The northern boundary of Egypt consists of an imaginary line from East St. Louis through Vandalia to Vincennes, Ind. From there Egypt extends southward between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers through a landscape which combines magnolias, southern pine, and northern oak; verdant bottom lands and Ozark plateaus; orchard-covered hills, corn and cotton fields; coal mines, bass lakes, and a magnificent rendezvous for Canadian geese. Cairo (pronounced Kerro, please), resting on the delta formed by the convergence of two mighty rivers, adorns the southernmost tip of Egypt.

To be certain there is no mistake, the traveler may visit Thebes, Karnak, New Memphis, or Dongola; contemplate delta country; or conduct business at such places as the Bank of Egypt, the Egyptian Drive-In, and the Little Egypt Smorgasbord and Restaurant. Students attending Egypt's leading university read The Daily Egyptian and call their athletic teams "The Salukis" (Egyptian hunting dogs). The glacier never reached Egypt, and its people differ in wealth, religion, background, and politics from their fellow Northern Illinoisans with whom they share the nickname "suckers. "

Not everyone agrees on how Egypt got its name. Although sections of some cities in the state are known as "Little Italy," "Bohemia," or "Germantown," nobody contends that "Egypt," Illinois, is named after actual immigrants from the Egypt of the Nile River, the pyramids, the pharoahs, and Cleopatra.

On the other hand, some do maintain that the name originated in "the intellectual darkness" of the early inhabitants. That argument can be safely rejected, however, because there is simply no proof that the first Southern Illinoisans were either more or less intellectual than Westerners anywhere else. Indeed, one can cite the establishment of Rock Spring Seminary near Belleville in 1827, McKendree College near Lebanon in 1828, the Antiquarian and Historical Society of Illinois at Vandalia in 1827, and the Illinois Monthly Magazine in the same city in 1830 as examples of concern for matters of the mind.

More frequently the case is made that Egypt takes its name from the cities of Cairo, Karnak, and Thebes. Unfortunately, it appears that the region was called Egypt before the founding of Cairo (1837), Thebes (1844), and Karnak (presumably 1893). Used in conversation in the early 1830s, the first recorded, printed use of the term "Egypt" as applied to Southern Illinois appeared in the Quincy Whig, Jan.. 11, 1843. "Here was something to stir up the bile of the 'gentleman from Egypt'! What! a 'nigger'' in the Senate of Illinois! Monstrous!" The evidence simply indicates that the cities appeared after the region became "Egypt."

Somewhat more convincing is the claim that the Cairo area resembled the delta of the Nile River to early immigrants. Twentieth-century historians smugly dismiss this theory by pointing out that the Nile River delta is much larger than that of Southern Illinois and does not have a mountain range nearby. However, to Bible-reading immigrants from Kentucky and Tennessee who never saw the Nile River delta and who demonstrated keen imaginations, the comparison may have been a natural one. After all, there are towns in the region named Eldorado (pronounced Eldor-ay-do), New Delhi (pronounced New Del-high), and Vienna (pronounced Vy-ena) with little similarity to their namesakes. The importance of the presence of the rivers and the delta in naming the region appears significant even though it cannot be precisely documented.

What can be supported, and the most accepted explanation, relates to events surrounding the winter of the deep snow, which began with a killing frost early in September, 1830. Great snow drifts, freezing winds, and bitter cold caused settlers to recall the winter as one of great suffering. The following summer was cool and the corn crop was a failure in Central Illinois.

A settler recalled that in the spring of 1832 many wagons went South empty and returned filled with corn, reminding them all of Chapter 45 in the Book of Genesis in which the sons of Jacob relied on Egypt for grain. The Bible story has Jacob's son Joseph sending provisions from Pharoah's court to his father so he could lead his people to Egypt to eat "the fat of the land." A farmer near Springfield recalled that "We had to live for a time on venison, blackberries, and milk, while the men were gone to Egypt to harvest and procure bread stuffs."

Thus, it appears that the most feasible explanation of the way Egypt got its name centers about the brutal prairie winter in 1831 and the way Central Illinoisans survived it by seeking help from their Southern brethren in the land between the rivers.