r/illinois

I’m Egyptian and wrote this before in Arabic and posted it in Egyptian subreddits and thousands had read it, now I translate it to English and post it here

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A Prose Account of the Lands that Bore the Names of Egypt in the New World (America)

The United States of America, in the nineteenth century, experienced a fit of blazing infatuation with the civilization of ancient Egypt — a fever known in the circles of Orientalists and historians as Egyptomania, or the obsession with Egypt. This craze was no mere passing admiration for pyramids and obelisks; it extended into architecture, literature, the arts, and even into the naming of towns and countries. And so the American map awoke to names that stirred the soul with an ancient Egyptian echo: Cairo, Alexandria, Mansura, Memphis, Thebes, Luxor, Karnak, Rosetta, Nile, Egypt, and Arabi.

Among these scattered names, one single tract of land in the far south of the state of Illinois rose to prominence — not named after one city, but called in its entirety Little Egypt. It became an American Egypt, holding in its soil the names of our homelands and keeping the memory of a great civilization alive amid the tumult of the New West.

Little Egypt stretches across the southernmost part of Illinois, where the great Mississippi River meets the Ohio River at the city of Cairo — which stands at the region’s heart like the hub of the Nile Delta. It is bounded on the west by the Mississippi, on the east and south by the Ohio, while its northern limit runs near East St. Louis and Vandalia. Its area exceeds 15,000 square kilometers, and according to the 2020 census, it is home to nearly one million two hundred thousand souls.

The largest city in Little Egypt today is not Cairo, but Belleville, whose population exceeds 44,000, followed by Carbondale, where the main campus of Southern Illinois University is situated. The largest urban cluster, however, is Metro East, which numbers over 700,000 residents and forms the Illinois part of the greater St. Louis metropolitan area.

Many explanations have been given for this curious name, and they can be summed up in three main accounts — the most beautiful and the most deeply connected to human memory being the story of famine and wheat.

First: The Tale of the Hard Year and the Journey to Egypt

In the year 1830, a cruel wave of frost struck central and northern Illinois — a spell known as the Winter of the Deep Snow. The cold lasted two continuous months without break, followed by a chilly summer that spoiled the crops. A great famine befell the people; they found neither wheat nor corn. Then wagon caravans set out from the north to southern Illinois, where the land was fertile and provisions abundant. One farmer from Springfield related: “We were forced to live on venison, berries, and milk, and the men went down to Egypt to bring back wheat and bread.” That was an unmistakable reference to the story of the Prophet Joseph (peace be upon him), when famine struck the land of Canaan and his brothers went to Egypt to procure food. So the name stuck to southern Illinois and remained its mark, with the first written use recorded in the Quincy Whig newspaper on January 11, 1843.

Second: The Tale of the Two Rivers and the Delta

The early settlers — most of whom came from Kentucky and Tennessee — observed that the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio at Cairo, and the rich lands left by the flooding of the two rivers, reminded them of the Nile Delta in Egypt. So they called the region “Egypt,” drawing a comparison to the “Mother of the World” (as Egyptians call it).

Third: The Tale of the Egyptian-Named Cities

Some researchers believe that the abundance of towns bearing Egyptian names in the region — such as Cairo, Thebes, Karnak, and Rosetta — is what earned it the title of “Egypt.” However, the name was established before the founding of some of these towns, so the first account remains the most likely among historians.

Little Egypt abounds with several cities and towns that bear pure Egyptian names. Here are the most prominent, with the detail they deserve:

Cairo – the greatest of them in location and the most dramatic. It lies at the meeting of the two rivers and was founded in 1818. Its population peaked in 1920 at fifteen thousand two hundred and three souls, then steadily declined until it reached one thousand seven hundred and thirty-three in the 2020 census, covering an area of twenty-three and a half square kilometers. It was an important military center during the Civil War, but its glory later faded, making it an example of a city that rose and then withered away.

Thebes – founded in 1844 on the banks of the Mississippi, named after the ancient capital of Egypt (modern-day Luxor). Its population today hovers between four and five hundred souls — a small town that still stands, telling the story of its illustrious name.

Karnak – a tiny village founded in 1893, its name inspired by the temple complex of Karnak in Luxor. It is one of the smallest Egyptian-named places in the region.

Dongola – another village, named after the city of Dongola in Sudan, which lies near the Egyptian border on the Nile and is the ancestral home of the mother of former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Its presence in the heart of Little Egypt is proof of the vast reach of Egyptian cultural influence in the settlers’ imagination.

Rosetta – a ghost town today, but its name remains a testament to Egyptian influence, for it is the city of the Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the secrets of hieroglyphs.

And there are other Egyptian-named places beyond the borders of Little Egypt but belonging to the same context, including:

Memphis in Tennessee – a great city with a population of 633,000 and an area of 783 square kilometers, founded in 1819 by former President Andrew Jackson and his companions, who named it after ancient Egyptian Memphis.

Alexandria in Virginia – population 160,000, area 40.1 square kilometers, shares its name with the Bride of the Mediterranean, Alexandria.

Mansura a town in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, The capital of Cochon de lait featival – founded by French immigrants in 1844 to commemorate the historic Battle of Mansura, in which King Louis IX of France was defeated and captured in Mansoura city during the seventh crusade in 1250.

Arabi in Louisiana – a suburb near New Orleans and on Mississippi river, named after the Egyptian revolutionist and former war minister Ahmed Urabi-Arabi أحمد عرابي.

Luxor – a village in Pennsylvania, carrying the name of the modern city that rose upon the ruins of ancient Thebes. Though outside Little Egypt, it stands as yet another echo of Egypt’s enduring legacy in the American landscape.

Egypt in Arkansas – a small town founded in 1898, so named by businessmen from New York because of the abundant agricultural harvests.

Egypt in Pennsylvania – another small town.

Nile in Washington State.

Nile Valley in California.

The phenomenon of Egyptian influence in this region did not stop at geographical names; it extended to living institutions and symbols pulsing in daily life:

· Southern Illinois University in Carbondale publishes a daily student newspaper called The Daily Egyptian, a name that has persisted for many years, reminding all who see it of the region’s cultural roots.

· The university’s athletic teams bear the name Salukis — the ancient Egyptian hunting dog associated with Pharaonic civilization. The students and their fans proudly call themselves “Dogs of Egypt.”

· Lake of Egypt – a man-made lake in the southeastern part of the region, created in 1962 and given this name as a reminder of the Egyptian heritage.

· Restaurants and businesses – in various towns of Little Egypt, you will find eateries named “Little Egypt,” banks called “Bank of Egypt,” and even churches bearing the name “Egypt.”

· Cahokia Mounds – an archaeological site of the Mississippian Indian civilization, featuring enormous earthen mounds. The early settlers compared them to the pyramids of Egypt, adding another dimension to the Egyptian connection in the region.

So let this name — Little Egypt — remain a testament that Great Egypt still dwells in the hearts of nations, reaching out in the New World just as she reached out in the old — a river that never dries, a memory that never fades.

https://www.wired.com/story/openai-backs-bill-exempt-ai-firms-model-harm-lawsuits/

New legislation coming out that shelters OpenAI from lawsuits when their product inevitably causes harm. They are throwing their $$ into the ring to convince you to support the bill.

Considering the cases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths\_linked\_to\_chatbots

it seems like a terrible bill. Maybe it's time to oust State Senator Ventura, the author, who we can assume has investments in and possibly donations from AI companies.