Egypt in the Middle Ages than members of the Umayyad family or court. Both are reported to have increased pressure on the Copts, and initiated measures of Islamization. The resentment of the Copts against taxation led to a revolt in 725. In 727, to strengthen Arab representation, a colony of 3,000 Arabs was set up near Bilbeis. Meanwhile, the employment of the Arabic language had been steadily gaining ground, and in 706 it was made the official language of the government. Egyptian Arabic, the modern Arabic accent of Egypt, began to form. Other revolts of the Copts are recorded for the years 739 and 750,
Languages of Egypt the Red Sea. Some 234,000 (2004) Dom speak the Domari language (an Indo-Aryan language related to Romany) and are concentrated north of Cairo and in Luxor. About 30,000 Egyptian Berbers living in the Siwa oasis and its surroundings speak Siwi Berber, which is a variety of the Berber language of North Africa. Siwi Berber is well mutually intelligible with Libyan Berber dialects. In ancient times, the population of western Egypt was probably made of Berber-speaking tribes. Immigrants and their descendants mainly speak Greek, Armenian, Italian, or also more recently African languages like Amharic and Tigrigna. Egypt was occupied by the