Ferris wheel, 1890's, unidentified location in Egypt. A homemade, intricately constructed wooden ferris wheel is a popular entertainment for village children on the banks of the Nile. When this photograph was taken, the population of Egypt was about 10 million, of which 8 million lived in the countryside. Between 10% and 20% were landless peasants and 1% of the population owned 40% of the land. During the 19th century the rural economy was transformed from subsistence to cash-crop agriculture. During the process smallholders who had been independant producers with rights to use land became landless peasants forced to work as wage labourers or to migrate to the cities where they became part of the urban dispossessed. In 1882 the British occupied Egypt and it became part of the British Empire but never a colony. The khedival government provided a facade of autonomy but the real power in the country was the British agent and consul general (between 1883-1907 it was Lord Cromer) backed by the British army. In 1906 most landowners owned between one and five feddans (a feddan is 1.038 acres) with three feddans being necessary for subsistence. By 1952 the life expectancy in Egypt was only 39 years. In 1989 it was 59 years for men and 60 years for women.
