Industrial Development in Africa
Senior 3 · Geography
Industrial Development in Africa
Lesson 3 of 4
30 min
Let's begin
In 1927, a group of Egyptian businessmen led by the banker Talaat Harb founded a cotton-spinning company at Mahalla el-Kubra, in the middle of the Nile Delta. Egypt had long grown some of the world's finest cotton, but it exported the raw fibre and bought back the cloth. The Misr Spinning and Weaving Company set out to change that. Today Egypt, home to more than 100 million people, is one of Africa's leading industrial countries. How did its industry grow, and what holds it back?
Almost all of Egypt's people and industry are packed into the narrow Nile valley, the Delta and the Suez Canal zone, because the rest of the country is desert (Figure 4).
| Centre | Main industries |
|---|---|
| Cairo | Africa's largest city: textiles, food and drink, chemicals, printing, vehicle assembly, many light industries |
| Helwan (south of Cairo) | Iron and steel, cement, vehicle and engineering works |
| Alexandria | Egypt's main port: oil refining, petrochemicals, textiles, food processing, shipbuilding |
| Mahalla el-Kubra | Cotton spinning and weaving |
| New industrial cities (10th of Ramadan, 6th of October) | Factories moved out of crowded Cairo: food, textiles, building materials, engineering |
| Suez Canal zone (Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Ain Sokhna) | Oil refining, fertilisers, logistics and new export factories in the Suez Canal Economic Zone |
| Upper Egypt (Nag Hammadi, Aswan) | Aluminium smelting and fertiliser using hydroelectric power from Aswan; sugar refining |
Definition
Nationalisation: the government taking over ownership of private companies. Open-door policy: a policy of welcoming foreign investment and trade; in Egypt, the Infitah begun in 1974. New town (satellite city): a planned town built near a large city to take people and industry away from the crowded centre. Free zone: an area where goods can be made and traded with few customs duties.
| Period | What happened |
|---|---|
| Early 1800s | Muhammad Ali set up state factories for textiles and weapons |
| 1920s–1940s | Bank Misr founded Egyptian-owned companies, including the Mahalla textile works (1927) |
| 1950s–1960s | Under President Nasser, industry was nationalised and heavy industry built: Helwan iron and steel, cars, fertilisers; the Aswan High Dam supplied power |
| From 1974 | President Sadat's open-door policy (Infitah) invited private and foreign investment; new industrial cities were planned around Cairo |
| 2010s–today | Natural gas discoveries; the Suez Canal Economic Zone (from 2015); privatisation of some state firms |
Worked example
Worked example 1: power for aluminium (illustrative figures). Making 1 t of aluminium uses about 14,000 kWh of electricity. How much electricity does a smelter producing 300,000 t a year need, in kWh and in GWh (1 GWh = 1,000,000 kWh)?
Worked example
Worked example 2: the Suez shortcut (illustrative figures). A ship sailing from a European port to Singapore covers about 15,000 km through the Suez Canal or about 21,000 km around the Cape of Good Hope. How much shorter is the Suez route, as a percentage of the Cape route?
Warning
Do not say Egypt's industry is "spread across the country". About 95% of Egypt is desert; its industry is concentrated along the Nile, in the Delta and in the Suez Canal zone. Always link Egyptian industry to the Nile and the canal.
Tip
For an Egypt case study, use three headings: where (Cairo–Helwan, Alexandria, the Delta, the canal zone, Upper Egypt), why (Nile water, Aswan power, cotton, oil and gas, a large market, the Suez Canal, government policy) and problems. Add one date, such as 1927 for Mahalla.
Reuters: Egypt builds a new industrial zone beside the Suez Canal. Note why the location was chosen and what the zone is meant to attract.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
