The agricultural policy of Muhammad Ali in Egypt

bibliographic database
Line

Book

Title:	The agricultural policy of Muhammad Ali in Egypt
Author:	Rivlin, Helen Anne Bloom
Year:	1961
Issue:	4
Pages:	393
Language:	English
Series:	Harvard Middle Eastern studies (ISSN 0073-0580)
City of publisher:	Cambridge, MA
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Geographic term:	Egypt
Subjects:	Islamic law land tenure agricultural history economic history
About person:	Muhammad Ali Basa (ca. 1769-1849)
Abstract:	A brief history of Egypt covering the period from 1517 to 1812 when Muhammad Ali came to full power forms the introduction. A detailed description of the maldistribution of landholdings before the French occupation at the end of the 18th century is given and the gradual transfering of a great part of the land to religious and charitable institutions which brought about a standstill in agricultural progress and a serious decline in tax revenue, is discussed. M. Ali changed the system and redistributed the land. The conclusion of the author is that the purpose of his agricultural policy was not the development of Egypt, but the increase of his own wealth and the establishment of a heriditary dynasty and that his policies prevented the emergence of an independent, and responsible agricultural class, and that they laid the foundation for many of Egypt's present economic and social problems. The author also describes the agricultural practices during M. Ali's reign and his struggle to introduce industry and encourage foreign trade.