Who
are the Egyptians???
Egyptians (A.K.A. maṣreyyīn or awlad Masr) are the people living in the northern valley of the river Nile and around its delta. They form a diverse nation with multiple origins. Egyptians are characterized by their humor, warmth, affinity and tolerance, all traits that made them very distinct and lovable, more than any other nation. However, all these traits are on the verge of extinction for some weird reason!
Names of the Egyptians:
Rmṯ (n) km.t: This is the native Egyptian name of the people of the Nile Valley, literally 'People of Kemet,' it was often rendered simply as Rmṯ or '(the) People.' The name is vocalized remenkīmi.
Aiguptios: The Greek name for the Egyptians derived from the Egyptian ḥw.t-ka-ptḥ, literally "home of the ka (soul) of Ptah," the name of the temple complex of the god Ptah at Memphis.
Copts (qibṭ, qubṭ طبق): Under Muslim rule, the natives came to be known as Copts, a derivative of the Greek word Aiguptos (Egypt). Later on, the term became exclusively associated with Egyptian Christianity though references to native Muslims as Copts are attested until the Mamluk period.
Maṣreyyīn: The modern Egyptian name comes from the ancient Semitic name for Egypt and originally connoted "civilization" or "metropolis." Classical Arabic Miṣr is directly cognate with the Biblical Hebrew Mitzráyīm, meaning "the two straits," a reference to the Pre-dynastic separation of Upper and Lower Egypt.
Egyptians: The modern English name derived from Greek Αἰγύπτιοι, Aiguptioi, from Αἰγύπτος, Aiguptos "Egypt." The noun "Egyptians" first appears in the 14th century, in Wycliff's Bible, as Egipcions.
Some Demographics you should know
An estimated 76.4 million Egyptians live around the world, but the vast majority live in Egypt where they constitute about 94% (72.5 million) of the total population. Approximately 90% of Egyptians are Muslim and 10% are Christian (of which 90% are Coptic), except for normal negligible feuds, followers of both creeds live harmoniously. The majority of the Egyptians live on the banks of the Nile River where the only arable land is found. Nearly half of the Egyptian people today are urban; most of the rest are farmers – fellahin - living in rural towns and villages. A large influx of fellahin moving into urban cities and the rapid urbanization of many rural areas since the turn of the last century have shifted the balance between the number of urban and rural citizens. Egyptians also form smaller minorities in neighboring countries, North America, Europe and Australia.
The Egyptians are an autochthonous people deeply attached to their land. In the old times, it was rare for Egyptians to leave their country permanently or for an extended period of time—it was not until the 1970s that Egyptians began to emigrate in large numbers. An American study on the pattern of Egyptian emigration is quoted as saying "Egyptians have a reputation of preferring their own soil. Few leave except to study or travel; and they always return... Egyptians do not emigrate."
Origins
The indigenous Nile Valley population became firmly established during the Pleistocene epoch when nomadic hunter-gatherers began living along the Nile River. Beginning in the Pre-dynastic period, some differences between the populations of Upper and Lower Egypt were ascertained through their skeletal remains, identified by a differences in the body structure and facial features between inhabitants of the north and south.
When Lower and Upper Egypt were unified, 3150 BC, a more "homogeneous" population was formed in Egypt, though the distinction remains true to some degree to this day. Shomarka Keita, a prominent biological anthropologist describes the northern and southern patterns as "northern-Egyptian-Maghreb" and "tropical-African-variant" (overlapping with Nubia/Kush) respectively. He adds, "lower Egyptian, Maghrebian, and European patterns are observed also, thus allowing for great diversity."
A 2006 bio-archaeological study on the dental morphology of ancient Egyptians by Prof. Joel Irish shows dental traits characteristic of indigenous North Africans and to a lesser extent Southwest Asian and southern European populations. Biological continuity was also found intact from the dynastic to the post-Pharaonic periods. According to Irish:
“Despite popular belief that the "Egyptian" of Ancient Egypt are long extinct; a group of noted physical anthropologists conducted many 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.”
Genetic analysis of modern Egyptians reveals that they have paternal lineages common to indigenous North Africans/Berber populations primarily, and to Near Eastern people to a lesser extent.
University of Chicago Egyptologist Frank Yurco confirmed this finding of historical and regional continuity, saying: "Certainly there was some foreign admixture in Egypt, but basically a homogeneous African population had lived in the Nile Valley from ancient to modern times..."
Identity
The Egyptian identity evolved from ancient to modern times to accommodate, two religions, Christianity and Islam; and the Arabic language. The degree to which Egyptians identify with each layer of Egypt's history in articulating a sense of collective identity can vary. Questions of identity came forward in the 20th century as Egyptians sought to free themselves from foreign occupation, leading to the rise of ethno-territorial Egyptian nationalism, secular Arab nationalism (including pan-Arabism), and Islamism. However, Egyptian nationalism predates its Arab counterpart by many decades, having roots in the 19th century and becoming the dominant mode of expression of Egyptian anti-colonial activists in the early 20th century, which served to make the Egyptians feel more distinct than Arabs, and relatively separate themselves from their Arab neighbors.
In 1931, following a visit to Egypt, Syrian Arab nationalist Sati' al-Husri remarked that "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."
Similarly, a year after the establishment of the League of Arab States in 1945, headquartered in Cairo, Oxford University historian H. S. Deighton wrote:
“The Egyptians are not Arabs, and both they and the Arabs are aware of this fact. They are Arabic-speaking and they are Muslim —indeed religion plays a greater part in their lives than it does in those either of the Syrians or the Iraqi. But the Egyptian, during the first thirty years of the 20th century, was not aware of any particular bond with the Arab East...”
It was not until the Nasser era that Arab nationalism, and by extension Arab socialism, became a state policy and a means with which to define Egypt's position in the Middle East and the world. For a while, Egypt and Syria formed the United Arab Republic. When the union was dissolved, Egypt continued to be known as the UAR until 1971, when Sadat’s Egypt adopted the current official name, the Arab Republic of Egypt. The Egyptians' attachment to Arabism, however, was particularly questioned after the 1967 Six-Day War. President Anwar el Sadat, through his adopted public policy and his peace initiative with Israel, revived an uncontested Egyptian orientation.
Many Egyptians today feel that the Egyptian and Arab identities are inextricably linked, and emphasize the central role that Egypt plays in the Arab world. Others continue to believe that Egypt and Egyptians are simply not Arabs, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage, culture and independent polity. Egyptian critics of Arab nationalism contend that it has worked to erode and/or relegate native Egyptian identity by superimposing only one aspect of Egypt's culture.
However, whether Arab Egyptians or simply Egyptians, there is no question that the Arab heritage and culture play a huge role in forming the Egyptian identity. Although Egyptians are very much proud of their Pharaonic past, they still see themselves in the light for their Arab ideology, and share a close affinity with their Arab neighbors, with which whom they sympathize greatly. Nonetheless, there is no question also that the Egyptian identity is unique, and distinctive from the Arab identity. It has been formed and morphed through the melting of, and exposure to many cultures and invasions, yet its core remains intact and untouched, this core is simply; the land and the people.
“Their characteristic rootedness as Egyptians... is reflected in sights, sounds and atmosphere that are meaningful to all Egyptians. Dominating the intangible pull of Egypt is the ever present Nile, which is more than a constant backdrop. Its varying colors and changing water levels... sets the rhythm of farming... No Egyptian is ever far from his river… Egyptians glorify their national dishes, including 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.”
Mohamed Radwan |
