ALONG THE NILE, THROUGH EGYPT AND THE SUDAN 



6Qi 



© Donald McLeish 



A CAIRENE EXAMINATION HALL 



Amid ancient columns dating back to the Ptolemies, in a fourteenth century mosque built 

 by Amir Altun Bogha el-Mardani, the modern theological student takes his examination in the 

 doctrines of the Koran. Less famous than el-Azhar, which is Egypt's largest university, 

 el-Mardani is a prominent factor in theological education in the capital. 



Mehemet Ali, and his successors held 

 mastery till it went bankrupt in 1879. 



To protect creditors, France and Eng- 

 land intervened, deposed Khedive Ismail, 

 and set up a "dual control." Against 

 this rule Arabi Pasha led a rebellion, 

 which the British crushed at the battle 

 of Tel-el-Kebir. 



For the next 35 years khedives of the 

 Mehemet Ali dynasty nominally gov- 

 erned, being advised by the British Con- 

 sul-General at Cairo, whose advice, not 

 strange to say, was usually taken. 



From 1883 to 1907- Lord Cromer, a 

 most able officer, held this advisory post, 

 and raised Egypt from bankruptcy to 

 prosperity. When the World War be- 

 gan, the reigning khedive Abbas Hilmi, 

 long restive under English control, threw 

 in his lot with the Turks (who had never 

 relinquished their claim to sovereignty 

 over Egypt), and a Turkish army moved 



down to Gaza to drive the English out. 

 But England, regarding the Suez Canal 

 as the jugular vein of her empire, could 

 not then risk losing her foothold on the 

 Nile. So, on December 18, 1914, Egypt 

 was openly declared a British Protect- 

 orate. 



EGYPT'S DARING AND SUCCESSFUL DRIVE 

 FOR INDEPENDENCE 



Hardly were the guns of Europe silent 

 before Egypt began her daring drive for 

 independence. It astounded even the 

 East — this sudden, sensational leaping to 

 life of a race so long bent to alien yoke. 

 Dramatic as the story is, however, it need 

 only be said here that in 1922 the British 

 relinquished their protectorate, and ac- 

 knowledged Ahmed Fuad as King of 

 Egypt. (On April 25, 1922, the United 

 States officially recognized the new nation 

 on the Nile.) 



