Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world and the second-most populous
on the African Continent. Nearly 100% of the country's 58 million
people live in Cairo and Alexandria; elsewhere on the banks of the Nile; in the Nile
delta, which fans out north of Cairo; and along the Suez Canal.
These regions are among the world's most densely populated, containing an average of over 1,540 person per square kilometer
(3,820 per sq. mi.).
Small communities spread
throughout the desert regions of Egypt
are clustered around oases and historic trade and transportation routes. The government has tried with mixed success to encourage
migration to newly irrigated land reclaimed from the desert. However, the proportion of the population living in rural areas
has continued to decrease as people move
to the cities in search
of employment and a higher standard of living. The Egyptians are a fairly homogeneous people of Hamitic origin. Mediterranean
and Arab influences appear
in the north, and there is some mixing in the south with the Nubians of northern Sudan. Ethnic minorities include a small number of Bedouin Arab nomads in the eastern
and western deserts and in the Sinai, as well as some 50,000-100,000 Nubians clustered along the Nile
in upper Egypt.
The literacy rate is
about 48% of the adult population. Education is free through university and compulsory from ages six through 12. About 87%
children enter primary
school; half drop out after their sixth year. There are 20,000 primary and secondary schools with some 10 million students,
major universities with
about 500,000 students, and 67 teacher colleges.
Major universities include
Cairo University (100,000 students), Alexandria University, and the 1,000-year-old Al- Azhar University,
one of the
world's major centers
of Islamic learning. Egypt's vast and
rich literature constitutes an important cultural element in the life of the country and in the Arab world as a whole. Egyptian
novelists and poets were among the first to experiment with new styles of Arabic literature, and the forms they developed
have been widely imitated. Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahjfouz was the first Arab to win the Nobel prize for literature.
Egyptian books and films
are available throughout the Middle East.
has endured as a unified state for more than 5,000 years, and archeological evidence indicates that a developed Egyptian society
has existed for much longer. Egyptians take pride in their "pharaonic heritage" and in their descent from what they consider
mankind's earliest civilization. The Arabic word for Egypt
is Misr, which originally connoted "civilization" or "metropolis." Archeological findings show that primitive tribes lived
along the Nile long before the dynastic history of the pharaohs began. By 6000 B.C., organized
agriculture had appeared.
In about 3100 B.C., Egypt was united under a ruler known as Mena, or Menes, who inaugurated the 30 pharaonic dynasties
into which Egypt's
ancient history is divided--the
Old and the Middle Kingdoms
and the New Empire. For the first time, the use and managements of vital resources of
the Nile River came under one authority.
The pyramids at Giza (near Cairo) were built in the fourth
dynasty, showing the power of the pharaonic religion and state. The Great Pyramid, the tomb of Pharaoh Khufu (also known as
Cheops), is the only surviving example of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Ancient Egypt reached the peak of its power, wealth, and territorial extent in the period
called the New Empire (1567-1085 B.C.). Authority was again centralized, and a number of military campaigns brought Palestine, Syria, and northern Iraq under Egyptian control.
Persian, Greek, Roman,
and Arab Conquerors
In 525 B.C., Cambyses,
the son of Cyrus the Great, led a Persian invasion force that dethroned the last
pharaoh of the 26th Dynasty. The country remained a Persian province until Alexander the Great. The Roman/Byzantine rule of
Egypt lasted for nearly 700 years. Following
a brief Persian reconquest, Egypt was
invaded and conquered by Arab forces in 642. A
process of Arabization
and Islamization ensued. Although a Coptic Christian minority remained--and remains today, constituting about 10% of
the population--the Arab
language inexorably supplanted the indigenous Coptic tongue. Ancient Egyptian ways--passed from pharaonic times through
the Persian, Greek, and
Roman periods and Egypt's Christian era--were
gradually melded with or supplanted by Islamic customs. For the next 1,300
years, a succession of
Turkish, Arabic, Mameluke, and Ottoman caliphs, beys, and sultans ruled the country.
Napoleon Bonaparte arrived
in Egypt in 1798. The three-year sojourn
in Egypt (1798-1801) of his army and a retinue of French scientists opened
Egypt to direct Western influence. Napoleon's
adventure awakened Great Britain to the importance of Egypt as a vital link with India and the
Far East and launched 150 years of Anglo-French
rivalry over the region. An
force drove out the French in 1801, and, following a period of chaos, the Albanian Mohammed Ali obtain control of the country.
