Social and economic geographical analysis of the Egyptian Copts

Abstract

This paper gives a brief account of the social and economic situation of the Copts in Egypt. As an ethnic group the Copts are the pure successors of the ancient Egyptians. This does not imply that the Moslems are pure Arabs. At least 90% of the Egyptian Moslems are of Coptic origin, so that no particular differentiation should be made between the Copts and the Moslems of Egypt from the ethnical point of view. The Copts are fully integrated into the Egyptian population. Only in times of religious persecution, they huddled together in villages of Upper Egypt in the provinces of El Minia and Assiut. The recent wave of reislamisation in the Near East has inflicted some suffering on the Copts of Egypt. This was combined with economic losses. Nasser's nationalisation of private concerns and confiscation of large tenures of land was a blow directed against the Copts. Suggestions are made to improve their situation with the aim of giving them equal rigths with the Moslems in the political, social, economic, and religious fields.