Egypt proper occupies little more than twelve thousand square miles.
Including the oases in the Libyan Desert, the region between the Nile
and the Red Sea, and El-Arish in Syria, but excluding the Sudan, the
area is about four hundred thousand square miles.
In ancient as in modern times Egypt was always divided into the Upper
and Lower, or the Southern and the Northern country; and at a very early
period it was further sub-divided into a number of _nomes_, or
departments, varying in different ages. It is practically confined to
the bed of the flooded Nile, a groove formed by its waters in the
desert; and the bordering desert and the southern provinces of Nubia,
Khartum and others, toward the equator form no part of the Egypt of
nature or of history, though from time to time they have been
politically joined to it. Without the Nile Egypt would never have
existed; and therefore a brief account of this wonderful river is very
important.