Ali ruled until 1849, and his successors retained at least nominal control of Egypt
until 1952. He imported European culture and technology, introduced state organization of Egypt's economic life, improved education, and fostered training in engineering
and medicine. His authoritarian rule was also marked by a series of foreign military
adventures. Ali's successors granted to the French Promoter, Ferdinand de Lesseps, a concession for construction of
the Suez Canal--begun in 1859 and opened 10 years later.
Their regimes were characterized
by financial mismanagement and personal extravagance that reduced Egypt
to bankruptcy. These developments led to rapid expansion of British and French financial oversight. This produced popular
resentment, which, in 1879, led to revolt. In 1882, British expeditionary forces crushed this revolt, marking the beginning
occupation and the virtual
inclusion of Egypt within the British Empire.
During the rule of three
successive British High Commissioners between 1883 and 1914, the British agency was the real source of authority. It established
special courts to enforce foreign laws for foreigners residing in the country. These privileges for foreigners generated increasing
declared a formal protectorate over Egypt
on December 18, 1914. This lasted until 1922, when, in deference to growing nationalism, the U.K. unilaterally declared Egyptian independence. British influence, however, continued
to dominate Egypt's political life and
fostered fiscal, administrative, and governmental reforms.
In the post-independence
period, three political forces competed with one another: the Wafd, a broadly based nationalist political organization strongly
opposed to British influence; King Fuad, whom the British had installed during the war; and the British themselves, who were
determined to maintain control over the canal. Although both the Wafd and the
King wanted to achieve independence from the British, they competed for control of Egypt. Other political forces emerging in this period included the communist party
(1925) and the Muslim Brotherhood (1928), which eventually became a potent political and religious force.
During World War II,
British troops used Egypt as a base for
Allied operations throughout the region. British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947, but nationalist, anti-British feelings continued to grow after the war. Violence
broke out in early 1952 between Egyptians and British in the canal area, and anti-Western rioting in Cairo followed.
On July 22-23, 1952,
a group of disaffected army officers led by Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew King Farouk, whom the military blamed for
Egypt's poor performance in the 1948
war with Israel. Following a brief experiment
with civilian rule, they abrogated the 1923 constitution and declared Egypt
a republic on June 19, 1953. Nasser evolved into a
charismatic leader, not only of Egypt
but of the Arab world. Nasser and his "free officer" movement enjoyed almost instant legitimacy as liberators who had ended
2,500 years of foreign rule. They were motivated by numerous grievances and goals but wanted especially to break the economic
and political power of the land-owning elite, to remove all vestiges of British control, and to improve the lot of the people,
especially the fellahin (peasants).
A secular nationalist,
Nasser developed a foreign policy characterized by advocacy of pan-Arab socialism, leadership of the "nonaligned" of the "Third
World," and close ties with the Soviet Union. He sharply opposed the Western-sponsored Baghdad
Pact. When the United States held up military sales in reaction to Egyptian
neutrality vis-a-vis Moscow, Nasser
concluded an arms deal
with Czechoslovakia in September 1955.
When the U.S. and the World Bank withdrew their offer to help finance the
High Dam in mid-1956,
he nationalized the privately owned Suez Canal Company. The crisis that followed,
exacerbated by growing tensions with Israel over guerrilla attacks from
Gaza and Israeli reprisals, resulted in the invasion of Egypt
that October by France, Britain,
While Egypt was defeated, the invasion forces were quickly withdrawn under heavy pressure from the
U.S. The Suez war (or, as the Egyptians call it,
the Tripartite Aggression)
accelerated Nasser's emergence as an Egyptian and Arab hero.
He soon after came to
terms with Moscow for the financing of the Aswan High Dam--a step that enormously increased
Soviet involvement in Egypt and
set Nasser's Government
on a policy of close ties with the Soviet Union.
In 1958, pursuant to
his policy of pan-Arabism, Nasser succeeded in uniting Egypt and Syria into the United Arab Republic. Although this union had
failed by 1961, it was not officially dissolved until 1984. Nasser's
domestic policies were
arbitrary, frequently oppressive, and yet generally popular. All opposition was stamped out, and opponents of the regime frequently
were imprisoned without trial. Nasser's foreign and military policies, among other things, helped provoke the Israeli attack
of June 1967 that virtually destroyed Egypt's armed forces along with those
of Jordan and Syria.
