyptian man (left) and woman (right), 1870s

Today, Egyptians carry names that have ancient Egyptian, Arabic, Turkish and Western meanings, the latter being particularly common among

With the spread of Christianity and later Islam, Egyptians began adopting names associated with these faiths. Over time, many Egyptian names also underwent

The Egyptian peasantry, the fellahin (rural Egyptians), are more likely to retain indigenous names given their relative isolation throughout the Egyptian people's history.^[citation needed]

Some Egyptians bear surnames that trace back to Arab tribes. For example, El Juhaini originates from the Arab tribe of

Mohamed, T et al. (2009) in their study of nomadic Bedouins featured a comparative study with a worldwide population database and a sample size of 153 Bedouin males. Their analysis discovered that both Muslim Egyptians and Coptic Christians showed a distinct North African cluster at 65%. This is their predominant ancestral component, and unique to the geographic region of Egypt.^[145]

In a 2019 study that analyzed the autosomal make-up of 21 modern North African genomes and other populations using Ancient DNA reference populations, this sample of Egyptian genomes were found to share more affinity with Middle Eastern populations compared to other North Africans. Egyptians carry more of the Caucasus hunter gatherer / Iran Neolithic component compared to other North Africans, more of the Natufian related component and less of the Iberomaurusian related component than other North Africans, and also less of the Steppe / European hunter gatherer component, consistent with Egypt's geographical proximity to southwest Asia.^[146]

In 2009 mitochondrial data was sequenced for 277 unrelated Egyptian individuals^[147] by Jessica L Saunier et al. in the journal Forensic Science International, as follows.

• R0 and its subgroups (31.4%)
• L3 (12.3%); and Asian origin (n = 33)

including M (6.9%)

• T (9.4%)
• U (9.0%)
• J (7.6%)
• N (5.1%)
• K (4.7%)
• L2 (3.6%)
• L1 (2.5%)
• I (3.2%)
• W (0.7%)
• X (1.4%); African origin (n = 57) including L0 (2.2%)

E1b1b and J, that are carried by both ancient and modern Egyptians.^{[149][150][151]} The subclade E-M78 of E1b1b is suggested to have originated in Northeast Africa in the area of Egypt and Libya, and is more predominant in Egypt.^[151] These two haplogroups and their various subclades in general are distributed in high frequencies in the Middle East and North Africa.^[152][153]

A study by Arredi et al., which analyzed 275 samples from five populations in Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, as well as published data from Moroccan populations, suggested that the North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation, including in Egypt, is largely of Neolithic origin. The study analyzed North African populations, including North Egyptians and South Egyptians, as well as samples from southern Europe, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa, and revealed the following conclusions about the male-lineage variation in North Africa: "The lineages that are most prevalent in North Africa are distinct from those in the regions to the immediate north and south: Europe and sub-Saharan Africa ... two haplogroups predominate within North Africa, together making up almost two-thirds of the male lineages: E3b2 and J* (42% and 20%, respectively). E3b2 is rare outside North Africa, and is otherwise known only from Mali, Niger, and Sudan to the immediate south, and the Near East and Southern Europe at very low frequencies. Haplogroup J reaches its highest frequencies in the Middle East".^[154]

A study by Lucotte using the

Sub-Saharan populations.^[155] Remarking on Lucotte's Y-chromosome study, which found that haplotypes V, XI, and IV are most common, Keita states that "a synthesis of evidence from archaeology, historical linguistics, texts, distribution of haplotypes outside Egypt, and some demographic considerations lends greater support to the establishment, before the Middle Kingdom, of the observed distributions of the most prevalent haplotypes V, XI, and IV. It is suggested that the pattern of diversity for these variants in the Egyptian Nile Valley was largely the product of population events that occurred in the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene through the First Dynasty".^[156] Keita later states "Later, mid-Holocene climatic-driven migrations led to a major settlement of the valley in Upper Egypt and Nubia, but less so in Lower Egypt, by diverse Saharans with haplotypes IV, XI, and V. These people fused with the indigenous valley peoples, as did Near Easterners with VII and VIII, but perhaps also some V".^[157]

The major downstream mutations within the M35 subclade are M78 and M81. There are also other M35 lineages, e.g., M123. In Egypt, haplotypes VII and VIII are associated with the J haplogroup, which is predominant in the Near East.[156]

