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editDescription
editThe typographical quality of the texts, the beauty of engravings, and the unusual formats (the Mammutfolio is 1m x 0.81m) makes Description de l'Égypte an exceptional work. It is an encyclopedic style accumulation of information about the Egypt France now had under it's control, and was created by a team of hundreds of individuals. It contains work from dozens of different scientific fields and worked to document as much as possible about Egypt as France's new colony.
Influence
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Description de l'Égypte has been credited with starting the field of Egyptology,[1] although one historian has argued that the general conception and often-repeated idea that this is a unique and unprecedented work is inaccurate.[2] This aside, many still consider the Description to be foundational to the modern fields of many anthropological and geographic sciences; including zoology, geography, and topography, as well as research in various types of hydrology.[3]The work was created as propaganda to push European cultural hegemony across Napoleon's empire. It intended to establish the French as the good caretakers of a neglected land of potential. It excused the teams of researchers studying everything in Egypt to see how the French Empire could profit off of their new territory.[3]
The information gathered for Description went on to inform French policies and proposals surrounding Egypt, which were adopted by Egyptian leaders for administration in the mid-19th century.[4] The maps made for the Description (dubbed Carte de l'Egypte) were used in the plans for a canal through the Isthmus of Suez, amongst other major canals in Egypt for the next several decades.[3] The maps themselves were also written in the Latin alphabet instead of the Arabic alphabet. In her article "Map, text and Image. The Mentality of Enlightened Conquerors", Dr. Anne Godlewska discusses how this was a deliberate choice where "the landscape of Egypt was to be changed from a 'chaos of Arabic names' to European Order." [3][5]
Description showed Egypt as a land open for the taking, representing France as the well-intended caretakers who were working to document and preserve Egypt’s wealth and history. This set precedence for later conquests by Europeans into non-European territories. It established a reputation of historical interest and caregiving to maintain power over the people in their colonies and their resources.
Editions
editThe geographical volume (which contains maps) was not printed before 1828, even though the volumes are dated 1818 and 1826 respectively. [citation needed][6]
References
edit- ^ "Egyptology". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
- ^ Bednarski, A. (2005) Holding Egypt: tracing the reception of the Description de l'Egypte in nineteenth-century Great Britain. Goldenhouse Publications. p.1-20. ISBN 0-9550256-0-5
- ^ a b c d Godlewska, Anne (1995). "Map, Text and Image. The Mentality of Enlightened Conquerors: A New Look at the Description de l'Egypte". Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 20 (1): 5–28 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Prochaska, David (1994). "Art of Colonialism, Colonialism of Art: The 'Description de l'Egypte' (1809-1828)". L’Esprit Créateur. Vol 34 (No 2): 69–91 – via JSTOR.
{{cite journal}}:|issue=has extra text (help);|volume=has extra text (help) - ^ Jomard, E F (1818). Description de l'Egypte (2nd ed.). Paris, France.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Khatib, Hisham (Feb 21 2003). Palestine and Egypt Under the Ottomans: Paintings, Books, Photographs, Maps and Manuscripts. Bloomsbury USA. p. 211. ISBN 1860648886, 9781860648885.
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