Israel also occupied the Sinai peninsula, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank,
and the Golan Heights. Nasser, nonetheless, was revered by the masses in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world until his death in 1970.
death, another of the original "free officers," Vice President Anwar el-Sadat, was elected President. In 1971, Sadat concluded
a treaty of friendship with the Soviet Union but, a year later, ordered Soviet advisers to
leave. In 1973, he launched the October war with Israel, in which Egypt's armed forces achieved initial successes but were defeated
in Israeli counterattacks.
David and the Peace Process
In a momentous change
from the Nasser era, President Sadat shifted Egypt from a policy of confrontation
with Israel to one of peaceful accommodation
through negotiations. Following the Sinai Disengagement
Agreements of 1974 and
1975, Sadat created a fresh opening for progress by his dramatic visit to Jerusalem
in November 1977. This led to President
Jimmy Carter's invitation
to President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin to join him in trilateral negotiations at Camp David.
The outcome was the historic Camp David accords, signed by Egypt and Israel and witnessed by
the U.S. on September 17, 1978. The accords led to the March 26, 1979, signing of the
Egypt-Israel peace treaty, by which Egypt
of the Sinai in May 1982.
Throughout this period, U.S.-Egyptian relations steadily improved, but Sadat's willingness to break ranks by making peace
with Israel earned him the enmity of most other Arab states.
In domestic policy, Sadat
introduced greater political freedom and a new economic policy, the most important aspect of which was the infitah or
"open door." This relaxed
government controls over the economy and encouraged private investment. Sadat dismantled much of the policy apparatus and
brought to trial a number of former government officials
accused of criminal excesses
during the Nasser era.
Liberalization also included
the reinstitution of due process and the legal banning of torture. Sadat tried to expand participation in the political process
in the mid-1970s but later abandoned this effort. In the last years of his life, Egypt was racked by violence arising from discontent with Sadat's rule and sectarian
tensions, and it experienced a renewed measure of repression.
On October 6, 1981, President
Sadat was assassinated by Islamic extremists. Hosni Mubarak, Vice President since 1975 and air force commander during the
October 1973 war, was elected President later that month. He was re-elected to a second term in October 1987 and to a third
term in October 1993. Mubarak has maintained Egypt's commitment to the
Camp David peace process, while at the same time re-establishing Egypt's
position as an Arab leader. Egypt was
readmitted to the Arab League in 1989. Egypt
has also played a moderating role in such international fora as the UN and the Nonaligned Movement. Mubarak was elected chairman
of the Organization of African Unity in 1989, and again at the OAU summit in Cairo
in June 1993. Domestically, since 1991, Mubarak has undertaken an ambitious reform program to reduce the size of the public
sector and expand the role of the private sector. There has also been a democratic opening and increased participation in
the political process by opposition groups. The November 1990 National Assembly elections saw 61 members of the opposition
win seats in the 454-seat assembly, despite a boycott by several opposition parties citing possible manipulation by Mubarak's
National Democratic Party (NDP). The opposition parties have been weak and divided
and are not yet credible alternatives to the NDP.
Freedom of the press
has increased greatly. While concern remains that economic problems could promote increasing dissatisfaction with the government,
President Mubarak enjoys broad support. For several years, domestic political debate in Egypt has been concerned with the phenomenon of "Political Islam," a movement which
seeks to establish a state and
society governed strictly
by Islamic doctrine. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt
in 1928, is legally proscribed but operates more or less openly. Egyptian law, however, prohibits the formation of religion-based
political parties. Members
of the Brotherhood have been elected to the People's Assembly as independents and have been elected to local councils as candidates
on the Socialist Labor Party ticket.
Egyptian populous divided
into four cultural groups consisting of Copts, Bedouins, Nubians and Egyptian
peasants, or fallahin.
Upon closer examination,
fallahins are presented basically as farmers living in villages. Perhaps this is a correct and traditional definition of the
word fallahin, but it was immediately apparent that this division of cultural groups was out of touch with reality, and showed
no feeling for Egypt's true flavor.
is actually a wonderful and delightful mixture of traditions, with a
which allows, more and more, a gradient of classes. But one must look, and feel with the heart in order to touch this essence
A considerable amount,
if not majority, of Egypt's population now live in larger cities, mostly
Cairo and Alexandria. In fact,
these two cities dominate the vision of most foreigners. They are vitally important to Egypt's culture, but one should not neglect the many other moderately sized cities.
