E-Book Overview
Egypt is almost the size of Britain, France, and Germany combined, yet its nearly 70 million people are forced by geography to live in an area no bigger than Belgium. In this illuminating introduction to economic geography, the authors describe the myriad problems facing Egypt. They examine food scarcity, the effects of water and land shortage, the impact of globalization on Egypt's attempts to industrialize, population explosion, massive debt, unemployment, corruption, and Egypt's tourism industry.
E-Book Content
Egypt: An Economic Geography Egypt: An Economic Geography Published in 2003 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd 6 Salem Road, London 2 4 175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010 www.ibtauris.com In the United States of America and in Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010 Copyright © Fouad and Barbara Ibrahim, 2003 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. International Library of Human Geography 1 1 86064 547 x hbk 1 86064 548 8 pbk A full record for this book is available from the British Library A full record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress catalog card: available Set in Monotype Dante by Ewan Smith, London Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin Contents Tables Figures Illustrations vii ix x 1 The State of Egypt at the Beginning of the Third Millennium 1 2 The People of Egypt 8 The complexity of Egyptian identity |8 Women in Egyptian society |15 The Copts – the descendants of the Pharaohs as a minority today |23 The Nubians – a people without a homeland |27 The Bedouin of the marginal deserts |27 Dynamics of growth, spatial distribution and migration of the Egyptian population |29 3 From Foreign Rule to Self-determination 34 Egypt’s history seen from an Egyptian perspective |34 Civil society in Egypt – an agent of social and political change? |37 4 Egypt’s Natural Potential 42 Geological and morphological structures of the country |42 Climatic conditions |50 Soils |52 Vegetation, fauna and the processes of desertification |53 5 The Regional Structure of Egypt 57 The Western Desert |57 The Eastern Desert |60 The Sinai Peninsula and the Suez Canal Zone |61 The Nile Valley |64 The Nile Delta |65 6 Egypt’s Water Resources and Water Demand 67 Rainfall in Egypt – an under-used potential |68 Groundwater – a limited resource |69 The Nile |70 7 Development and Features of the Egyptian Economy From socialism to capitalism – fifty years of changing economic policies |93 Deregulation of the economy and the problems of unemployment and migration |99 Education and the labour force |103 Egypt as a rentier state |110 93 8 Egypt’s Agriculture under Stress 114 Foreign currency versus food security |114 Land tenure and land distribution in Egypt |114 Historical development of Egypt’s agricultural production |121 The country’s agricultural production today |124 Land reclamation – Egypt’s hope for the future |140 Animal husbandry and the fishing industry |153 9 Old and New Industries in Egypt 157 The history of industrialization in Egypt |157 The economic and political background of Egyptian industries |163 The problems of Egypt’s industries today |170 10 Tourism in Egypt 175 International tourism |175 Domestic tourism |197 11 Egypt’s Urban Centres and Rural Settlements 202 Cairo metropolis |