Timeline / 1800 to 1900 / EGYPT

Timeline / 1800 to 1900 / EGYPT Date Country Theme 1801 Egypt Migrations Mehmed Hüsrev Pasha commands 6,000 Turkish troops to assist the British in expelling the French from Rashid. For this he is assigned Governor of Egypt. 1805 - 1867 Egypt Political Context During this time Egypt is a legally nominal Ottoman province governed by a wali on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, although de facto it is virtually independent, with its walis styling themselves as Khedives. Despite their legally subservient status, Egypt’s walis enjoy far more political power than their descendants, who, decades later, rule the country as nominally independent sultans and kings. 1807 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century On 8 May Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha, the Ottoman Governor of Egypt, gives the order to start digging the Mahmudiya Canal, from the River Nile to Alexandria through al- Buhayra, to transport water and as a route for cargo ships. 1808 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha builds Shubra Palace on the site of a former kiosk where walis went for recreation during the Ottoman era. 1809 - 1829 Egypt Migrations Description de l'Egypte first appears in 1809 and continues to be published as a series until the final volume appears in 1829. It offers a comprehensive scientific description of ancient and modern Egypt as well as its natural history. 1811 Egypt Political Context On 1 March, Muhammad ‘Ali invites some 470 Mamluk beys to the Citadel for a feast to celebrate his son’s imminent departure for Mecca. When the feasting is over the Mamluks mount their lavishly decorated horses and are led in procession down the narrow, high-sided defile, below what is now the Police Museum. As they approach Bab al-Azab, the great gates swing closed and gunfire rains down on them from above. After the fusillades, Muhammad ‘Ali’s soldiers wade in with swords and axes to finish the job. Legend relates that only one Mamluk escaped alive, leaping over the wall on his horse. 1816 Egypt Political Context Ibrahim Pasha leads Egypt’s expedition to Hijaz and crushes the Wahhabi Revolution. 1816 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Modern education in Egypt starts with the School of Engineering, which is established by Muhammad ‘Ali in the Castle during 1816, to train and prepare specialists in that area. Date Country Theme 1820 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Muhammad ‘Ali sends the first educational “mission” of Egyptian students to Europe. 1827 Egypt Political Context When under the command of an Ottoman representative the entire Egyptian navy is sunk by the European Allied fleet, Muhammad ‘Ali asks for the territory of Syria in compensation. 1827 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes A School of Medicine is established at Abu Za‘bal and annexed to the Military Hospital there due to the efforts of Clot Bek, a French physician. A fatwa is then issued by Sheikh Hasan al-Attar, which allowed anatomizing cadavers as long as it was done in order to prevent disease. 1827 - 1831 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes A School of Veterinary Medicine emerges in Rashid in 1827, which then transfers to a building beside the School of Medicine at Abu Za‘bal in 1831. Here the veterinary hospital is able to accommodate up to 110 horses and includes a Pharmacy, a Hall of Anatomy and areas for student and staff subsistence. 1827 Egypt Migrations The French physician Antoine Barthelemy Clot, Clot Bey as he was known in Egypt, becomes the first director of the Medical School and Hospital in Egypt. 1828 - 1848 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces The Mosque of Muhammad ‘Ali is built between 1828 and 1848. Perched on the summit of the Citadel, the Ottoman mosque with its animated silhouette and twin minarets, the largest to be built in the first half of the 19th century, is the most visible mosque in Cairo. 1829 Egypt Migrations Al-Waqa'i`a al-Masriya is established by order of Khedive Muhammad ‘Ali. It is the first indigenous Middle Eastern newspaper, initially written in both Ottoman Turkish and Arabic. 1834 Egypt Economy And Trade A Khedival Decree promulgates the issue of an Egyptian currency consisting of a bi-metallic base of gold and silver. The Egyptian pound, known as the geneih is introduced, which replaces the Egyptian piastre (ersh) as the main unit of currency. 1835 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Opening of shipping routes between Alexandria and Marseille. Date Country Theme 1836 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Rifa’a al-Rafi’ al-Tahtawi founds the School of Languages to educate and train professional interpreters and translators. 1837 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes The year sees the founding of Egypt’s oldest commercial science study centre, when the School of Account is established during Muhammad ‘Ali’s Era. 1843 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Muhammad Sharif Pasha builds the Sharif Pasha Palace situated on Kirdassi Street, off Hasan al-Akbar Street, in Cairo. The Pasha held a number of important posts during the reigns of Muhammad ‘Ali and his successors. 