Great Inventions of the 19th Century | Water: The fount of all life | Irrigation

Huge irrigation projects were initiated as a response to demographic pressure. Irrigation was an attempt to overcome environmental constraints.

Efficient irrigation systems were crucial for the Arab and Ottoman world through the centuries in places where the rainfall was insufficient to support agriculture or where intensive agriculture was practised to meet the increasing demand for food. Traditionally, the Ottoman Empire had controlled and recorded the use of water for irrigation, but during the 19th century the increasing needs of agriculture determined the introduction of new irrigation systems, although some traditional irrigation methods were still in use during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Colonial propaganda also used irrigation works built by the colonial powers to show the “benefits” of colonisation in the occupied countries. Huge irrigation projects were also dictated by the intensification of agricultural crops (cotton in Egypt and grapes in Algeria) and the need to expand cultivatable land. In Egypt, for example, 500,000ha of previously uncultivated land had become usable through irrigation projects under Ismail Pasha.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
FR 028Various hydraulic machines used in Egypt to water the land. The first method is constructed in a linear manner and provides the land with water whenever it is in need. Part of "Dyke A"1795When, at the end of the 18th century, the growing interest of French intellectuals in the “Orient” brought them to Egypt, their main aim was to enrich their knowledge of antiquity. But some of them started to look at aspects of local life and activities. These drawings are a precious record of the traditional hydraulic machines used in Egypt for irrigation.

FR 027Fellahs (peasants) use a shadouf to draw water from the Nile from a well. National Library of France 1852This is an example of how traditional irrigation systems persisted alongside the innovative dams built by the Egyptian governors. Water had been a core issue for Egypt since antiquity. In choosing to catch a glimpse of everyday life, the photographer produced a valuable historical document.

FR 130Hydrographic map of Lower Egypt and part of the Suez isthmus, engraved at the Dépôt de la GuerreNational Library of France 1882In Egypt, Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds collaborated with Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha on the building of the new dams along the Nile. He planned the construction of a canal along the Isthmus of Suez and, with Ferdinand de Lesseps, he obtained the concession for the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez.

FR 026The drilling of an artesian wellNational Library of France 19th century New water systems were introduced by the French in Algeria, as shown in this print published in an album called Les Colonies Françaises. In this specific case, wells were built in order to place entire communities in permanent settlements and keep them under control.

ET1 041A photo of the Irrigation Room at Fu`ad Agricultural MuseumBibliotheca Alexandrina16 January 1938 (Photo taken during the inauguration of the museum)Water and agriculture were two interconnected elements in the history of Egypt. After the independence of the country, in the 1930s, a museum was opened to explain the history of agriculture from Ancient Egypt onwards. This photograph shows an entire room dedicated to the history of irrigation and water usage in Egypt.