ABSTRACT
After its foundation in 1859 as the northern harbor of what would become the Suez Canal, the newly built B?r Sa?i?d (Port Said) could not be found on any map. Yet the Egyptian port-city grew quickly and by 1865, immigration from the rest of Egypt and from European countries, Mediterranean islands, and Ottoman territories, had resulted in a population of 7,000 inhabitants. By the end of 1869, when all the canal works were completed, the city’s population had reached 10,000. From the outset, Port Said’s urban plans mandated that its dwellers should be segregated and assigned to different parts of town. By laboring to delineate “Arab” versus “European”, “modern” versus “traditional”, and “public” versus “private” urban spaces, the Port Said authorities attempted to circumscribe and isolate specific groups within the urban population. They turned supposedly inherent ethnic, racial, and occupational characteristics into a means of control. In spite of Port Said’s physical segregation and intangible boundaries, however, the city’s inhabitants constantly crossed the multiple boundaries inscribed in its urban layout.
