In the fifth century BC Herodotus wrote that 'nowhere are there so many marvellous things' as in Egypt, 'nor in the world besides are to be seen so many things of unspeakable greatness' - and not too much has changed. Since long before the birth of Christ, travellers have been drawn to this extraordinary country and its pyramids, Sphinx, ancient Luxor and River Nile. It's not just the Pharaonic monuments either - it's the legacy of the Greeks and Romans, the churches and monasteries of the early Christians, and the overwhelming profusion of art and architecture accumulated from centuries of successive Islamic dynasties.

Modern Egypt is an amalgam of these legacies and more, juxtaposed with the often incongruous influences of the 20th and 21st centuries. Mud-brick villages stand beside millennia-old ruins surrounded by buildings of steel and glass. Bedouins live in goatskin tents and farmers till the earth with the simple tools of their ancestors. Some townsfolk dress in long flowing robes, others in Levis and Reeboks, and city traffic competes with donkey-drawn carts and wandering goats. Nowhere are these contrasts played out so colourfully as in Cairo, a massive city thronged with people and ringing to the sound of car horns, ghetto-blasters and muezzins summoning the faithful to prayer. Egypt isn't all chaos and clatter, however. It's also a diver's dream dip, a trek across the sands on a camel or a long lazy punt down the Nile.

Full name : Arab Republic of Egypt
Capital : Cairo
Area : 1,001,450 sq km
Population : 78 million
People : Berbers, Bedouins and Nubians
Language : Arabic
Religion : 94% Islam, 6% Christian
Government : Republic, presidential system
Prime Minister : Ahmad Nazif
President : Mohammed Husni Mubarak

GDP : US$304 billion
GDP per head : US$3,900
Growth rate : 4.9%
Inflation rate : 4.9%
Major industries : Oil & gas, metals, tourism, agriculture (especially cotton) and Suez Canal revenues
Trading partners : USA, EU, Middle East