How Did The British Takeover Of Egypt

Most historians would venture towards the route of talking about British occupation of Egypt in regards to the Suez Canal, and the Britain’s ambitious of shortening their trade route to India, rather than the effects the British had on Egypt’s over well-being, and possible future of self-governance. Indeed, the British Empire desired the Suez Canal for many strategic, political and economic reasons. There was little perception of an “imperial mission,” behind the original occupation of Egypt. The British justified their long-term presence in Egypt by claiming that the Egyptian government needed to be reformed at from the top down. This was the key task for the future safeguarding of Egypt’s law and order, along with the financial stability they needed to become independent. The British would implement a type of colonial rule called indirect rule, something that started in Africa. By not directly ruling the Egyptian government and only advising them, the British hoped to modernize the current administration of the existing authority in government, as well as military officers in elite positions, by secularizing institutions and programs influenced by Islam. Initially, the British did this very well without exhausting a large amount of resources that would
Economically, the British recognized and exhausted the majority of revenue, time, and effort into the irrigation system of Egypt. As a result, the two branches Rosetta and Damietta would be constructed by 1891 costing around 460,000 in Egyptian currency, while increasing the cotton crop worth about 2,500,000. In Alfred Milner’s book England in Egypt, he says, “Indirectly, Great Britain has made a great deal of money at the expense of