Confluent Waters, Fragmented Powers: Social Geographies of Water in Late Medieval Cairo

This work reframes the history of Mamluk-era Cairo through the critical lens of water management, examining the complex interplay between environmental factors and socio-economic realities. Rather than viewing water disposition as a static constraint, this study reveals the multiple, adaptive ways in which urban society lived with and was fundamentally shaped by the city’s hydraulic environment. 
The research illuminates the vast network of stakeholders involved in supplying Cairo with water, ranging from the sultans and their administration to humble water carriers. Based on nine detailed case studies, largely developed from previously unedited documents housed in the Cairo National Archive, this dissertation moves beyond the idea of a single, centralised system. Instead, it uncovers a set of intertwined and sometimes competing water management networks, revealing the dynamic interactions and lived experiences of water in the medieval city.