Zefta, Egypt

History

In the 12th century, Zefta was an important regional trading center, especially for textiles; silk, flax, indigo, sesame, and sugar were among the commodities bought and sold here. Some of these products were consumed locally, while others were sent to other towns, including Cairo.

In the 1670s, Abbas Agha, the Chief Eunuch of the Ottoman Empire, made a large waqf endowment consisting of diverse Egyptian properties. Zefta was home to the single largest number of properties he endowed, leading Jane Hathaway to describe it as his "pet charity". Among Abbas Agha's endowments in Zefta was a large complex where coffee beans were pounded and roasted, along with an associated coffeehouse. Hathaway hypothesizes that, given its earlier importance as a trade center, 17th-century Zefta remained an important entrepot where boats carrying coffee from Suez to Cairo would stop. From Zefta, the coffee would then have been taken into other towns for consumption. Other properties Abbas Agha endowed in Zifta included a qaysariyya, caravanserai, fifteen shops and two workshops, and a school teaching the Qur'an - the only school included in the endowment. He also left four copper vessels to the physicians of Zefta, a rare exception to the rule that waqf endowments must consist of immovable property.

From the History section of Zefta on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.