Editing Economy of Egypt (section)

===Early modern period=== 
Egypt’s earliest industrial efforts began under [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] (r. 1805–1849), whose state-led program focused on military goods, agricultural processing, and textiles.<ref name="MERIP" /> By the 1830s, 30 cotton mills employed around 30,000 workers, but the experiment collapsed due to poor management, fuel shortages, and reliance on forced corvée labor.<ref name="MERIP" /> Though short-lived, this phase weakened traditional artisan guilds and introduced wage labor.<ref name="MERIP" /> A later wave under [[Isma'il Pasha]] (r. 1863–1879), sparked by the [[American Civil War]] cotton boom, saw attempts at diversification with sugar refineries and textile plants.<ref name="MERIP" /> These too struggled against European competition, but they helped expand Egypt’s wage labor force and laid foundations for a modern working class.<ref name="MERIP">{{cite web |last=Beinin|first=Joel|title=Formation of the Egyptian Working Class |url=https://merip.org/1981/01/formation-of-the-egyptian-working-class/ |website=MERIP |date=January 1981 |access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref>

Between 1869 and 1876, Ismail launched British-led military campaigns against Sudanese slave raiders, as part of broader efforts to reassert Egyptian authority in Sudan.<ref name=":8" /> The process culminated in the signing of the [[Anglo-Egyptian Slave Trade Convention]] in 1877, which formally ended the practice of slavery and slave trade in Egypt.<ref name=":8" /> Ismail’s increasing political subordination to Britain, particularly after Egypt's default on its international debt in 1876, likely facilitated the agreement.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Saleh |first=Mohamed |date=2024 |title=Trade, Slavery, and State Coercion of Labor: Egypt during the First Globalization Era |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-history/article/trade-slavery-and-state-coercion-of-labor-egypt-during-the-first-globalization-era/E2856D1AF5D5A75DD41204C20A67C752 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=84 |issue=4 |pages=1107–1141 |language=en |doi=10.1017/S002205072400038X |issn=0022-0507}}</ref>

By the late 19th century, a clearer working class began to emerge. This was shaped by Egypt’s integration into the global capitalist economy under foreign control, especially following the [[History of Egypt under the British|British occupation in 1882]].<ref name="MERIP" /> European capital, attracted to Egypt’s export sector, invested heavily in transport and utilities, prompting the development of urban infrastructure but neglecting broader industrialization.<ref name="MERIP" /> Employment in these sectors, especially railways, ports, and public utilities, formed the nucleus of the new working class.<ref name="MERIP"/>
[[File:ModernEgypt, Fouad I, DHP13402-1-12 01.jpg|thumb|[[King Fuad I]] with his ministers on a visit to the phosphate mines in the [[Red Sea Governorate|Red Sea region]].]]
Legal reforms under Muhammad Ali and his successors enabled land privatization, displacing a third of the peasantry by the late 19th century.<ref name="MERIP" /> Many had migrated to cities, joining an expanding pool of wage laborers. Meanwhile, the rise of foreign capital eroded Egypt’s artisan guilds, particularly after the 1890 Professional Permits Duty.<ref name="MERIP" /> Guilds fractured, with guild heads becoming labor contractors and members reduced to common laborers, leading to tensions culminating in early labor unrest such as the 1882 Port Said coal loaders' strike.<ref name="MERIP"/>

By the early 20th century, guild-based trades had collapsed, leading to a notable increase in wage labor.<ref name="MERIP" /> Foreign skilled workers, mainly Greeks, Armenians, and Italians, introduced European labor ideologies and led early strikes in sectors like cigarettes, tailoring, and printing.<ref name="MERIP" /> However, wage disparities and employer manipulation often hindered unity with Egyptian workers.<ref name="MERIP" /> Strikes in the tram and railway sectors fostered unionization and greater class awareness, especially during the 1908 and 1911 Cairo tram strikes, which drew harsh repression and led to martial law in 1914.<ref name="MERIP"/>

