Southern Illinois

"Little Egypt" is an area in southern Illinois. It is generally considered that portion of Illinois south of Effingham,_Illinois. The southern most part of Little Egypt is Cairo,_Illinois. The southern part of Illinois is geographically, culturally, and economically different from the remainder of Illinois.

For example, even though Illinois was a "free state" prior to the American Civil War, slaves were present in Little Egypt by an act of Congress. It has been suggested that the main duty of troops stationed in Cairo, Illinois during the American Civil War was to keep the southern portion of the state from seceding.

Why it is named Little Egypt

The exact origin of these nicknames for this region is not entirely clear, but there appear to be a number of factors that have contributed to their development and popularization over time. One reason that the area became popularly known as Egypt centers on Southern Illinois’ role in supplying grain to northern and central Illinois following a harsh winter in 1830-31. Upper Illinois suffered from a long winter and late spring, so crops were not planted until June, and much of that harvest was killed by an early September frost. Southern Illinois, however, was milder that year and produced grain, much of which was shipped north. Wagon trains came south and returned home with corn, and many believe the similarities with the Bible story of Jacob’s sons going to Egypt to buy grain and survive a famine may have resulted in the nickname.

One pioneer, Daniel Brush, founder of Carbondale, recalled in his memoirs how grain was shipped from points on the Big Muddy River and Mississippi River to central and northern Illinois that year. He, too, supports the notion that the role Southern Illinois played in feeding those areas led to the rise of the “Egypt” moniker.

Another theory is related to a comparison of the land mass surrounded by the great Mississippi and Ohio rivers with that of Egypt’s Nile delta region. According to Hubbs, the nickname may date back to 1818, when a large tract of land was purchased at the confluence of the rivers and its developers named it Cairo. Today, the town of Cairo still lies on a peninsula where the Ohio joins the Mississippi. Other settlements in that portion of the state have names with Egyptian links: Thebes, Dongola, and Karnak.