Scarcity of quality timber in Egypt drove expansionist designs on Syria

Evidence

This old and deep seated interest in Syria and Syrian affairs had its reasons. In the first place, Syria was famous for its raw materials, most importantly, its wood and timber that was in abundant supply in the woods of its northernmost regions. The Pasha, very conscious of the fact that Egypt lacked wood, took various measures to encourage the fellahin to plant trees. However, he was also aware that no matter how successful he was in this respect, the quality of wood grown in Egypt was not as good as that imported from abroad. He thus undertook to import wood from any place he could find it, be it from the Sudan, Cyprus, Greece, Anatolia, or Europe. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 213

Categorization

• XREF: Strategic raw-material scarcity as a driver of conquest parallels naval-timber imperatives elsewhere, e.g. the Royal Navy’s Baltic timber dependence and cedar shipbuilding article themes.
• SEED: An essay angle: how a single commodity shortage—quality wood—shaped an ‘independent’ empire’s whole geopolitical map.