Description
EGYPT (LOWER EGYPT) – ANGLO-EGYPTIAN WAR (1882) – BRITISH CONQUEST OF EGYPT:
INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT, WAR OFFICE (GREAT BRITAIN).
[London:] Intelligence Department, War Office, 1882.
Colour photolithograph, printed on 4 sheets, each dissected into 18 sections and mounted upon original linen with marbled endpapers, all folding into a contemporary red pebbled cloth slipcase bearing the printed map seller’s pastedown label of ‘Edward Stanford / London’, and the title ‘Map of Lower Egypt’ (Very Good, clean and bright, just the odd tiny stain and very minor toning; slipcase worn with lower araa strengthened with red cloth tape), each sheet: 55.5 x 83.5 cm; if sheets joined would form a map: 111 x 167 cm (43.5 x 65.5 inches).
During the 1870s, Egypt was a de jure Ottoman province that was, in actuality, a sovereign state ruled by the Muhammed Ali dynasty of Khedives. Up to this point France was the dominant foreign influence upon Egypt, as it was the Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps who built the Suez Canal (opened in 1869), while many of the Egyptian elite were ardent Francophiles (some were even educated in Paris).
London deeply resented the French dominance in Egypt and coveted de facto colonial control of the country for itself, especially as the Suez Canal was Britain’s link to its vast empire in Asia and Australia, etc. For some years, Britain and France sought to gain financial leverage over Egypt by instructing their treasuries and banks to provide Egypt with massive loans at extortionately high interest rates. The khedival regime accepted these odious terms as it was desperate for capital, for it was driving a massive infrastructure boom, building railways, roads, canals, as well as grand edifices like palaces and mosques.
In 1876, Egypt defaulted on its loans, causing Britain and France, in 1879, to assume “Dual Control” of Egypt’s public finances. While this certainly augmented Britain’s influence in Egypt, it at the same time it advanced the power of its rival, France.
The mandarins in Westminster obsessively looked for any excuse to exploit any opportunity to mount a full British takeover of Egypt, either it by diplomatic chicanery or militarily force.
The British did not have to wait long for a golden opportunity to invade Egypt. The ʻUrabi Revolt (1879-82), led by a brave and visionary Egyptian army officer, Colonel Ahmed ʻUrabi, was a nationalist and ardently anti-European uprising against the rule of Khedive Tewfik Pasha. This led to the harassment and killing of English, French and other Westerners in Alexandria. These outrages gave Britain the justification to invade Egypt to ‘protect its subjects’ and the preserve the regime of their ‘ally and friend’ Tewfik Pasha.
The Second Anglo-Egyptian War (July – September 1882), or the British Conquest of Egypt, was led by the legendary General Garnet Wolseley. It commenced with the British bombardment of Alexandria followed by a land invasion of Lower Egypt, whereby Wolseley seized the Suez Canal Zone and then drove towards Cairo. The decisive showdown of the war was the Battle of Tel El Kebir (September 13, 1882), fought 110 km north-north-east of Cairo, whereby Wolseley crushed ʻUrabi’s main army.
ʻUrabi and his main followers were exiled to British Ceylon, while Britain made Egypt a protectorate. While Tewfik Pasha remained the technical ruler of Egypt and maintained a degree of power over local affairs, Britain assumed control of the country’s military, major commerce and public finances, essentially making Egypt a British colony in all bit name. While France retained its large investments in Egypt, as well as a lingering cultural influence, it was effectively sidelined, while the Ottoman presence was rendered next to nil.
The Present Map in Focus
The invasion of Egypt in July 1882, was long anticipated, so British military planners had some months to prepare. One of the challenges they had was that Lower Egypt, the region where control of the entire country would be decided, while well-mapped in various ways, did have this cartography consolidated into single accurate general map. Lower Egypt, in practical terms is the essentially the great fan of the Nile Delta, from Cairo, in the south, and then over to Alexandira in the northwest, while embracing the ultra-strategic Suez Canal Zone, to the east.
The Intelligence Department (or Branch) of the War Office was the special agency tasked with providing the British Army with maps and information of foreign countries and colonies in advance of, and during military campaigns. While founded only in 1873, by the early 1880s to was considered the be the finest military cartographic agency in the world. It had access to a vast network of diplomats, army scouts and spies who provided the most recent geographic information on targeted areas, while it also benefitted from the vast corpus of maps held in British governmental archives. Additionally, it maintained formal alliances with private mapping houses, such as Edward Stanford Ltd., that had their own stellar global networks for acquiring the best geographic information.
