Southern Illinois is where we find Egyptian city names like Carmi, Cairo, Thebes, Karnak, Goshen, and Dongola. Why? Because llinoisans call the lower 16-17 counties “Little Egypt” (see map below).
Americans have been very creative in naming places, but I’m certain that no one who claimed Southern Illinois resembled Egypt had ever been to North Africa beforehand. I went in search of plausible answers for how the region got this unusual name and what made it stick.
Checking with official sources in Illinois, including Southern Illinois University Carbondale and Southeastern Illinois College, there seems to be a consensus that the Mississippi River called to mind the Nile, while the expansive Native American mounds at Cahokia were (kinda) like some of Egypt’s (lesser) pyramids. I can accept that today, but how would settlers scratching out a living in the old Illinois Country have known to compare the Mississippi to the Nile, and the Cahokia mounds to the pyramids?
We can probably thank Napoleon Bonaparte, whose invasion of Egypt in 1798 spurred news coverage all the way to North America. According to the Illinois Periodicals Online (IPO) Project:
Although newspapers were scarce in the Illinois Country, the Kentucky papers covered the leading events of the day, including Napoleon's invasion of old Egypt the previous year…Even at that early day many Americans would have noted the two best-known features of Egypt, the Nile River and the pyramids, particularly those at Giza.
The IPO Project claims that a Baptist missionary, John Badgley, dubbed the area Little Egypt while riding along the bluffs that overlooked the American Bottoms.1 From there, he would have easily seen the Mississippi River and Cahokia Mounds, maybe recalled a newspaper picture of Napoleon in Egypt, and thought, “Aha!”
This gets even more interesting when you compare Southern Illinois to the Nile Delta in agricultural legacy, which brings us to a Bible story we know today as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. As a refresher, it tells us how Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egyptian slavery. After many years, Joseph rose from enslavement to becoming Egypt’s governor and, foreseeing a famine, wisely rationed the country's produce for seven years in preparation. When the famine took hold, Joseph’s estranged family came to Egypt desperate for food. In time, all was forgiven and they were united in that land. (Longer version in Genesis 37, 39-45). To bring it all home, residents in Northern Illinois traveled south to buy grain after a series of dreadful winters and droughts. In light of that, doesn’t “Little Egypt” make sense now?
Baptist missionary Badgley would have known the story of Joseph and the famine, so I can see why he chose the name Little Egypt from high atop the bluffs of the American Bottoms.
Enslavement in Little Egypt
As longtime readers are aware, I’m writing a book on the racial legacy of the Ohio River as the country’s longest slavery border. Of the six states along the Ohio River, Illinois has the most complicated history with legal slavery, and Little Egypt was where most of it took place. You might be thinking, “What? Slavery in the Land of Lincoln?” Yep. If you’re the product of Illinois public schools, please tell me if this was part of your history curriculum.
Heads up: if you want to get a leg up on this month’s trivia quiz, here’s the book that opened my eyes (and made me want to pour bleach into them). Bondage in Egypt: Slavery in Southern Illinois may only be available in your area via ebook. Next time I travel to Little Egypt I’m going to try to find a physical copy. Author Darrel Dexter has a new book out about the KKK in Southern Illinois, too.
I look forward to August Trivia in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, would you share this with someone who might enjoy it?
Bonus video: The Cahokia Mounds
I was in Cahokia this year with the Filson Society. Cahokia was the largest city north of Mexico in its heyday.
Bonus video: Napoleon in Egypt
Here’s an engaging presentation on Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign from Dr. William B. Ashworth, Jr., Associate Professor of History at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
See you next time for August Trivia!
The American Bottom (or American Bottoms) is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, south to the Kaskaskia River.
Where's "Little Egypt," Illinois?