the
population increased by nearly 4,500,000. In 1800 the French estimated
the population at no more than 2,460,000; the census of 1846 gave the
figures at 4,476,440. From that year to 1882 the average annual increase
was 1.25%. If the desert regions be excluded, the population of Egypt is
extremely dense, being about 939 per sq. m. This figure may be compared
with that of Belgium, the most densely populated country in Europe, 589
per sq. m., and with that of Bengal, 586 per sq. m. In parts of Menufia,
a Delta province, the density rises to 1352 per sq. m., and in the Kena
province of Upper Egypt to 1308.
The population is generally divisible into--
1. The fellahin or peasantry and the native townsmen.
2. The Bedouins or nomad Arabs of the desert.
3. The Nuba, Nubians or Berberin, inhabitants of the Nile valley
between Assuan and Dongola.
4. Foreigners.
The first of these divisions includes both the Moslem and Coptic
inhabitants. The Bedouins, or the Arabs of the desert, are of two
different classes: first, Arabic-speaking tribes who range the deserts
as far south as 26 deg. N.; secondly, the tribes inhabiting the desert
from Kosseir to Suakin, namely the Hadendoa, Bisharin and the Ababda
tribes. This group speak a language of their own, and are probably
descendants of the Blemmyes, who occupied these parts in ancient times
(see ARABS; BEDOUINS; HADENDOA; BISHARIN; &c.). The Nubas are of mixed
negro and Arab blood. They are mainly agriculturists, though some are
keen traders (see NUBIA).
Foreigners number over 150,000 and form 1-1/2% of the total population.
They are chiefly Greeks--of whom the majority live in
Alexandria--Italians, British and French. Syrians and Levantines are
numerous, and there is a colony of Persians. The Turkish element is not
numerically strong--a few thousands only--but holds a high social
position.
Of the total population, about 20% is urban. In addition to the 97,000
pure nomads, there are half a million Bedouins described as
"semi-sedentaries," i.e. tent-dwelling Arabs, usually encamped in those
parts of the desert adjoining the cultivated land. The rural classes are
mainly engaged in agriculture, which occupies over 62% of the adults.
The professional and trading classes form about 10% of the whole
population, but 50% of the foreigners are engaged in trade. Of the total
population the males exceed the females by some 46,000.
Physical characteristics of the
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