EGYPT 



1968 



EGYPT 



cigarettes from Turkish tobacco. To protect 

 this industry a heavy export tax is levied on 

 native tobacco, which is inferior in quality. 

 Mehemet Ali granted various monopolies and 

 encouraged the founding of a number of in- 

 dustries under the control of the state, but 

 since his time these have all been closed. 



In its mineral resources, too, Egypt is very 

 limited, though gold-mining is carried on to 

 some extent in the eastern mountains, and oil 

 wells have been sunk on the eastern coast. 

 That there was once an enormous quantity 

 of stone available is evident from the great 

 buildings and monuments left by the ancients, 

 but at present the output of the quarries is 

 not large. Other mineral resources there may 

 be, but the drifting rock waste has covered 

 them deep. 



Commerce and Transportation. Before 

 Great Britain assumed control the commerce 

 of" Egypt was very small, but to-day it has a 

 very considerable foreign trade, chiefly with 

 Great Britain. Practically the only things 

 which Egypt itself has to export are cotton; 

 grains and cigarettes, but from its great port 

 of Alexandria are shipped also the ivory and 

 the ostrich plumes which are brought by cara- 

 van from the interior of the continent. The 

 United States imports much Egyptian cotton, 

 100,000,000 pounds a year being no unusual 

 amount. Egypt's imports consist largely of 

 manufactured goods textiles and metal arti- 

 cles, wood, coal and metals. The internal 

 trade is largely carried on by Arabs and na- 

 tive Egyptians, but Europeans manage the 

 foreign commerce. 



The Nile, indispensable for other purposes, 

 is also valuable as a waterway, for it is navi- 

 gable to the first cataract, just north of the 

 southern boundary. The state owns and op- 

 erates over 1,500 miles of railway and in addi- 

 tion there are about 1,300 miles of so-called 

 agricultural roads owned by private corpora- 

 tions. These connect the agricultural regions 

 with the main lines of railway and provide 

 transportation for the produce of the country. 



Government. For centuries Egypt has been 

 tributary to Turkey in theory, but during the 

 nineteenth century the native ruler was prac- 

 tically absolute. True, he had a Turkish com- 

 missioner in his council and he had to pay 

 a large annual tribute, but his office was hered- 

 itary and no one questioned his acts so long 

 as he did not attempt to extend his power 

 beyond Egypt. During the latter part of the 

 century England became so involved in the 



financial affairs of Egypt that a British repre- 

 sentative was sent to take charge of the rev- 

 enue (see subtitle History, below), and grad- 

 ually the hold of Great Britain on the country 

 was strengthened until Egypt became prac- 

 tically a British dependency. Theoretically 

 the khedive is still the head of the govern- 

 ment and rules with the aid of a legislative 

 body of eighty-nine members, three-fourths of 

 whom are elected by the people. There is 

 also a council of six ministers who preside over 

 O - 



FLAG OF EGYPT 

 White crescents and stars on red background. 



departments of the interior, finance, war, ma- 

 rine, justice and public works and instruction. 

 Several of the ministers, and those the most 

 important, are Europeans. Travelers in Egypt 

 declare that since Great Britain assumed con- 

 trol Egypt has been one of the best-adminis- 

 tered countries in the world because usually 

 the best possible man has been placed in each 

 office, without political consideration. 



The cities of chief importance are Cairo, 

 the capital; Alexandria, the principal seaport; 

 Rosetta and Damietta, at the mouths of the 

 Nile; and Suez and Port Said at the terminals 

 of the Suez Canal. The most important 

 towns are described in alphabetical order in 

 these volumes. 



Ancient Egypt. This is the phase in the life 

 of the country which is most likely to come to 

 mind when the name Egypt is spoken, and 

 indeed the history of the world presents few 

 greater marvels than the high civilization 

 which this Nile Valley region developed so 

 many thousand years ago. What sort of peo- 

 ple were dwelling in Europe in those olden 

 days and on what low plane of existence they 

 were living, no one can even conjecture, but 

 in Egypt innumerable relics tell the story of 

 that ancient time, even revealing much of its 

 every-day methods of life. 



Learning. First of all, the Egyptians had a 

 system of writing, called the hieroglyphic. It 



