International Journal of History and Research (IJHR) ISSN (P): 2249–6963; ISSN (E): 2249–8079 Vol. 10, Issue 1, Jun 2020, 41–54 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. THE SECOND EXPEDITION OF AHMED HASSANIEN PASHA TO THE WESTERN DESERT (DECEMBER 1923–AUGUST 1924) AHMED KHALED AHMED TAHA 1, ENAS FARES YEHIA 2 & SAMAH ABDULRAHMAN MAHMOUD 3 1Ministry of Tourism, Egypt 2Associate Professor, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Saudi Arabia; Minia University, Egypt 3Professor, Minia University, Saudi Arabia, Egypt ABSTRACT Ahmed Hassanien pasha is the first Egyptian who led an expedition to the western desert; he could correct some of the mistakes he had made in his previous journey, 1921. He worked to regain his consideration beyond the whole world by preparing for another journey and making it a scientific expedition. He worked on writing down and collecting any information, notices or samples that he would gather through this journey, in addition to the analysis that he would gained during movement of one place to another in the Desert. Also, compared the current such results with what the previous travelers who had stated including Gerhard Rohlfs. He managed to reach Kufara with the assistance of Mr. Original Article Article Original Idris Al-Sanusi who offered him what the caravan needs till the end. There were rumors about two unknown oases which lots of the people of the Desert did not know about except from the tales and stories of the ancient ones. That is why he decided to make another journey and exerting his best effort to discover those unknown oases. Also, he decided to go through the Libyan Desert travelling in a dangerous route. KEYWORDS: Hassanein Pasha, Kufara, Arkenu, Uweinat & the Rock Drawings Received: Nov 26, 2019 ; Accepted: Dec 16, 2019 ; Published: Mar 07, 2020 ; Paper Id.: IJHRJUN20205 1. INTRODUCTION Ahmed Hassanein, the first of the modern Egyptian Explorers made a remarkable Journey In 1923of (3,572 kilometers - 2,220 miles) from the port of Al-Sallum on the Mediterranean sea via the Oasis of Kufara past Uweinat into Fasher in Sudan. It was the first recorded crossing of the Libyan Desert in Modern Times and is one of the Greatest Desert Journeys in history. On this expedition, Hassanein fixed the True Positions of Zieghen and Kufara Oases in Libya, discovered the existence of Gabel Arkenu, also in Libya and Gabel Uweinat in the Southwestern Corner of the country and discovered a route from Southwestern Egypt to Darfur in Sudan. The 1923's expedition was actually his Second major Desert trek; in 1920 he went from the Mediterranean to Kufara Oasis accompanied by Rosita Forbes. Hassanein brought a duality that had been missing in Desert expedition. He was an Egyptian educated in Europe, and he was able to combine European scholarship with Middle Eastern diplomacy and expertise. His Journey was blessed by the King of Egypt and he came as a friend to Bedouin and Sanusi. They opened the way with their hospitality and Desert knowledge. He knew the Desert, the people in the Desert, the language, the super stations and the taboos. He understood the protocol on the unknown part of his Journey. He encountered Tribesmen who became his guides, but not his enemies on the day he was taken to the rock drawings at Uweinat. His Tabu guide told him of more drawings half a day’s Journey away. www.tjprc.org [email protected] 42 Ahmed Khaled Ahmed Taha, Enas Fares Yehia & Samah Abdulrahman Mahmoud This journey had spotted the light on the Western Egyptian Desert and to get to know the Bedouin life, beside the possibility of placing it on the tourism map, it accumulated many types of tourism. It can be included as an ecotourism, adventure tourism, safari tourism and exploration tourism, besides being a scientific exploration Trip. 2. THE DEMOGRAPHIC RESULTS Demography is the study of manifestations that are related to population like births, deaths and migration, and the factors which influence them. This definition was used in the second half of the 19 th Century. This definition consists of Two Greek words; (Demo) which means people and (Grapho) which means writing, and means that this Science is related with the study of population or the scientific study of population. The most significant outcome of this Hassanien’s Second expedition in the Desert from Al-Sallum to Darfur was the rock drawings which he discovered in Al- Uweinat on the surface of granite rocks. There were drawings of a number of animals and birds but there were neither camels nor details about people in that time which suggests the probability that He saw that they pointed to the passing of a sophisticated pastoral culture. North Africa was marked by much more rain than our present time which he placed at some time before the introduction of the camel to the Desert in about 500 BC. Beside the Bedouin habits and traditions which he had observed in the Desert areas which he had visited. Al-Uweinat Drawings In Egypt, there is an extensive belt of rock art running from the Arabian (Eastern) Desert in the East through Kharga, Dakhla, the GilfKebir, and Al-Uweinat. The rock art of the Uweinat region, unquestionably its greatest treasure, is as Far East as cattle pastoralist rock art has been discovered. In almost every valley of Gabel Uweinat rock art exists. 