Egypt Ignited: How Steam Power Arrived on the Nile and Integrated Egypt into Industrial Capitalism (1820s-76)

How did fossil-fuelled technology find its way to Egypt on its way to global dominance? This thesis presents a socioecological history of energy technologies in agrarian production in pre-colonial Egypt (1820s – 76). It situates them in the nineteenth century, understood as the beginning of the epoch of the Capitalocene; and in Egypt’s case, this is simultaneously part of the rise of Britain’s fossil empire. The thesis studies how the steam engine – and eventually the modern factory – was integrated into the Egyptian economy and society during this period, focusing on material aspects, as well as cultural dimensions. Several overlapping microhistories take the investigation to its conclusion in 1876 and bring the overarching research question down to the ground of Egyptian life.

Historical analysis here identifies two phases for Egypt’s transition to steam technology in agrarian production. First, the predatory but frustrated empire-building project of Mohamed Ali that sought to compete with Britain, thwarted through the massive imbalance in coal endowments. Second, originating from this moment, the gradual growth of the dependency of Egypt on European fossil and financial capital, and its simultaneous integration into industrial capitalism.