ABSTRACT
Of paramount importance in the economic, social, and political history of modern Egypt has been the issue of land distribution. As the primary asset in an economy based on agriculture until the latter part of the twentieth century, land represented the livelihood of the majority of Egyptians, a source of wealth for some and a means of achieving social status for all. Ownership of land was necessary in order to benefit—directly as a cultivator or indirectly as a proprietor earning rents—from Egypt’s natural advantages as a cotton-growing country and the usually high prices it fetched on the international market. Arable land was all the more valuable in that it was rare in a territory largely made up of vast expanses of desert. The problem created by the dearth of tillable land was compounded by the rapid rise of the population.
