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Egypt Abbas Hilmi I, 1848-54 and Said, 1854-63
Ibrahim was succeeded by Abbas Hilmi I, a genuine
traditionalist with no interest in continuing the development
plans of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali. Abbas disliked Europeans,
but he allowed a railroad line to be built between Alexandria and
Cairo that facilitated British imperial communications with
India. Regular steamship services already linked Britain to India
via Alexandria, Suez, and Bombay. This partially overland route
to India took thirty-one days, compared to three months for the
journey around the Cape of Good Hope.
Abbas's successor was Said, the fourth son of Muhammad Ali.
He revived the works in agriculture, irrigation, and education
begun by his father. Under his rule, the first land law governing
private landed property in Egypt was passed in 1858. Said
abolished the agricultural monopolies of his father by granting
landowners the right to dispose freely of their produce as well
as the freedom to choose what crops to cultivate. He also
introduced uniform military service and the first organized
pension plan for public servants.
Said was a friend of the French engineer Ferdinand de
Lesseps, to whom he granted a concession in 1854 to construct a
canal from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. The Suez Canal
Company was organized to undertake the construction, and the
concession to the company included two items that proved costly
for Egypt. First, the company was granted a strip of land linking
the Nile with the canal site. There a freshwater canal was
constructed, and the strip of land was decreed tax free, allowing
the company to enjoy the benefits of its cultivation. Second, the
viceroy undertook to supply labor for the canal's construction,
in what amounted to a system of forced labor
(see Suez Canal
, ch.
3).
Data as of December 1990
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