Table of Contents

Tables vii Figures ix Illustrations 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 Eg ypt - an under--used potential |68 Groundwater - a limited resource |69 The Nile |70 7 Development and Features of the Egyptian Economy 93 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 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 |202 Mediterranean metropolis:Alexandria |222 The regional capitals |235 Towns in the desert - a rediscovered urbanization strategy for Egypt |241 Egypt 's rural settlements |245 12 The Prospects for Egypt 's Economy at the Beginning of the Twenty- first Century 247 The struggle for economic transformation |247 Egypt 's capital investment environment |250 Boosting research and technological development |251 Agricultural mega-projects for the third millen- nium |252 Sustainability of development in Egypt |254 References 255 Index 280

About the Author

Fouad N. Ibrahim is Professor of Social Geography at the University of Bayreuth. Barbara Ibrahim has researched and written extensively on social and economic issues as they relate to the geography of Africa in general and Egypt in particular. She has taught geography at a number of institutions in Germany.

Reviews

"very useful and remarkably up-to-date textbook... It certainly fills a gap in the...literature on the geography of North Africa and the Middle East...excellent textbook." -Keith Sutton, Manchester University "A comprehensive and informative synopsis of the economic and social issues of a crucial country within the Arabic world (...) which deserves to be read as widely as possible." -Eckart Ehlers, Erdkunde: German Geographical Journal (translated from German)