Egypt vs Sudan

Why people mix them up

Egypt and Sudan are neighbours in northeast Africa, joined by the Nile, which flows north through Sudan before crossing Egypt to the Mediterranean. Both are Arabic-speaking, both flags use red, white and black horizontal stripes, and both have ancient pyramids. For a long period they were linked politically, and people often compare them by size or wonder where the border is.

How to tell them apart

• Egypt has coasts on both the Mediterranean and the Red Sea; Sudan only has a Red Sea coast.
• Egypt's flag has a golden eagle on the white stripe; Sudan's adds a green triangle at the hoist.
• Sudan is the larger country by area, about 1.86 million km², against Egypt's roughly 1 million km².
• The capitals are Cairo (Egypt) and Khartoum (Sudan). Khartoum lies where the Blue Nile and White Nile meet.
• Egypt reaches into Asia through the Sinai Peninsula; Sudan lies entirely in Africa.
• Sudan's pyramids, such as those at Meroë, are smaller and steeper than Egypt's famous pyramids at Giza.

Memory hook

Egypt has the Eagle and the sea on two sides; Sudan is South of it, with a green triangle pointing the way up the Nile.

On the map

Find the northeast corner of Africa. Egypt is the almost square country at the top, with a ruler-straight border along the 22nd parallel to the south and the Sinai Peninsula sticking out towards Asia. Sudan lies directly below that straight line, along the Red Sea, bordered to the south by South Sudan. If the country you are tapping touches the Mediterranean, it is Egypt.