ABSTRACT
From time immemorial the swapping of goods in marketplaces in Egypt as well as around the world has been a vital part of daily life. In Ancient Egypt the main market was always located close to the Pharaoh's palace. The watering holes, which started during the Pharaohs and outlived them and numerous later rulers of various races, underwent a deep transformation in 1802 with the accession to power of Albanian-born Mohammed Ali. Ali was the first to bring to Egypt tobacco and cotton for cultivation. But if he succeeded with these crops, Ali failed to make the Egyptian farmers cultivate coffee beans – Egypt's soil, climate and humidity, unlike those of Yemen, India and Brazil, are unfavourable for coffee cultivation. During the second half of the nineteenth century, many new coffee shops were opened in Cairo, mainly in the Hussein and Al Azhar areas.