And within these cities there is a virtual kaleidoscope of social stratas. There are doubtless the poor, the recent fallahins
come to the city, and the lower echelons of what we will call the commercial or merchant class. They are evident, and plentiful.
But these businessmen merge into the middle class, and then upper middle class. More than a few become wealthy.
The travel books seem
to neglect this broad range of Egyptian business
men. Some come from families
who probably have ancient ties with trading,
but others are those
fallahins who have found what they came looking for
in the city. Perhaps
the poorest of these merchants, those who sell produce or bean meals in the streets might answer to the term fallahin, but
I doubt that most would fall within any of the traditional cultural groups. They have a million faces, and also as many professions
and trades. They make gold jewelry and copper pots, rugs, they paint, build buildings and fine pottery. They sell groceries
at the corner market. They trade in tractors and water pumps, they are butchers and bakers, taxi drivers, and secretaries.
And these days many of these people are simply Egyptian, not Coptic, not Nubian, not Bedouin and certainly not the traditional
But what is equally missing
from most travel guide descriptions of the
Egyptian culture is a
real feeling for the beauty of these marvelous cities. Here, one will find teenagers at McDonalds or Pizza Inn and making
the local drag in their small Fiats. There, one will see brightly li streets with multicolored lights strung from the buildings
so as to celebrate a birthday or a wedding. One will find a continuous stream of blaring horns, as a population perpetually
late for some meeting scrambles about the city. But one may admire this madness from an armchair next to his favorite coffee
shop, where he may be overcome by a feeling of tranquillity. It is often a culture of the back streets of small neighborhoods,
particularly at night, where the television has not dispatched social accord. The residents of these small neighborhoods within
these monstrous cities know each other well, and look out for one another.
It is also a moral culture,
which these authors admire whole heartedly. In
a city the size of Cairo, there is virtually no crime rate. Many westerners believe that
this is due to stiff punishment, but the real reason is the population's loyalty to their religious faith. The virtual absence
of drinking and drugs among the local population, prohibited by their Islamic law and enforced by their own piety, surely
has much to do with this. When one ceases judging cultures purely from the standpoint of material wealth, and begins to see
the humanistic success of the Egyptian culture, it is difficult for a person of any religious persuasion not to develop a
deep respect for Islam.
The rural peasants provided
the pharaohs with both the manpower to build their majestic monuments and the food to support the workers. Even today, the
fallahin wrest two or three crops from their tiny fields in a futile
attempt to feed Egypt's ever-expanding population. These farmers
small villages, often
settled by their Pharaonic ancestors, scattered along the Nile.
Most of the inhabitants
live in mud-brick homes, their thick walls
insulating against the
afternoon heat. Flat roofs, exposed to the northern evening breezes, serve as cool sleeping quarters as well as storage areas.
Villagers plaster the
outer walls and often trim them in blue, a color they believe wards off the evil eye. As a man becomes richer, he can add
second story to his house
perhaps for his married son. Those villagers who have made the journey to Mecca
paint the legend of their trip on the outer walls of their homes. Such hajj houses, along with the mosques, are the
most distinguished buildings
in a village.
Some villagers build
ornate pigeon coops close to their homes, using the
birds as food and their
droppings to fertilize crops. Many houses still have dirt floors and lack electricity or running water; women with jars balanced
on their heads make the trek to the community well, and children with donkeys haul the precious liquid in jerry cans. All
this said, government sponsored building programs have also brought newer style residences and utilities to some villages,
particularly those outside the Nile Valley in the Oases and the Red Sea coastal areas.
Egyptians dote on their
children, who as they grow up quickly, take on
adult duties. The younger
ones start by herding sheep and goats. When the boys reach nine or 10, they begin learning how to farm the land that will
eventually be theirs.
Young girls feed chickens, milk goats and water buffalo (gamoosa), make the dung patties used for fuel, and fetch water.
