Discuss European involvement in Egypt

What will be an ideal response?

Essay responses should include these points:
• Napoleon's occupation of Egypt resulted in a study of Egyptian commerce and agriculture, which was published.
• Mehmet Ali, Egypt's leader, mandated a change in the crops grown, from wheat to cotton, to support growing industrial demands.
• Many Egyptian farmers converted their food crops to grow cotton for export.
• At first Egypt was the primary source for cotton; by the mid-1830s, England manufactured cotton in abundance domestically, helped by raw cotton imported from the American South.
• The attempt to modernize through industrialization led to debt from European banks and eventually bankrupted Egypt.