Population	Nb	A/B	E1b1a	E1b1b1 (M35)	E1b1b1a (M78)	E1b1b1b1 (M81)	E1b1b1b2 (M123, M34)	F	K	G	I	J1	J2	R1a	R1b	Other	Study
Egyptians	110	0	3.5%	0	36%	0	8.5%	0	0	7.5%	0	24.5%	2%	2.8%	8.4%	6.5%	Fadhloui-Zid et al. (2013)
Egyptians	370	1.35%	2.43%	3.24%	21.89%	11.89%	6.76%	1.08%	0.27%	5.68%	0.54%	20.81%	6.75%	2.16%	5.94%	9.21%	Bekada et al. (2013)[31]
Egyptians	147	2.7%	2.7%	0	18.4%	5.4%	0	0	8.2%	8.8%	0	19.7%	12.2%	3.4%	4.1%	2.1%	Luis et al. (2004)[149]
Egyptians from El-Hayez Oasis (Western Desert)	35	0	5.70%	5.7%	28.6%	28.6%	0	0	0	0	0	31.4%	0	0	0	0	Kujanová et al. (2009)[158]
Berbers from Siwa Oasis (Western Desert)	93	28.0%	6.5%	2.2%	6.5%	1%	0	0	0	3.2%	0	7.5%	6.5%	0	28.0%	8.3%	Dugoujon et al. (2009)[159]
Egyptians	87	1%	3%	10%	31%	0	2.5%	0	0	2%	0	20%	15%	5%	2%	8.5%	Pagani et al. (2015)
Northern Egyptians	44	2.3%	0	4.5%	27.3%	11.3%	0	6.8%	2.3%	0	0	9.1%	9.1%	2.3%	9.9%	6.8%	Arredi et al. (2004)
Southern Egyptians	29	0.0%	0	0	17.2%	6.8%	0	17.2%	10.3%	0	3.4%	20.7%	3.4%	0	13.8%	0	Arredi et al. (2004)

Distribution of E1b1b1a (E-M78) and its subclades

Population	N	E-M78	E-M78*	E-V12*	E-V13	E-V22	E-V32	E-V65	Study
Egyptians (sample includes people labeled as "berber" and people from the oases)	370	21.89%	0.81%	7.03%	0.81%	9.19%	1.62%	2.43%	Bekada et al. (2013)[31]
Southern Egyptians	79	50.6%		44.3%	1.3%	3.8%		1.3%	Cruciani et al. (2007)[151]
Egyptians from Bahari	41	41.4%		14.6%	2.4%	21.9%		2.4%	Cruciani et al. (2007)
Northern Egyptians (Delta)	72	23.6%		5.6%	1.4%	13.9%	2.8%		Cruciani et al. (2007)
Egyptians from Gurna Oasis	34	17.6%	5.9%	8.8%			2.9%		Cruciani et al. (2007)
Egyptian from Siwa Oasis	93	6.4%		2.1%				4.3%	Cruciani et al. (2007)

Genetic and biological history

Main article:

DNA history of Egypt

See also: Population history of Egypt

According to historian, Donald Redford, the earliest Paleolithic and Neolithic periods of prehistoric Egypt have left very little in the way of archaeological evidence, but by around the 9000 to 6000 BC Neolithic Revolution farming settlements had appeared all over Egypt.^[160]

Some studies based on morphological,^[161] genetic,^{[162][163][164][165][166]} and archaeological data^{[167][168][169][170]} have attributed these settlements to migrants from the Fertile Crescent in the Near East returning during the Egyptian and North African Neolithic, bringing agriculture to the region.

However, other scholars have disputed this view and cited

Indo-European groups who have known to have settled in Egypt during its long history.^[178] Keita stated that genetic data indicates that the "P2 (PN2) marker, within the E haplogroup, connects the predominant Y chromosome lineage found in Africa overall after the modern human left Africa. P2/M215-55 is found from the Horn of Africa up through the Nile Valley and west to the Maghreb, and P2/V38/M2 is predominant in most of infra-Saharan tropical Africa".^[179] Similarly, Ehret cited genetic evidence which had identified the Horn of Africa as a source of a genetic marker "M35/215" Y-chromosome lineage for a significant population component which moved north from that region into Egypt and the Levant. Ehret argued that this genetic distribution paralleled the spread of the Afrasian language family with the movement of people from the Horn of Africa into Egypt and added a new demic component to the existing population of Egypt 17,000 years ago.^[180]

Beginning in the

clinal pattern north to south.^{[181][182][183][184]}

When Lower and Upper Egypt were unified c. 3200 BC, the distinction began to blur, resulting in a more homogeneous population in Egypt, though the distinction remains true to some degree to this day.

tropical African crania. He found that the predynastic Badarian series clustered closer with the tropical African series. The comparative samples were selected based on "Brace et al.'s (1993) comments on the affinities of an upper Egyptian/Nubian epipalaeolithic series".^[189]

Keita describes the northern and southern patterns of the early

craniofacial

studies of Egyptian skeletal remains and concluded similarly that:

