Land tenure and land distribution in Egypt
From the beginning of Ottoman rule over Egypt in 1517 to the time of
Mohammed Ali (1805–48) agricultural land in the country was divided into
revenue areas for taxation purposes. The tax creditors were obliged to pay
fixed sums to the Turkish sultan, but were free to demand much higher tax
payments in turn from the fellaheen tenants who cultivated their land. With-
in this system of fiscal administration and land rent there were 300 Grand
Mamelukes who controlled huge estates that made up two-thirds of the agri-
cultural land under irrigation in Egypt. When in the eighteenth century, owing
to inadequate maintenance, most irrigation mechanisms on the land in the
hands of these feudal lords no longer functioned properly, large areas of the
land, especially in Upper Egypt, could no longer be irrigated. At the time 80
per cent of the cultivated land was under the system of tax farming, while
the rest was considered privately owned and was administered by the waqf