Al Alamayn, Battle of El Alamein, El Alamein - in World War II (1942); a decisive Allied victory by British troops under Montgomery over German troops under Rommel

Aswan Dam, Aswan High Dam, High Dam - one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt

al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Islamic Group - a terrorist organization of militant Islamists organized into tiny cells of extreme fundamentalists; emerged during the 1970s mainly in Egyptian jails; "al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya uses force to push Egyptian society toward Islamic rule"

al-Jihad, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Vanguards of Conquest, Islamic Jihad - an Islamic extremist group active since the late 1970s; seeks to overthrow the Egyptian government and replace it with an Islamic state; works in small underground cells; "the original Jihad was responsible for the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981"

Arab League - an international organization of independent Arab states formed in 1945 to promote cultural and economic and military and political and social cooperation

OPEC, Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries - an organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum

African country, African nation - countries occupying the African continent

Middle East, Mideast, Near East - the area around the eastern Mediterranean; from Turkey to northern Africa and eastward to Iran; the site of such ancient civilizations as Phoenicia and Babylon and Egypt and the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity and Islam; had continuous economic and political turmoil in the 20th century; "the Middle East is the cradle of Western civilization"

Sinai Peninsula, Sinai - a peninsula in northeastern Egypt; at north end of Red Sea

Lower Egypt - one of the two main administrative districts of Egypt; consists of the Nile delta

Upper Egypt - one of the two main administrative districts of Egypt; extends south from Cairo to Sudan

El Iskandriyah, Alexandria - the chief port of Egypt; located on the western edge of the Nile delta on the Mediterranean Sea; founded by Alexander the Great; the capital of ancient Egypt

Assouan, Assuan, Aswan - an ancient city on the Nile in Egypt; site of the Aswan High Dam

Al Qahira, capital of Egypt, Egyptian capital, El Qahira, Cairo - the capital of Egypt and the largest city in Africa; a major port just south of the Nile delta; formerly the home of the Pharaohs

El Alamein - a village west of Alexandria on the north coast of Egypt; the scene of a decisive Allied victory over the Germans in 1942

El Giza, Giza - an ancient Egyptian city on the west bank of the Nile opposite Cairo; site of three Great Pyramids and the Sphinx

Memphis - an ancient city of Egypt on the Nile (south of Cairo)

El-Aksur, Luxor - a city in central Egypt on the east bank of the Nile that is a center for visitors to the ruins of and about Thebes

Thebes - an ancient Egyptian city on the Nile River that flourished from the 22nd century BC to the 18th century BC; today the archeological remains include include many splendid temples and tombs

Sakkara, Saqqara, Saqqarah - a town in northern Egypt; site of the oldest Egyptian pyramids

Suez - a city in northeastern Egypt at the head of the Gulf of Suez and at the southern end of the Suez Canal

Suez Canal - a ship canal in northeastern Egypt linking the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea

Libyan Desert - the northeastern part of the Sahara Desert in Libya and Egypt and Sudan

Africa - the second largest continent; located south of Europe and bordered to the west by the South Atlantic and to the east by the Indian Ocean

Lake Nasser, Nasser - lake in Egypt formed by dams built on the Nile River at Aswan

Nile, Nile River - the world's longest river (4180 miles); flows northward through eastern Africa into the Mediterranean; the Nile River valley in Egypt was the site of the world's first great civilization

Egyptian - a native or inhabitant of Egypt

empire - the domain ruled by an emperor or empress