At an early age, they
learn to carry loads on their heads; starting with lightweight items such as bread loaves, they graduate to laundry, and then
to large clay water jars. Their work gives them a grace of carriage that
remains with them throughout
In Egyptian extended
families, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
all feel clan obligations,
and these ties unite them in good times and bad. If an individual's crops fail, all relatives contribute from their own supplies.
If an animal is fatally injured, the fallahin will slaughter it and each family within the clan will buy a portion, thus sharing
the meat and contributing to the cost of replacing the animal. The clan elders arbitrate disagreements, even those between
husbands and wives, and give opinions that range from farming techniques to religious obligations.
Outside her home, a married
woman traditionally wears a black outer dress over her brightly colored housedress and covers her hair with a long veil, which
often sweeps the ground behind her. She wears her dowry of gold necklaces and silver bracelets and anklets, insurance against
her husband divorces
her or she becomes widowed. Her husband dresses in a long robe (galabayya), cotton in summer and wool in winter. He often
covers his head with
a scarf wound like a turban and in the winter adds a
wool jacket. The robes
of both sexes cover the entire body, but their looseness allows a cooling circulation of air and serves as insulation.
Although the black garments
of the women heat up slightly quicker than the paler galabayyas, both, contrary to popular belief, maintain about the
At the end of the working
day, rural Egyptians return to their villages, the fallahin leading his water buffalo or riding his donkey. A peaceful quiet
settles over the mud-brick houses as families gather for their evening meal. Village women once spent much of their lives
cooking, but today, they are equal partners in relationships and take a growing and active role in society. They bake their
aysh (bread) in clay ovens of ancient pattern, making both an unleavened type and aysh shams (sun bread), which they set in
the sun to rise. The main meal consist of rice, ful beans, and vegetables. For special occasions (if meat is available), they
will fix fattah, a dish with layers of bread, rice, and meat seasoned with vinegar
and garlic and garnished with yogurt and nuts. The fallahin eat with bread rather than knives and forks, tearing the round
loaf into finger-sized portions and dipping them into the serving dishes.
On festival days, a village
is anything but quiet. To celebrate the mulid
(saint's day) of the
village, the entire population turns out; the children sample the carnival rides and the adults visit, watch horse races,
and take part in the rituals. During weddings, the village women decorate the bride with designs of henna, and after the wedding,
whole villages accompany the bride and groom to their new home. The village women work together to prepare the ornate meals
that accompany these celebrations. Isolation is inconceivable in an Egyptian village.
Egypt's deserts, Bedouin nomads continually
search for fresh grazing for their camels and goats and water for their families. They don't wander aimlessly, but return
annually to various locations in their territory where the land and water can sustain them for the season. Little in the desert
escapes the Bedouin's eye. He knows where and when he can find water and whether it's just brackish or toxic; shrubs tell
him when it last rained and how much. Signs left in the sand proclaim who has been there before him, when, the directions
from which they came and departed, the size of their flocks, and perhaps even the ages of their camels. Bedouins navigate
by the stars, familiar landmarks, and stone markers left on a previous trek. They travel light, leaving caches hanging in
trees. Other travelers, if in need, are welcome to the food and water but are bound not to touch the remaining articles.
The Bedouin dresses for
the desert, his layered and flowing robes
absorbing the sun's hot
rays while allowing cooling breezes to circulate. He winds a cloth around his head and neck to retard moisture loss that can lead to heat stroke and to shield his face against the harsh, dry sand. Women wear
black dresses and head covers embroidered in tiny cross-stitch designs: blue for unmarried women, red for married. They cover
their faces with a veil highlighted in the same stitches and often decorated with shells and coins.
Bedouin live in tents
of goat and camel hair panels that the women have
woven on their narrow
ground looms and stitched together. When the tribe moves, the Bedouin wife is in charge of dismantling the tent, packing it
on the camels, and reassembling it a the new site. She can roll up the sides so that the cool breeze enters, or stake them
down, making it secure in a sand storm. In case of divorce, the tent belongs to the woman, while the man takes his domestic
animals and leaves.
The Bedouin band into
small, tightly knit tribes, and their leaders, picked for their wisdom and judgment, retain their positions by finesse and
largesse, for their proud Bedouin brethren would find direct commands insulting. To the Bedouin, hospitality is mandatory,
and guests are elcomed to a tent for three days and three nights. The teapot or coffee pot is always on for either kinsman
or stranger. In exchange, the host expects conversation, for the Bedouin thus keeps abreast of the news.