1846 Egypt Travelling Ibrahim Pasha is received with respect and curiosity when he visits western Europe. 1854 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century Sa‘id Pasha’s accession to the Viceroyalty of Egypt provides French businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps new impulse to develop the Suez Canal. 1863 - 1879 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Education attracts renewed interest during Isma‘il Pasha’s era. His government establishes schools and reviews students’ expenses, including their living expenses, which sees the restoration of the Diwan (or ministry) of Schools that Sa‘id had annulled. Now as the education budget increased, gradually, the government also returned to dispatching missions to Europe, mostly to France. A number of primary schools were established across the country: from Alexandria in the north to Minya in the south. 1863 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces On 18 October, under the rule of Khedive Isma‘il, the Egyptian Museum opens in the Caireen district of Bulaq under the management of French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette, known as Mariette Pasha. 1863 Egypt Migrations Muhammad Sa‘id Pasha dispatches part of a Sudanese battalion to help stop a rebellion against the Second Mexican Empire. 1865 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century The royal yacht Mahroussa is built for Isma‘il Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt. 1866 - 1867 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes Date Country Theme In 1866 the School of Irrigation and Architecture is inaugurated at al-Za‘faran Saray in ‘Abbasiyya in Cairo; it then transfers to Mustafa Fadil Saray at Darb al-Jama‘iz in 1867. The School provides a study programme of five years: a preparatory year followed by a further four years; two years respectively specialising in irrigation and architecture. 1866 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century The first Egyptian stamps are issued on 1 January. 1867 Egypt Travelling Khedive Isma‘il Pasha visits Paris and then London, where he is received by Queen Victoria and welcomed by the Lord Mayor. He attends a British Royal Navy fleet review alongside the Ottoman Sultan. 1868 - 1886 Egypt Reforms And Social Changes A Law School is established during Isma‘il Pasha’s era in 1868. Known then as the School of Management and Languages, the two schools separate in 1882 and remain as such until July 1886. That year, it becomes the School of Law with two departments, primary and high. 1868 - 1874 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Construction of the Abdeen Palace in Cairo begins in 1868 and inauguration takes place some six years later. 1869 Egypt Great Inventions Of The 19th Century With completion of the Suez Canal a number of dignitaries and high-profile personalities arrive in Egypt for the inauguration, including Empress Eugénie of France. 1869 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Khedive Isma‘il commissions a French company to construct the first bridge across the River Nile in Cairo, the Qasr al-Nil Bridge. 1869 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces The Opera House is inaugurated in November 1869 with Verdi’s Opera Rigoletto. In attendance, seated in the Royal loge, are Khedive Isma‘il Pasha, Empress Eugénie and her husband Napoleon III, and François Joseph I of Austria. 1869 Egypt Travelling Khedive Isma‘il Pasha visits Britain. 1871 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Giuseppe Verdi’s Egyptian-themed Aida premiers in Cairo on 24 December. Date Country Theme 1871 - 1877 Egypt Cities And Urban Spaces Jezira Bridge is constructed in 1871 and opens to traffic in 1877. The intention is to link the districts of Dokki and Bulaq al-Dakrur with Zamalek. Construction requires redirection of the Nile bed. 1874 Egypt Migrations Khedive Isma‘il attempts to reduce slave trading and extends Egypt’s rule in Africa. Managing to annex Darfur in 1874, he is prevented from further expansion into Ethiopia when his army is defeated by the Emperor Yohannes IV. 1875 Egypt Migrations The Egyptian Geographic Society is established by a decree of Khedive Isma‘il Pasha on 19 May 1875. Its first president is the German botanist, traveller and ethnologist Georg August Schweinfurth. 1875 - 1876 Egypt Economy And Trade In December 1875 Stephen Cave and John Stokes are sent by the British Government to inquire into the finances of Egypt. Their report, published in April 1876, advises that in view of the perceived “waste and extravagance” it is necessary for foreign powers to interfere to restore credit. 1877 Egypt Music, Literature, Dance And Fashion Yaqub Sanu‘ founds the satirical magazine Abu Naddara early in this year. It has immediate and wide appeal to both the literate and the illiterate, who find someone to read it to them.

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