Abstract:

History is an account of the use, control, and management of the irrigation system in pre-modern Egypt, and how it coincided with Egypt’s transformation from a remote Ottoman province loosely connected to the capital into a sovereign state ruled by an autarch. Mikhail’s argument is clear: Egypt’s move away from being a remote province of the Ottoman empire into a strong, centralized, and authoritarian polity controlled by Egyptian bureaucracy transformed the management of environmental resources. This transformation necessitated the abandonment of old ways and habits, caused tension between the local populations and Egyptian bureaucracy; and eliminated the rights of peasants over land and water use. Mikhail’s book is valuable in two significant ways. First, it acknowledges the interrelation between environmental changes and political and socio-economic transformations in the Ottoman Empire. Second, it moves nature from afield to the center of historical narrative providing new environmental perspectives and approaches to historical events in Ottoman history that were once regarded as unimportant. Mikhail’s work is noteworthy for its methodology, approach, and its straightforward and readable prose. There is no doubt that environmental historians will take notice of the fact that the Ottoman Empire, due to its sheer size and proximity to Europe, Asia, and Africa, its large diversity of ecological zones, climatic conditions, and environmental features has a lot to offer

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