If water is far away,
the men and boys make the trip with camels, bringing
it back in goatskins.
They also go into the nearest town to exchange news
and barter, trading rugs,
cheese, milk, goats, and camels for cloth, jewelry, rifles, flour, rice, tea, sugar, and coffee.
Modern inroads into the
desert are changing the Bedouin's life. Over the
past, some rulers of
Egypt have provided farm land to the Bedouin,
encouraged their settlement.
Many families have settled, building houses,
and the handmade tents
are disappearing. Trucks bring water in 100-gallon
barrels and move goats
to pasture. The Bedouin is investing in land and
businesses, and sending
his sons to school in Cairo and Alexandria
where more higher institutes and universities were
set up recently. Although
he still keeps himself apart from the sedentary Egyptian, his ancient desert lifestyle is vanishing; the Toyota pickup is steadily replacing the camel.
inhabit the narrow valley south of Aswan. Although modern
studies have been unable to establish the ancestry of the Nubian people or trace changes in the race through history, they
genes and appear unrelated to other Africans. These people once farmed the narrow margins of the river, planting palm groves
along its edge. Hoisting triangular lateen sails above their boats, they hauled rock, transported villagers, and fished the
clear, cold Nile.
A distinct group for
centuries, the Nubians (called Medjy) served the pharaohs as traders and elite military forces. (Middle Kingdom models show
them marching in precise
rows bearing shields and bows or spears.) During
the Late Period, Nubians
traveled north, invading Luxor to reestablish
lassical Pharaonic culture.
For centuries, the Nubians
have taken great pride in their unique culture, refusing to intermarry, and in spite of centuries of inbreeding, the population
shows little ill effect--weak traits must have been eliminated generations ago. In modern times, their pride has led to valiant
attempts to maintain their village life even when nearly all of the men worked and lived hundreds of kilometers to the north.
Today, transplanted from the lands inundated by the waters of Lake
Nasser, these hard-working people re attempting to revive their culture
in the face of economic and social pressures.
Originally Nubian villages
were closely knit, celebrating births and
marriages with village-wide
festivals, rituals that always included the river. The newborn child was washed in its life-giving flow, and at circumcision
his foreskin was tossed as offering into the river. A bride and groom bathed separately in the fertile waters on the eve of
their marriage, then again at dawn, together. After a death, at the end of mourning, the women came to the waters to wash
from their faces the mud and blue dye that had been their badge of sorrow, and offer henna and perfume to the spirits of the
river. Although the Nubians converted first to Christianity and then to Islam, beliefs in the water angels persist, and the
people continue to petition these spirits for favors and blessings.
he Nubian lifestyle suddenly
changed when the British built the first
Aswan dam in 1902. Its rising forebay
drowned their durra plants, choked their date palms, and swallowed their mosques and homes, forcing the people to rebuild
their villages higher up the barren slopes. They attempted to cultivate the new banks of the river, but the sandy soil lacked
fertile silt and production levels fell. Many of the men left their families to seek work in the towns, traveling as far as
The dam was raised three
times within 75 years, ultimately sending over
85% of the Nubian men
north to find work. The women and children left
behind attempted to maintain
the village customs, but with husbands and fathers returning only a couple of times a year, traditional rites and festivals
were often abandoned. In smaller ways, too, their lifestyle continued to change: tin pots, aluminum pans, and plastic plates
replaced woven baskets, for the date palms that had supplied the fronds were now under the lake. The flat roofs, once supported
by palm trunks, gave way to vaulted domes, and even dates themselves, a staple of the Nubian diet, had to be imported. Although
some villagers had earlier moved to Aswan, the High Dam forced
final exodus of the Nubians.
When 50,000 trekked north, they could at last claim fertile land. Although living in an alien culture, they were no longer
solely dependent on wages sent from the cities; families could bring their men home again. Thanks to government programs,
the Nubians who have now settled around Aswan and Kom Ombo
face a more promising future.
Although many Nubian
men still work in the cities, the demand for domestic
help (jobs Nubians frequently
filled) has nearly vanished, and they now can be found running some of the small shops ubiquitous in Egypt, driving cabs, or sailing faluccas. Others have opted for an education, and
Nubians with college degrees make up part of Egypt's