Is Egypt in Asia or Africa?
At over 380,000 square miles, Egypt is a vast, mysterious land with one foot planted in northeast Africa and the other extending into southwest Asia. As a passionate gamer and content creator, I was compelled to research more about how Egypt‘s transcontinental placement has shaped its extraordinary history and landscapes.
The Short Answer: Primarily Africa, But Partly Asia Too
To directly answer the question – the vast majority of Egypt sits within Africa‘s Nile River valley. But the eastern Sinai Peninsula crosses into Asia, connecting Egypt with the Middle East. So technically, Egypt spans both continents!
A Blended Culture Reflecting African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean Influences
This bridge between continents has created a vibrant blending of cultural influences in Egypt. Most Egyptians ethnically identify with North Africa. In gaming, you can see African themes in artwork depicting Egyptian gods like Ra, Anubis and Bastet with animal masks and Egyptian-style jewelry. Hieroglyphics and artifacts also showcase these African origins.
However, Egypt also closely identifies with Middle Eastern culture. The main spoken language is Egyptian Arabic. And being in the Muslim world, mosques and Islamic architecture are common sights in Egyptian cities like Cairo. These Arabic influences inspire the designs of shops, homes, temples when Egypt is featured as a game setting.
Finally, ancient Greece and Rome conquered Egypt at different periods as well, adding Mediterranean elements. Mummies, pharaoh busts, obelisk monuments all have graced Greek and Roman plazas in games from Assassin’s Creed: Origins to Age of Mythology.
So Egypt‘s geography at the crossroads of Africa and Asia has created a vibrant blending of cultural elements that game developers can pull from!
Key Facts on Egypt‘s Location
- 90% of Egypt‘s land area and population lies within Africa
- The Sinai Peninsula, making up the eastern 25% of Egypt, connects the country to the Middle East/Asia
- The Suez Canal fully separates the African and Asian regions
- Egypt borders Libya, Sudan, Israel and the Gaza Strip, Jordan and the Red Sea
How Egypt‘s Landscapes Set the Scene for Games
Beyond culture, Egypt‘s varied geography stemming from its transcontinental location provides awesome, cinematic landscapes for games. Let‘s explore some of the stunning natural scenery that developers can showcase when featuring Egypt:
The Vast Sahara Desert
The Sahara spans over 3.5 million square miles, covering most of North Africa. Miles of golden sand dunes, oases with palm trees, sandstorms swirling on the horizon – this desert terrain allows for epic African wilderness battle scenes or post-apocalyptic settings. Assassin‘s Creed: Origins has sweeping Sahara vistas while you ride camels and elephants between cities.
The Mighty Nile River
The Nile passes through the Sahara like a life-giving artery, its fertile banks an oasis allowing cities and civilizations to thrive in the desert heat. Exploring the ruins of temples and tombs along the Nile shores under the desert moon makes for atmospheric scenes. And the Nile allows for fun water gameplay – canoeing past hippos, fishing villages, even riverboat battle sequences.
Coastal Shores and Coral Reefs
Along Egypt‘s eastern shores on the Red Sea, coral reefs and marine wildlife create opportunities for fantastic underwater levels. Snorkeling with sharks and sea turtles could be a neat side quest. And the coastal ports connect Egypt back to the Middle East, Greece and Rome for naval warfare missions.
The Sinai Peninsula‘s Mountainous Desert
The Sinai Peninsula offers some most stunning vistas, with rugged mountains and windswept hills overlooking the arid desert landscape. Here developers could feature Bedouin camps, caravans journeying to oases, even secret underground tunnel complexes beneath the sands for army base action sequences.
So as you can see, games set in Egypt have some incredibly diverse landscapes thanks to its unique transcontinental location to inspire unique quests and gameplay!
How Its Location Has Shaped Egypt‘s History
On a historical note, Egypt‘s placement bridging Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean has made it a coveted center of trade and warfare for millennia. The ancient Land of the Pharaohs was conquered by the Egyptians, Nubians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Ottomans and British throughout centuries of power struggles.
Some key events that shaped Egypt‘s complex history:
3000 BC – The upper and lower Nile kingdoms are united under Pharaoh Menes, launching 3,000 years of ancient Egyptian civilization centering along the Nile.
525 BC – Egypt is conquered by the Persian Empire which spans Turkey to India. Interesting blend of Egyptian and Persian cultures.
30 BC – Land annexed as a Roman province after Cleopatra‘s defeat, lasting 700 years as Western influence grows. This makes Egypt a cultural melting pot.
639 AD – Arab Muslim conquest brings spread of Islam and more Middle Eastern culture to Egypt.
Each era of conquest brought new myths, gods, artifacts from foreign empires that mixed in with Egypt‘s indigenous culture – forming a richly blended society flavored by African, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean traditions.
How Mythology and History Inspire Game Storylines
This brings us to how Egypt‘s legendary history, pharaohs and pantheon of gods have provided amazing inspiration for video games. Sid Meier‘s Civilization series features Ramesses II and Cleopatra as playable rulers, and even Egyptologist "Indiana Jones" characters that unlock relic treasures.
The interstellar RPG Mass Effect (2007) has an entire alien race called the Protheans inspired by ancient Egypt, with cryptic technology and hieroglyphs explaining a mysterious galactic extinction cycle.
My favorite is Age of Mythology (2002), blending real Egyptian history with mythological units like Anubis Warriors, Osiris mythic heroes and god powers drawing from Ra, Set and Isis. Players guide Egyptians gathering desert resources to construct monumental Pyramids and Sphinx temples.
I could genuinely write 10 pages on Egyptian gaming topics! But in summary, as this article showcases, Egypt‘s rare connection bridging Africa and Asia has created intriguing cultural mixes, cinematic landscapes, and histories that lend fantastically to game worlds. Hopefully this provides a helpful deep dive for fellow gamers on Egypt‘s epic geography and why it makes for such compelling games!
