Coptic identity

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Copts (Coptic: ⲚⲓⲢⲉⲙ̀ⲛⲭⲏⲙⲓ ni.Remenkīmi, literally: Egyptians) are the native inhabitants of Egypt, and the direct descendants of the Ancient Egyptians whose ancestors embraced Christianity in the first centuries^[1][2][3]. After the Arab conquest of Egypt, Egyptians who converted to Islam ceased to call themselves by the demonym Copt, and the term became the distinctive name of the Christian minority in Egypt. Coptic Christians lost their majority status in Egypt after the 14th century and the spread of Islam in the entirety of North Africa. Today, Copts form a major ethno-religious group whose origins date back to the Ancient Egyptians.^[4]

Today, the Coptic Christian population in Egypt is the largest Christian community in the Middle East.^[5] Christians represent around 15% to 20% of a population of over 80 million Egyptians,^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]} though estimates vary (see Religion in Egypt). Around 95% of them belong to the native Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.^[15][16][19] The remaining (around 800,000^[17]) are divided between the Coptic Catholic and the Coptic Protestant churches.

The question of Coptic identity was never raised before the rise of pan-Arabism under Nasser in the early 1950s. Up to that point, both Egyptian Muslims and Egyptian Christians viewed themselves as only Egyptians without any Arab sentiment.^[20] The struggle to maintain this Egyptian identity began as Nasser and his regime tried to impose an Arab identity on the country, and attempted to erase all references to Egypt as a separate and unique entity.^[21]Today, Copts and many Egyptian Muslims reject Arab nationalism, emphasizing indigenous Egyptian heritage and culture as well as their own unique ethnicity and genetic makeup, which are completely different from those of the Arabs.^[21] Persecution has become pivotal to the Copts' sense of identity.^[22]

Studies have showed the ancient Egyptians to be genetically intermediary between the populations of Southern Europe and Nubia (two frequently-used reference points).^[23] A study of the genetics of Copts has confirmed them to be the most ancient population of Egypt, sharing ancestry with North African and Middle Eastern populations, while being different from the current Egyptian population which is closer to the Arabic population of Qatar.^[24] Thus, Copts have a genetic composition that resembles the ancestral Egyptian population, without the present strong Arab influence.^[24]