A BRIEF HISTORY
1890- The Alexandria Sporting Club is built; it is one of the oldest clubs in Egypt.
1892- The Greco-Roman Museum of Alexandria is created.
1898-1902- The British began construction of the first dam across the Nile (This would evolve into the Aswan Dam)
1899-.Prince Muhammad ‘Ali Tawfiq is responsible for opening the Al-Manyal Palace Museum in 1899, which is set in a large garden of thirty feddans (approx 31 acres).
1899- British diplomat Alfred Mitchell-Innes was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Finance in Egypt.
1899- The National Bank of Egypt introduces notes in denominations of 50 piasters, and one, five, ten, 50 and 100 Egyptian pounds.
1900- On a visit to Britain, ‘Abbas Hilmi II tells the authorities that he thinks the British have carried out good work in Egypt. He declares himself ready to cooperate with British officials administering Egypt and Sudan.
1904- France declared that Britain is the preeminent power within Egypt.
1905- The Egyptian Olympic Athletes Club is built in Alexandria.
1908- Sir Eldon Gorst declared the Egyptian’s were unfit for self rule.
1894-1900- Qasim Amin publishes his book Les Egyptiens in French in 1894. In it he rejects the negative claims against the traditions of Oriental society made by Duke Drocom in his book, L’Egypte et les Egyptiens. In defense of Islam, Amin compares the rights of women according to Islam with those of civilized European women. In 1899, he then publishes The Emancipation of Women, which is severely criticized. In 1900, Amin refutes the arguments of his critics with The New Woman, a work that provides fresh fuel to his ardent battle for the emancipation of women.
tourism
British Tourism
As a result of the exotification of Egypt and its artifacts - as well as a rumor the dry climate was good for sickness-, it became a popular sight for tourism
Popular tour guides and travel manuals made it easy for middle and high class British citizens to travel
They scaled the pyramids of Egypt, went to bazaars, and saw native peoples from afar on guided tours
Egyptians were able to get jobs as guides
Former President of Cornell College Andrew Dickson White went on such a journey
He described a bazaar he went to as “a chapter out of the "Arabian Nights,’” (Architourism)
At the end of his journey, though taking souvenirs had at that point been outlawed, he still managed to buy an ancient papyrus (the “Book of the Dead) off one “L. Phillips” and donated it to his university
Nature of Relationship
History- Sepoy Rebellion lead to diplomatic fears
Economics- Trade routes through Egypt were invaluable to Britain
Class- Upper class Egyptians benefited from British occupation significantly more
1908- Gorst tells Egyptians that they are unripe for self-government
Kubla Khan
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round;
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.”
Novels
Moonstone-Within the Moonstone, the exotic aspects of the jewel bring up language related to ethnic and imperialist significance, with the beauty of the jewel and its history as a essentially a war trophy, which is exactly what India and Egypt signified to the British.
“Lord Bless us! It was a diamond! As large, or nearly, as a plover’s egg! The light that streamed from it was like the light of the harvest moon. When you looked down into the stone, you looked into a yellow deep that drew your eye into it so that you they saw nothing else. Its seemed unfathomable: this jewel, that you could hold between your finger and thumb, seemed unfathomable as the heavens themselves. We set it in the sun, and then shut the light out of the room, and it shone awfully out of the depths of its own brightness, with a moony gleam, in the dark.” (59)
British Sentiment
"Nor was it only the life of old Egypt which interested me: the scenes in modern Eastern life also gave a needed change in my environment. At Cairo, in the bazaar, in contact with the daily life, which seemed like a chapter out of the "Arabian Nights," and also in the modern part of the city, in contact with the newer life of Egypt, among English and Egyptian functionaries, there was constant stimulus to fruitful trains of thought." (White 1905:433)
Questions
Do you think Britain’s taking of seemingly exotic objects from foreign places values these objects or merely exploits them as trinkets?
Egypt was a powerful empire, what about their history with Europe translates over into how they are perceived by British people during that period?
Why would Egypt be seen as a more attractive tourist destination than India?
Why wouldn't there be as much of a major rebellion against British rule in Egypt as there was in India?
Works cited
"Architourism." Architourism. Division of Rare Manuscript Collections, 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2016
Luscomb, Stephen. "British Empire: Africa: Egypt." British Empire: Africa: Egypt. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann. Print.
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. London: Penguin, 1999. Print.
Marshall, Lucille Sarah. "NASSR Graduate Student Caucus." NASSR Graduate Student Caucus. NASSR. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Zaki, A. H. "The English Councillors." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
"European Tourists Visiting a Temple, in Egypt, by 1900. LL-35444A..." Getty Images. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.’
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