The history of Egypt

　The name “Egypt” comes from the ancient Greek word “Aígyptos”, although this region is called “Misr” in Arabic, which is today's official language of the region. Misr originally denoted the “military metropolis” (garrison of Arab conquerors) established in the Middle East during the “great conquest” by Arab Muslims in the early 7th century. In Egypt, this would be at “Fustat”, constructed then in the outskirts of the present capital city Cairo. The word later grew to indicate Cairo or Egypt itself.
　Since ancient times, the land of Egypt has been divided around Cairo into Upper and Lower Egypt, the upstream and downstream regions of the Nile. It was around 3000 BC that these both regions were first unified politically and the kingdom of Egypt was established. Ancient Egyptian local dynasties lasted for more than 2500 years, but ever since the last half of the 6th century BC, the region had been ruled by different foreign powers such as the Achaemenids, Alexander the Great of Macedonia, the Ptolemaic Macedonians, and the Romans. Although Egypt was conquered by Muslim Arabs in the early 7th century, and Egyptians were gradually Arabized and Islamized, the country continued to be ruled by different foreign rulers.

　In 1517, the Ottomans, whose capital was Istanbul, conquered Egypt and made it one of their provinces. When Egypt was suddenly occupied by the French army in 1798, lead by Napoleon Bonaparte, the country plunged into chaos. Although the French army withdrew in 1801, Egypt was left in a state of anarchy. Amongst this chaos, it was a Greece-born Muslim, Muḥammad ʻAlī (1769?-1849, governorship 1805-1848), who emerged as victor out of a power struggle and rose to the governorship of the province of Egypt, the most powerful position in the country. He had been in the Albanian irregular troops that were despatched against the French by the Sublime Porte.

　Muḥammad ʻAlī obliged the Sublime Porte to recognize his appointment as governor of Egypt, and began rigorous projects to create a rich and powerful country with prosperous industries and economic policies, a half-century before the Meiji Restoration. In order to create, maintain, and expand a military with modern equipment, he enhanced political measures such as raising taxes, monopolizing agricultural products and trade, and increased agricultural productivity by repairing and developing the irrigation system as well as the infrastructure of canals and roads. With this economic support, the Egyptian army initiated an expedition to the Arabian Peninsula and defeated the Waḥḥābī, who were at the peak of their power; then, conquered the Upper Nile lands of Nubia in Sudan, attaining spectacular military results. Muḥammad ʻAlī introduced conscription in 1822 to further reinforce his army, then invaded Syria in 1831, crushing the intercepting Ottoman army, and finally gained control over Syria, Crete, and Adana, currently part of Turkey. Thus, Muḥammad ʻAlī became the supreme ruler of a vast land in the eastern Arab regions, ranging from the Eastern Mediterranean to the coast of the Red Sea.

　This glory, however, did not last long. When Muḥammad ʻAlī again defeated the Ottoman army in 1839 and declared Egypt's independence, the European powers intervened. They did not wish a young and emergent power to control the Eastern Mediterranean over the weakened Ottoman Empire, thereby intending to break the military balance of the region. Eventually the Egyptian army was forced to withdraw from all regions other than Egypt and Sudan, and the force 150,000 strong was reduced to 18,000. Even in this state of despair, Muḥammad ʻAlī secured the Ottoman recognition of his descendant's hereditary governorship in 1841, and became the founder of the Muḥammad ʻAlī Dynasty that lasted till 1953.

　Naturally, the era of Muḥammad ʻAlī's glory can be said to have been days of considerable hardships for many Egyptians. The common people, in particular peasants, were subject to drafting and heavy taxation in order to fund the wars, and were forced to work as labors in the infrastructure development work. The period from the years 1841 onwards , in which 30 pieces of artwork on display in this exhibition were created by Prisse d'Avennes , may have been a period of less hardship for the Egyptian peasants, owing to the European powers.

Egypt’s geography

The people of the Nile

　Egypt may seem like a racially homogenous country, but in fact it should be understood that people from a variety of races learned to live like Arabs and speak Arabic, and simultaneously they adopted the common Egyptian culture and can be called as Egyptians. A majority of the population is considered the descendants of ancient Egyptians, but they have been Arabized, and hence, have abandoned from the ancient Egyptian language. Of the people Prisse d'Avennes drew in his sketches were the peasants (fallāḥ) in lithographs 12–17. The soldiers of the regular army, such as seen in lithograph 5, were also mostly peasants before they were drafted. On the other hand, the nomad, as seen in lithograph 11, are the descendants of the genuine Arabs that had immigrated from the Arabian Peninsula after Egypt became a part of the Islamic world.

　Furthermore, there was a “foreign” ruling class that came from different regions also belonging to the Ottoman Empire, as the case of Egypt de jure. These are the Albanians and Ottomans seen in lithograph 1, as well as the ladies in lithographs 4 and 10. In addition, the descendants of the African slaves seen in lithographs 6, 10, and 22 were also freed at some point or the other and became Egyptians who speak Arabic.

　Nonetheless, we cannot forget the peoples who have lived in Egyptian lands from ancient times and have not yet abandoned their language and culture. These are the ʻAbābda of the Eastern Desert (lithographs 18 and 19), and the Nubians of the Upper Nile (lithographs 25, 26, and 27). Prisse d’Avennes meticulously depicted a variety of peoples in the Nile valley, including Ethiopian soldiers.