Egypt (Misr al-Jumhuriya al-'Arabiya), is a presidential republic of northeastern Africa which includes also the Sinai peninsula in Asia. The country is washed by the Red Sea to the east, and by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, it's bordered to the north-east with Israel, to the south with Sudan, to the west with Libya. Cradle of one of the first human civilizations, Egyptian, developed between 3 300 BC and 525 BC, whose monuments after more than 4 000 years, yet impressed million tourists who come to visit them. The country still today, as in the past, has the center in the river Nile, where are extending the cultivated and inhabited areas which coincides with the Nile valley. The river Nile, 6 671 km long, with a basin area of 2 867 000 sq. km, it's the world's longest river, and it goes through Egypt from south to north for about 1 500 km. Egyptian territory is mostly desert, west of the Nile valley extends the Libyan Desert, a sandy desert that occupies almost 60% of the country, only where the groundwater reaching the surface were formed oases (Siwa, al-Fayyum, Kharijah, Dakhilah, Bahriyah, Farafirah), which interrupt the monotony of the desert, in this part of the country is also Qattâra depression, with a depth of -133 metres below sea level is the second lowest point of Africa, after Lake Asal (-155 meters below sea level), which is located in the small country of Djibouti. East of the Nile valley is the Arabian Desert, a mountainous desert that reaches 2 000 meters high, which extends between the Nile and the Red Sea, while on the southern border with Sudan, lies the Nubia desert, formed by sand dunes and plains, here a huge dam that bar the Nile forms the Lake Nasser, an artificial lake that measures 480 km long and 16 km wide and covers 12 900 sq km. Across the Suez Canal, built between 1859 and 1869, which links the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is the Sinai peninsula, part of Asia, is largely mountainous and has the highest peak of Egypt, Mount Catherine (Catherine Gebel) (2 637 meters). The country has considerable income from tourism, both artistic-cultural tourism, attracted by Egyptian monuments of ancient civilization (Pyramids, the Sphinx, the Valley of the Kings, etc..), and more holiday tourism, attracted by the tourist centres (Hurgada, Sharm el Sheikh, Dahab, Naama Bay) and in particular by underwater beauty of the Red Sea. The agriculture sector is the driving force of the economy, crops are found along the Nile Valley and its delta, the main crop is cotton, are also cultivated cereals, sugar cane, vegetables, citrus fruit, dates, peanuts. Interesting are the subsoil resources are extracted oil, phosphates, natural gas, iron. Among the industries, the textile industry is the most important, significant are also those of tobacco, sugar, chemicals, steel and mechanics.