Despite several waves of industrial experimentation, early attempts at industrialization struggled due to factors like [[tariff]] restrictions imposed by Britain through the [[Treaty of Balta Liman|1838 commercial treaty]]. In the beginning of the 20th century, little industrial development occurred, and Egypt's land-owning elite invested mainly in land rather than industry.<ref name=":1">{{citation-attribution|1={{cite encyclopedia|title=Egypt: a country study|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]]|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/91029876/|last=Elmusa|first=Sharif S.|date=1991|editor-last=Metz|editor-first=Helen Chapin|editor-link=Helen Chapin Metz |edition=5th|pages=157–159|isbn=0-8444-0729-1|oclc=24247439|entry=The Economy}}}}</ref> Foreign competition stunted domestic ventures, with only a few enterprises, such as sugar and cotton processing, surviving under foreign ownership.<ref name=":1" /> In the following years, over one million Egyptians would be conscripted to the [[Egyptian Labour Corps]] and [[Egyptian Camel Transport Corps]] to support British efforts in World War I, often through coercion.<ref name="MERIP" /> Simultaneously, wartime shortages fostered growth in domestic industries such as textiles and food processing, prompting the establishment of the Commission of Commerce and Industry in 1916.<ref name="MERIP"/> 
[[File:Talaat Harb.jpg|thumb|left|170px|[[Talaat Harb]], widely regarded as the father of the modern Egyptian economy<ref name="talaatharb" />]]
By the 1920s, Egypt’s urban labor force had grown significantly, supported by a limited but increasing domestic industrialization under a wave of economic nationalism<ref name="MERIP"/> pioneered in large part by [[Talaat Harb]], an Egyptian financier. In 1920, Harb founded [[Banque Misr]], the country’s first national bank funded entirely with Egyptian capital, with an initial start-up capital of EGP 80,000 (approximately USD 5,000).<ref name="talaatharb" /> Harb envisioned a financial institution that would channel national savings into industrial and economic development.<ref name="talaatharb" /> His efforts marked a turning point in Egypt’s economic history, enabling Egyptians to exert greater control over their country’s financial resources and laying the foundation for national industrialization.<ref name=talaatharb>{{cite web |title=The One-Man Show: Talaat Harb’s Legacy in Egypt |url=https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/03/24/the-one-man-show-talaat-harbs-legacy-in-egypt/ |website=Egyptian Streets |date=24 March 2022 |access-date=17 April 2025}}</ref>

Beyond banking, Harb spearheaded the establishment of multiple industrial and service ventures across textiles, insurance, shipping, real estate, and media.<ref name="talaatharb" /> He founded [[Studio Misr]] in 1935, which became Egypt’s leading film production hub for over three decades, as well as [[EgyptAir]] in 1932, the first airline in the Middle East and the seventh in the world.<ref name="talaatharb" /> Through Banque Misr, he also launched companies in cotton ginning, paper manufacturing, and printing, helping to create a vertically integrated national economy. These initiatives were critical in asserting Egypt’s economic independence and identity during and after the colonial period.<ref name=talaatharb/>

The [[Great Depression]] helped catalyze industrialization, shifting Egypt toward import-substitution industries.<ref name=":1" /> In 1930, the expiration of commercial treaties allowed Egypt to control its tariff policies, fostering local industry.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Armed Services Technical Information Agency. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |journal=CIA Declassified Files. |pages=294 |access-date=2 September 2023 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902193805/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> On February 16, 1930, Egypt enacted tariff reforms aimed at protecting local industries. The government imposed high duties on imports and reduced taxes on raw materials, encouraging local manufacturing. The changes led to a decline in imports of finished goods and an increase in raw materials and machinery by 1938.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Armed Services Technical Information Agency. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |journal=CIA Declassified Files. |pages=296 |access-date=2 September 2023 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902193805/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[World War II]] provided a boost to industrialization, with increased demand from Allied forces and local consumers. Many industries diversified, while new enterprises emerged.<ref name=":9" /> The war also trained workers, helping to establish a foundation for local industries that expanded in the post-war period. By 1947, the government enacted laws and established an industrial bank to support industrial growth.<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |title=Armed Services Technical Information Agency. |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |journal=CIA Declassified Files. |pages=297–298 |access-date=2 September 2023 |archive-date=2 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902193805/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/AD0202469.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>