"the Egyptians have been in place since back in the Pleistocene and have been largely unaffected by either invasions or migrations. As others have noted, Egyptians are Egyptians, and they were so in the past as well."[191]

However, in another study 13 years later conducted by these same group of anthropologists they had found close affinities between

Somalis, ancient and modern Nubians, and, to a lesser extent, Niger-Congo-speaking populations; on the other hand, no affinities were found between the Egyptians of Naqada and samples from other regions of the world, such as the Mediterranean (including modern Egyptians) and the Middle East, with the exceptions of the Fellaheen of Israel and the Natufians, who, the authors claim, had a clear link with Sub-Saharan Africa.^[192]

Frank Yurco suggested a historical, regional and ethnolinguistic continuity, asserting that "the mummies and skeletons of ancient Egyptians indicate they were similar to the modern Egyptians and other people of the Afro-Asiatic ethnic grouping".^[195]

Genetic studies revealed that due to the continuous middle eastern gene flow, Egyptians are genetically closer and more similar to

Africans in general.^[196][197]

An allele frequency comparative study led by the Egyptian Army Major General Doctor Tarek Taha conducted STR analysis in 2020 between the two main Egyptian ethnic groups, Muslims and Christians, each group represented by a sample of 100 unrelated healthy individuals, supported the conclusion that Egyptian Muslims and Egyptian Christians genetically originate from the same ancestors.^[198]

A 2006

predynastic

period. All the samples, particularly those of the Dynastic period, were significantly divergent from a neolithic West Saharan sample from Lower Nubia. Biological continuity was also found intact from the dynastic to the post-pharaonic periods. According to Irish:

[The Egyptian] samples [996 mummies] exhibit morphologically simple, mass-reduced

Badari based on the 22-trait MMD (Table 4). For that matter, the Neolithic Western Desert sample is significantly different from all others [but] is closest to predynastic and early dynastic samples.^[199]

A study by Schuenemann et al. (2017) described the extraction and analysis of DNA from 151 mummified ancient Egyptian individuals, whose remains were recovered from

Roman era (1388 BCE–426 CE). Complete mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences were obtained for 90 of the mummies and were compared with each other and with several other ancient and modern datasets. The scientists found that the ancient Egyptian individuals in their own dataset possessed highly similar mitochondrial profiles throughout the examined period. Modern Egyptians generally shared this maternal haplogroup pattern. The study was able to measure the mitochondrial DNA of 90 individuals, and it showed that the mitochondrial DNA composition of Egyptian mummies has shown a high level of affinity with the DNA of the populations of the Near East and North African populations and had significantly more affinity with south-eastern Europeans than with sub-Saharan Africans. Genome-wide data could only be successfully extracted from three of these individuals. Of these three, the Y-chromosome haplogroups of two individuals could be assigned to the Middle-Eastern haplogroup J, and one to haplogroup E1b1b1 common in North Africa. The absolute estimates of sub-Saharan African ancestry in these three individuals ranged from 6 to 15%, which is slightly less than the level of sub-Saharan African ancestry in modern Egyptians (the modern Egyptian samples were taken from Cairo and the Bahariya Oasis), which ranged from 14 to 21%. The ranges depend on the method and choice of reference populations. The study's authors cautioned that the mummies may not be representative of the ancient Egyptian population as a whole, since they were recovered from the northern part of middle Egypt.^[200]

Professor Stephen Quirke, an Egyptologist at University College London, expressed caution about the paper by Schuenemann et al. (2017), saying that "There has been this very strong attempt throughout the history of Egyptology to disassociate ancient Egyptians from the modern [Egyptian] population." He added that he was "particularly suspicious of any statement that may have the unintended consequences of asserting—yet again from a Northern European or North American perspective—that there's a discontinuity there [between ancient and modern Egyptians]". Gourdine et al. criticised the methodology of the Scheunemann et al. study and argued that the Sub-Saharan "genetic affinities" may be attributed to "early settlers" and "the relevant Sub-Saharan genetic markers" do not correspond with the geography of known trade routes".^[201]

A 2020 study by Gad, Hawass, et al. analysed mitochondrial and Y-chromosomal haplogroups from

R1b, which is believed to have originated in the Western Asia/Near Eastern region, and dispersed from there to Europe and parts of Africa during the Neolithic.^[202][203] Haplogroup R1b is carried by modern Egyptians.^[202] Modern Egypt is also the only African country that is known to harbor all three R1 subtypes, including R1b-M269.^[149] The Y-chromosome profiles for Tutankhamun and Amenhotep III were incomplete and the analysis produced differing probability figures despite having concordant allele results. Because the relationships of these two mummies with the KV55 mummy (identified as Akhenaten) had previously been confirmed in an earlier study, the haplogroup prediction of both mummies could be derived from the full profile of the KV55 data.^[202]

