EGYPT 



1965 



EGYPT 



THE STORY OF EGYPT 



Prayer in 

 the desertfi r1 



GYPT, the "nursery of the world's 

 art and civilization," is practically the flood 

 plain of the Nile River; for beyond the limits 

 reached by irrigation, the Egypt of geography 

 is an irreclaimable desert. In all the world 

 to-day there is no other country which has 

 had so long an existence as has Egypt. Hun- 

 dreds, even thousands, of years before the 

 siege of Troy or before Abraham went out 

 from Ur of the Chaldees, it was a settled 

 country with a well-established government 

 and a high culture, its greatness being due 

 very largely to the control of the world's pro- 

 ductive copper mines. Ever since the begin- 

 ning of the Christian Era its history has been 

 one of subjection and at times of oppression, 

 but the people have preserved their identity, 

 and the Egyptian of pure blood to-day has 

 much the same cast of features which is to 

 be seen in the mummy that dates from thou- 

 sands of years ago. 



Egypt includes the lower part of the Nile 

 .basin, in the northeast corner of Africa, ex- 

 tending from the Mediterranean Sea on the 

 north to the Nubian Desert region on the 

 south. Its greatest north-to-south length is 

 675 miles, its average width, about 500 miles, 

 and its area about 400,000 square miles. Thus 

 it more than equals in size Texas and New 

 Mexico together, and is nearly as large as the 

 province of Ontario, but only about 10,000 

 square miles, comprising the fertile Nile Val- 

 ley and delta, can be successfully cultivated, 

 and nine-tenths of the people are crowded into 

 this section, which is but little larger than 

 Vermont. 



The People. Like most countries of the 

 Orient, Egypt has no accurate census, but its 

 estimated population is about 11,297,000. Of 

 these, 10,366,000 are Egyptians, most of them 

 of mixed Arab and negro blood, and fewer 

 than 1,000,000 are Turks or Europeans. The 

 term Egyptians includes several more or less 



distinct classes the jellahs (peasants), Arabs, 

 Copts and Bedouins; while of the foreign ele- 

 ment the Greeks and Turks are most numer- 

 ous, the Italians, British and French ranking 

 next in order. Considering Great Britain's 

 close connection with Egypt, it is rather sur- 

 prising to find that in the whole country 

 there are only about 21,000 British. The Bed- 

 ouins are the desert-dwellers, the Arabs live 

 in the towns, but the vast bulk of the popu- 

 lation throughout the country districts is com- 

 posed of the fellahs, who must be considered 

 the representative Egyptians. 



National Character. In the olden day? tin- 

 Egyptians maintained their kings like any 

 other nation, but the national character was 

 never strong, and one dynasty after another 

 fell before outside conquerors. To-day but 

 the slave class survives in the fellahs those 

 gentle, docile peasants, whose dominant trait 

 is servile obedience to authority. Good- 

 natured they are and very industrious, but 

 they have no independence,, no manly pride, 

 no initiative ability. Their politeness is pro- 

 verbial one traveler tells of having inquired 

 of a boy on a winding road whether he was 

 journeying in the right direction to reach a 

 certain town and of having received the 

 answer, delivered in all seriousness, "Yes, your 

 excellency, and had we known you w-n- com- 

 ing this way we would have had a road made 

 straight for you." But like many exceedingly 

 polite peoples, they are deceitful and cniol. 

 Most of their faults may be traced, however, 

 to the oppression which they have suffered 

 under past government. 



Mode of Life. In the towns foreign customs 

 have been introduced and modes of living 

 have changed, but in the peasant villages life 

 goes on much as it has for centuries. There 

 are picturesque features, but little that makes 

 for comfort or pleasure. Except for an occa- 

 sional religious festival there is no recreation, 



