In-Between Categories 37 especially from the Dodecanese Islands, like Kastellorizo and Symi— and Greek Cypriots constituted most of the foreigners in Egypt. The Greek population was a mosaic in terms of citizenship, local origin, economic status, and labor activities. Economic and social factors primarily drove Greeks’ immigration. First, there were the privileges and protection extended by Muhammad Ali (r. 1805–1848) under the system of the Capitulations (al-Imtiyāzāt). The Capitulations were bilateral agreements between the Ottoman Empire and European countries that provided extraterritorial privileges to those who could demonstrate legal belonging to a foreign state. Therefore, some ostensibly Ottoman subjects classified as “foreigners” were protected by their respective consuls. Affected individuals received privileges, such as exemption from taxation and conscription, and addressed their legal issues to the Mixed Courts, which were regulated by international agreements for the trial of “mixed” cases. Greeks, Jews, Armenians, and other non-Muslims within the empire were best situated to benefit from the Capitulations. 10 Second, infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the Suez Canal which commenced in 1859 (the actual opening took place in 1869), coupled with the 1860s cotton boom attracted many labor migrants from the Eastern Mediterranean, including Italians and Greeks. Greeks settled throughout Egypt, primarily in Cairo, Alexandria, and the Suez Canal region, as well as around the Nile Delta and Upper Egypt. Their numbers grew after the Balkan Wars and peaked after World War I. Specifically, in 1917, Greeks numbered 56,731 and by 1927, their number had increased to 76,264. 11 The ambitious project of Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat and founder of the Compagnie universelle du canal maritime de Suez (henceforth the Suez Company), sought to open a new channel through the Isthmus of Suez. Created in 1858, the Suez Company was an Egyptian joint-stock company whose main stakeholder was the British government (starting in 1875). Since its opening to navigation in 1869, the Suez Canal represented technological progress that could support European industrialization and access to Asia. The territory of the canal embodied capital flow and enabled movement of goods and people that could create possibilities for further trading across the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Indeed, the opening of the Suez Canal aimed to place the Mediterranean Sea once again at the heart of global economy and trade.12 Besides building the canal and its ports, the Suez Company had to build offices and construct several cities to accommodate the large number of workers employed at the canal. To serve these needs, several