A follow-up study by Scheunemann & Urban et al. (2021) was carried out collecting samples from six excavation sites along the entire length of the Nile valley spanning 4000 years of Egyptian history. Samples from 17 mummies and 14 skeletal remains were collected, and high quality mitochondrial genomes were reconstructed from 10 individuals. According to the authors the analyzed mitochondrial genomes matched the results from the 2017 study at Abusir el-Meleq.[204]

In 2022, archaeologist Danielle Candelora stated that there were several limitations with the 2017 Scheunemann et al. study such as "new (untested) sampling methods, small sample size and problematic comparative data".^[205]

In 2022, S.O.Y. Keita analysed 8

Sub-Saharan Africans, and East Asians concluded that the majority of the samples, which included the genetic remains of Tutankhamun and Rameses III had a population "affinity with "Sub-Saharan" Africans in one affinity analysis". However, Keita cautioned that this does not mean that the royal mummies "lacked other affiliations" which he argued had been obscured in typological thinking. Keita further added that different "data and algorithms might give different results" which reflected the complexity of biological heritage and the associated interpretation.^[208]

In 2023, Christopher Ehret reported that biological anthropological findings had determined:

"major burial sites of those founding locales of ancient Egypt in the fourth millennium BCE, notably

El-Badari as well as Naqada, show no demographic indebtedness to the Levant

".

Ehret specified that these studies revealed cranial and dental affinities with "closest parallels" to other longtime populations in the surrounding areas of Northeastern Africa "such as Nubia and the northern Horn of Africa". He further commented that the Naqada and Badarian populations did not migrate "from somewhere else but were descendants of the long-term inhabitants of these portions of Africa going back many millennia".^[209] Ehret also criticised the study for asserting that there was "no sub-Saharan" component in the Egyptian population.

A study by Hammarén et al. (2023) isolated the Non-African components of the genomes of modern-day Northeast Africans, and found that Sudanese Copts and Egyptian Muslims from Cairo bore most similarities to Levantines, unlike the other populations in the region which had predominant genetic contributions from the Arabian peninsula rather than Levant for their Non-African genetic component. The study also found that Egyptian Muslims and Sudanese Copts are genetically most similar to Middle Eastern groups rather than the other African populations, and they estimated the Admixture date for Egyptians with Eurasians to have occurred around the 14th century, however the authors noted that "most, if not all, of the populations in this study have or have had admixture with populations from the Middle East during the Arab expansion, and this newer admixture is obscuring older admixture patterns". The study overall points that the distribution of Eurasian ancestry in modern eastern and northeast Africa is the result of more recent migrations that many of which is recorded in historical texts rather than ancient ones.^[197]

Gallery

• Egyptian portraits
• 
  Egyptians performing tahtib, a traditional martial art
• 
  An Egyptian youth at El Kantara station, 1941
• 
  An Egyptian musician in Alexandria
• 
  An Egyptian

  Qur'an

  reciter, 1942
• 
  An Egyptian carpentress
• 
  Egyptian men at a market in Cairo
• 
  A group of Egyptian soldiers, 2009
• 
  An Egyptian Coptic Orthodox monk
• 
  Egyptian woman, 1910s
• 
  An Egyptian student, 1925
• 
  A group of Egyptians playing

  domino
• 
  An elderly Egyptian vendor selling bread, 1870s
• 
  An Egyptian farmer, 1935
• 
  Egyptian woman, 1940s
• 
  An Egyptian adolescent playing the riqq
• 
  An Egyptian army lieutenant, 1982
• 
  An Egyptian temple caretaker
• 
  An Egyptian woman carrying clay pots
• 
  An Egyptian snake charmer, c. 1860–1920

See also

• Sa'idi people
• Nubians
• Beja people
• Siwi people
• Religion in Egypt
• List of Egyptians
• Egyptian Americans
• Egyptians in the United Kingdom
• Egyptian diaspora
• Egyptian nationalism

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Bibliography

• Barakat, Halim (1993). The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State. University of California Press.
  ISBN 0520084276
  . Egyptian identity Arab.
• Hinnebusch, Raymond A. (2002). The Foreign Policies of Middle East States. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  ISBN 1588260208
  . Egyptian identity Arab.

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to People of Egypt.

• Edward William Lane (1837). An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians: written in Egypt during the years 1833, −34, and −35, partly from notes made during a former visit to that country in the years 1825, −26, −27, and −28. Vol. 1 of An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. C. Knight and co. Retrieved 6 July 2011.