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| 1851–1914 |
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| Development of railways. A line connecting Alexandria to Suez, built in 1851–58 with government funding, inaugurated the rapid expansion of railways in Egypt. By 1914 the country had a railway network of about 4,300 kilometers, which was carrying the bulk of the internal goods traffic. | 1 |
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| 1854–63 |
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| SA’ID PASHA. This son of Muhammad Ali had a European education, wore European dress, and was committed to the rapid modernization of Egypt. His lasting contribution was the construction of the Suez Canal, which was to alter profoundly Egypt's political fortunes. | 2 |
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| 1855, Jan |
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| Abolition of the poll tax (jizya) on non-Muslims. | 3 |
| Promulgation of the Penal Code, which was based partly on the Ottoman Penal Code of 1851 and partly on various Egyptian codes adopted between 1830 and 1844. In 1875 Egypt adopted a new criminal code, based on the Ottoman Penal Code of 1858, but it was superseded in 1883 by a new code based on the French penal code. | 4 |
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| 1858 |
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| Arabic began to replace Turkish as the main language of administration. | 5 |
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| Aug. 5 |
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| PROMULGATION OF THE LAND LAW. The measure gave users of state land (kharajiyya) the right to own, sell, and mortgage it. It was a major landmark in the development of property rights, resulting in the conversion of much of Egypt's land to freehold by the end of the century. But the distribution of agricultural land grew increasingly unequal: in 1913, 12,558 large estates constituted 44 percent of the land, while 1,411,000 small owners held 27 percent of the land. Many peasants owned no land and worked as wage laborers or sharecroppers. | 6 |
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