1 Themes and Style There are two types of Rock Art: Paintings and Engravings. Paintings are in red, white, occasionally yellow paint. Engravings were incised with a sharp instrument. They both were done on the walls and ceilings of protected areas, especially over hangs and Winkler hypothesizes that the women did the paintings and the men did the engravings matter can also be divided in two; without cattle and with cattle. The depicted thus differed. There are longhorn, shorthorn, and polled cattle, longhorn cattle the oldest known in Egypt, shorthorn cattle replaced them, probably coming from near East during the Hyksos period. There are pastoral scenes of hunting, herding, home and hearth, and in one swimming, in addition to cattle, other animals are a common theme, especially of giraffes, gazelles, and a few camels. However, elephant, buffalo, rhino, hippopotamus or crocodile were not found, This tells us something about the habitat 2. Hassanien’s Knowledge of the Drawings Ahmed Hassanein tells how he set out by camel from Al-Sallum on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt West of Mersa Matruh with the encouragement and financial support of King Fouad I, Hassanein Bey set out across the Libyan Desert. He headed for the Oases of Siwa and Kufara and into the unknown. His perilous eight-month Journey in 1923 took him round the Western shores of the Great Sand Sea to El Obeid in the Sudan, and led him to the discovery of the lost Oases of Arkenu and Uweinat at the extreme Southwest corner of Egypt. At Al-Uweinat, Hassanein was amazed to find rock drawings of animals, including lions, giraffes, ostriches, gazelles and possibly also cows. He was deep in the trackless 1Cassandra Vivian, The Western Desert of Egypt an Explorer’s Handbook, AUC Press, p 371. 2Cassandra Vivian, The Western Desert of Egypt an Explorer’s Handbook, P 371. Impact Factor (JCC): 4.3084 NAAS Rating: 2.90 The Second Expedition of Ahmed Hassanien Pasha to the Western Desert (December 1923 - August 1924) 43 Desert, but what he had found, and photographed, was evidence of a flourishing human existence ten thousand years ago, before Desertification drove these mysterious people to the valley of the Nile. The significance of Hassanein’s adventure and the achievements of his life amounted to a great deal more than that. 1 Yet Hassanein always understood that his greatest achievement was his discovery of the rock drawings at Al- Uweinat; they were ‘the most interesting find of my 2,200-mile Journey’ , he would write in the September 1924 issue of America’s National Geographic Magazine. He saw that they pointed to the passing of a sophisticated pastoral culture, the victim of dramatic climate change, which he placed at some time before the introduction of the camel to the Desert in about 500 BC. But how much earlier than that, he could not guess, adding that ‘here is a puzzle which must be left to the research of the archaeologists’ . In “The Lost Oases” , published in the following year, he describes how he tried to hide his excitement at the discovery, and even avoided visiting some other rock pictures half a day away for fear of arousing suspicions among the native Tebu who thought of them as the work of jinns. In fact, Hassanein had discovered the first pre-historic rock drawings ever found in Egypt’s Deserts, the first evidence suggesting that Egyptian civilization may have started in a once Greener Libyan Desert and not, as universally supposed, in the valley of the Nile. As Michael Hoffman, the eminent pre-historian wrote in Egypt before the Pharaohs (1979), Hassanein had ‘uncovered an archaeological mystery whose solution is only now coming within our grasp’ .2 The discovery of the second lost Oasis meant that future expeditions could come direct from Egypt, avoiding the usual hostile reception at Kufara, in the knowledge they would fine a reliable water supply. They could then use it as a base for further exploration, on the rock walls of the valleys at Gabal Uweinat were crude drawings of lions, giraffes, and ostriches and men with bows and shields. and on the roof of the cave he found red and white paintings of waspwaisted figures. Since giraffes could not live in the Desert and there were no pictures of camel which had been introduced to Africa from Asia in 500 BC- Hassanein deduced that the pictures must have been drawn by the primitive inhabitants of savannah lands before a great climatic change took place.