The British invasion of Egypt was of the upmost importance to the British Empire, while its anticipated leader, General Wolseley, was a national hero, who deserved and demanded the Intelligence Department’s best efforts.
The present colossal map of Lower Egypt (measuring 111 x 167 cm) is the centrepiece of the Intelligence Department’s endeavour to inform and enlighten Wolseley’s invasion force.
The map is predicated upon the very best available sources. It is said to be based upon “the original French survey in 1818 by M. Jacotin, from the manuscript of Mahmud Bey and from the most recent information”. Thus, the underlying base mapping is from Pierre Jacotin’s mapping of Lower Egypt done for Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799 and 1800 and published in 1818. However, this was greatly augmented by the relatively recent surveys of the region executed by Mahmoud Bey al-Falaky (1815 – 1885), the great geographer, astronomer, surveyor and cabinet minister, who made many fine manuscript maps as well as grand printed map of Lower Egypt, issued in 1872. Additionally, the present map would have benefitted from some very recent surveys, variously executed by British military scouts, local civil authorities and operators of the Suez Canal.
The present work is the finest and most detailed general map of Lower Egypt available to date and features all the information required for strategic military planning. It embraces the great fan of Nile Delta, and extends to just beyond Alexanda, in the west, then all the way east to the Bay of Pelusium, beyond the Suez Canal, and then south, down past Cairo. The Libyan Dest expands to west of the Delta, while the Arabian Desert lies to the east.
Drafted to the ample scale of 1:200,000 (or 3.1565 miles to 1 inch), the map labels the provinces in the Nile Delta, as well as all cities, towns and villages of any note, all river channels and canals, as well as all forts and lighthouses. Notably the railway lines, the construction costs of which helped to bankrupt Egypt, are shows to run up from Cairo to Alexandria and Damietta, as well as various other locations. The Suez Canal, with it vital telegraph lines, is well defined. Numerous archaeological sites are noted, including the “Pyramids of Ghizeh’. The Arabian Desert, while desolate, it criss-crossed with fascinating features, including the lines of the ‘Old Caravan Route to Syria’, the ‘Route taken by Genl. Bonaparte in 1799’ (from Cairo to Suez) and the ‘Derb al Hadj’ (the route of Hajj caravans from Cairo to Mecca), as well as the routes of disused railways and canals that connected the Nile to the Red Sea.
Additionally, the map features five excellent insets featuring detailed city plans of Alexandia (upper left corner), Cairo (lower left corner), Port Said and Port Suez (upper right corner) and Ismailia (righthand side).
Curiously, the map’s four sheets were printed separately and serially, from January to June 1882. There was then evidently some haste to box up complete sets, like the present example, for use in time of the start of the British Invasion of Egypt in July of that year.
The present first edition of the map does not bear a title on the work itself. A second edition, much less rare, was subsequently issued, bearing the title Lower Egypt in 4 Sheets. Compiled at the Intelligence Branch War Office.
A Note on Rarity
The present map is very rare, at its sheets were issued in only very limited print runs for use by senior British military commanders and political figures involved in planning and executing the British Conquest of Egypt. Moreover, the fact the map’s four sheets were printed separately and serially over six-month period meant that assembling complete sets was more of a challenge than usual. We can trace institutional examples at only 8 libraries, being the British Library (3 examples); Oxford University; Cambridge University; and the National Archives U.K.; University of Manchester; University of Minnesota – Twin Cities; Staatbibliothek Berlin; and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
References: British Library (3 examples): Maps 64390.(19.), Maps 64390.(11.), Maps MOD ID 104[-107]; Oxford University: E13:1 (6); Cambridge University: Maps.485.88.1-4; National Archives U.K.: [sheets separately catalogued:] MPHH 1/413/17; MPHH 1/413/18; MPHH 1/413/19; MPHH 1/413/20; University of Minnesota – Twin Cities: G8300 1882 .G7
Staatbibliothek Berlin: 8″@Kart. 11340-1; Bibliothèque nationale de France: GE C-2041 (1-4); OCLC: 1555056474; 839888681, 497557730, 1176864416; A. Crispin JEWITT, Maps for Empire. The first 2,000 numbered War Office maps 1881-1905 (London: The British Library, 1992), nos. 104-107, pp 20-21; P.A. PENFOLD (ed.), Maps and Plans in the Public Record Office: 3. Africa (London, 1982), no. 522.
