Do you consider Egypt as part of Middle East or Africa?

[Zauriel]

Do you consider Egypt as part of Middle East or Africa?

Geographically, Egypt is part of Africa but culturally, Egypt is some kind of Middle Eastern country.

Granted, Egypt is located in the continent of Africa but I'd associate it more with Middle East and I rarely considered Egypt as part of Africa.

[Frank D. White]

From it's historical activities, I think of it as part of the Middle East?

Frank

[Maciamo]

Clearly Africa, like Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Ancient Egypt also had close ties with what is noe Sudan and Ethiopia.

[Tsuyoiko]

Africa *upping character count*

[Alonzo]

Clearly Africa, like Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Ancient Egypt also had close ties with what is noe Sudan and Ethiopia.

The fact that North Africa is part of Africa does not make it "African" as the fact that the Middle East/Caucasus is in Asia does not make it "Asian," since the demography and history of both areas is closely connected to Europe.

Berbers/Egyptians have a link with Africa (mostly on the maternal side but most of haplogroups L are very old) but Finns have a link with east-asia (N haplogroups), Portuguese have a link with North Africa (M81 and L), South-Italians with Arabs (J haplogroups) and so on ... but in each case these are minor ancestries of course and do not determine the genetic identity of these people....

[toyomotor]

Alonzo:

The fact that North Africa is part of Africa does not make it "African" as the fact that the Middle East/Caucasus is in Asia does not make it "Asian," since the demography and history of both areas is closely connected to Europe.

Are you serious? North Africa is certainly not European or Asian, it's part of the continent of Africa. The Caucasus is not in Asia although it is near the border between Asia and Europe, it's in Europe.

[Alan]

Geologically it is part of Africa but historically and culturally it was always considered as part of the Near East. On a side note, Middle East is not the same as Near East. Middle East is a political name often used to describe the majority Muslim countries from Western Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and North Africa.

This is the historical meaning of the Near East.

[Alan]

Clearly Africa, like Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Ancient Egypt also had close ties with what is noe Sudan and Ethiopia.

But ancient Egypt had as much ties to what is now the Levant. Even the ancient Egyptian language is some sort of Afro-Asiatic link language between Berber and Semitic and to some lesser extend Cushitic.

[toyomotor]

Geologically it is part of Africa but historically and culturally it was always considered as part of the Near East. On a side note, Middle East is not the same as Near East. Middle East is a political name often used to describe the majority Muslim countries from Western Asia, South Asia, Central Asia and North Africa.

This is the historical meaning of the Near East.

Sorry, I don't agree with you. Egypt is not all of North Africa, what about Libya, Algeria etc? We'll leave it at that.

[Nightwing]

Definitely Africa. But with a lot of middle eastern influences and similar type of culture as well.

[Moor]

Northern Africa.

[aperterkp]

Egypt is good county. Next Month, I have plan to visit there.

[wlkwos]

North Africa, of course.

[Piro Ilir]

I think it's something between. Somehow it's like Turkey. Turkey is half European and half Asian country

[RobertColumbia]

I think it's something between. Somehow it's like Turkey. Turkey is half European and half Asian country

Yes, this is on the right track. Egypt shares close similarities with both the Middle East and Africa.

That sort of thing should not be surprising - it happens often in countries on the borders of regions. Turkey has aspects of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It has a secular, Western oriented government and uses the Roman alphabet, but its people are predominantly Muslim. Its national language (Turkish) is more closely related with languages of western, central, and northern Asia than it is to the dominant language families of Europe (IE and Uralic) and the Middle East (Afro-Asiatic, especially Semitic).

In a similar sense, Mexico is both a North American country and a Mesoamerican one. Its physical geography and culture is notably similar to, but not identical to, that of much of the southwestern US (deserts, cactuses, cattle ranching, strong Spanish and Catholic influence, significant presence of Native peoples), but the primacy of Spanish over English draws it closer to countries further south.

Going further, New Zealand could be considered both a traditional Anglosphere country as well as a South Pacific country. It is physically located in the South Pacific and has a strong Polynesian influence, but it is predominantly English speaking and a majority of the people are of European descent. So which is it? Can't it be both?

Egypt is good county. Next Month, I have plan to visit there.

Did you make it to Egypt? How did you like it? Could you tell us about your trip?

[GhostRider]

I've read, and will see if I can find it again, that the higher social classes among the ancient Egyptians were descendants of Sumerians which would make them Iraqis [/ even Iranians] long before anything remotely resembling Africa. However, given the proximity of Africa to Egypt it would make sense that the serfs / slaves would come from a "lesser" ill-educated, ill skilled, society. Slavery is an ancient concept after all.

So yeah it's "mixed", however, the dominating "foundation" was mid-eastern not African.

[Twilight]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=vgk-lA12FBk
Egypt has land in the Asia; Middle East and Africa and has Ancestrial ties to both continents, why not both?

[Alexandra97]

I have always thought of Egyptian people as Middle eastern and even if they do the DNA test from what I've seen they're basically that. But geographically speaking, they're in Africa so... I don't really know haha

[emperortime]

Back when I was a kid, I know Egypt is located in the continent of Africa but because of its involvement in the Bible, it gave me the feeling that it always has been part of the Middle East.

[scandinavia]

Although Egypt sits in the north of the African continent it is considered by many to be a Middle Eastern country, partly because the main spoken language there is Egyptian Arabic, the main religion is Islam and it is a member of the Arab League

[pitterbrayn]

Africa *upping character count*

[FKemp]

I think it's a blend of both African and Middle Eastern cultures, since it has prominent influences of both.

[Wanderer]

It is in Africa

[neridertud]

Several years ago I was in Egypt. I liked the country. And there is great diving

[Ygorcs]

But ancient Egypt had as much ties to what is now the Levant. Even the ancient Egyptian language is some sort of Afro-Asiatic link language between Berber and Semitic and to some lesser extend Cushitic.

Well, considering that Semitic is the only language family attested in West/Southwest Asia (I personally guess other related Afro-Asiatic branches existed before, but they were superseded by the huge Semitic expansion from the Early Bronze Age), and Berber, Cushitic, Egyptian, Chadic and Omotic are all African, wouldn't it then be much more accurate to say that Semitic-speaking lands have a link to North Africa, NOT the other way around? Natufians, who probably spread Afro-Asiatic in West Asia, had considerable North African-related admixture, so it's far more likely that Semitic lands were influenced from as early as the Upper Paleolithic by Egypt, Libya, North Sudan and other North African lands than the opposite scenario.