Economic effects

03Economic effects

Agriculture

• The scholars of the Campaign studied the course of the Nile and inspected the canals and the dykes.
• A part of the public land was set aside to grow the crops France needed.
• Coffee and sugarcane were tried experimentally, and a garden of plants from France was created — peach, apricot, pear and apple.
• The Campaign took an interest in growing rice, wheat and maize.

Industry

• Menou proposed founding factories in which no Egyptians should work, so that industrial secrets would not leak to them.
• The factories covered textiles, forging, clock-making, tanning and printing type.
• He built windmills and repaired the shipyard arsenal.

Trade

• Trade stagnated under Napoleon and Kleber because of the English blockade of the coasts and the presence of the Ottoman army in Syria.
• Napoleon began a policy of understanding with the Sharif of Mecca, and Menou worked to revive trade.
• Menou opened markets in the Red Sea lands: boats sailed between Jeddah, Yanbu and Suez carrying cotton fabrics, woollen shawls, silk and coffee.
• Menou's programme included relations with Sennar and Darfur in Sudan, Abyssinia and North Africa.