Religions:
Muslim (mostly Sunni) 94%, Coptic Christian and other 6%
Languages: Arabic (official), English and French widely understood by
educated classes
For almost 13 centuries Arabic has
been the written and spoken language of Egypt. Before the Arab invasion
in AD 639, Coptic, the language descended from ancient Egyptian, was
the language of both religious and everyday life for the mass of the
population; by the 12th century, however, it had been totally replaced
by Arabic, continuing only as a liturgical language for the Coptic
Orthodox Church. Arabic has become the language of both the Egyptian
Christian and Muslim. The written form of the Arabic language, in
grammar and syntax, has remained substantially unchanged since the 7th
century. In other ways, however, the written language has changed the
modern forms of style, word sequence, and phraseology are simpler and
more flexible than in classical Arabic and are often directly
derivative of English or French.
For more info:
http://touregypt.net/
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html/
