\paperw3360 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \f1 \fs22 Egypt during this period became a centre of imperialist rivalry. NapoleonÆs conquest of the area had introduced West
ern ideas, methods and techniques. When the French withdrew, the Egyptian leader Mohammed Ali set out to establish an efficient and Westernising despotism with foreign technical aid, most of it French. One of the major projects undertaken was the build
ing of a 160 kilometre artificial waterway designed by the French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps to link the Mediterranean and the Red seas. The Suez Canal was completed in 1869, and since it favoured steam at the expense of sail, it stimulated the provi
sion of coal-bunkering facilities that gradually spread world-wide. By providing a far swifter trading route through to \b \cf4 \ATXht10741000 India\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , the Suez Canal indirectly encouraged the British to step up their investments in Egypt
and their interest in Egyptian affairs. So when the first nationalist movement in the Islamic world began to stir the air of Egypt and anti-European feelings came to the fore, an Anglo-French alliance was struck to avert any threat to the Canal. In it
s turn this led to unilateral British occupation of Egypt in 1882.\par
