In this detail of a map, created by the French occupying army in Ottoman Egypt (published in 1809), we can observe some geological features of the region that today we know as the city of Cairo. Between the old houses and the bank of the Nile (not shown) we can observe two mountains, in addition to the pond, gardens, and fortress of the French Institute (a little scientific occupation zone within the occupation). This area today is roughly Garden City and Munira (Sa‘d Zaghlul) today.
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, GE B-885 (I,26)
The Orientalist Edward William Lane describes this area in the late 1820s as an open space: “Along the western side of the metropolis are several lakes and gardens and extensive mounds of rubbish; which last, though not so large or lofty as those on the east and south, conceal much of the town from the view of persons approaching it in this direction. All the camels, asses, &c., that die in the metropolis are cast upon the surrounding hills of rubbish, where hungry dogs and vultures feed upon them.” (Lane, Description, 94). Of course, we also know that this open space was originally an area where once the Ottoman-Mamluk lords held their military exercises (see this map detail from 1758).
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Arsenal, MS-6432 (12)
The official journal al-Waqa’i‘ al-Misriyya published a piece of news on 2 Ramadan 1245/25 February 1830 (n. 114, page 2) in which the journal describes that these mountains caused a “great calamity” (dahiya ‘azima) for the city-folk when winds lifted the dust (ghubar) and it dazzled their eyes, and darkened the day and the night. It appeared, writes the journal, that they “would exchange their souls for money if there would be a way to get rid of this calamity.” Hence Ibrahim Pasha, the son of the governor Mehmed Ali, ordered the erasure of these two mountains while he was in the Morea (during the revolt of 1825-1828). The smaller mountain was called Kum al-‘Aqarib and the large second one was Abu al-Shamat. In his absence, the treasury scribe ‘Ali Efendi was in charge with organizing the work necessary. Many hundreds of workers worked on clearing these mountains for hundreds of days, and once Ibrahim returned, he entrusted the work to a certain Jawqar Agha, who, again with hundreds of workers, finished the levelling. The expenses were 1721 (gold) purse and 221 qirsh. Now, writes the journal, “if someone looks at their place one would think there was nothing.”
While this news from 1830 indicates that Ibrahim’s terraformation project was done, Janet Abu-Lughod, relying on the traveler-spy St John’s memoirs, indicates that in 1832 the workers were still working. In any case, Abu-Lughod’s evaluation that Ibrahim only cleared this space because he planned “a plantation” (p.92) with a giant palace should be updated with this official portrayal that the pasha and his men had also some public health-related considerations, and actually listened to the city-folk. The important consequence was a large, empty, and flat surface of land which, from the 1850s onwards came to host palaces and government buildings, a new “administrative capital.”
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Cartes et plans, GE C-10010
Bibliography:
Maps from Gallica.fr
Al-Waqa’i’ al-Misriyya (from DigCai project)
Abu-Lughod, Janet L. 1971. Cairo: 1001 Years of the City Victorious. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Lane, Edward William, and Jason Thompson. 2000. Description of Egypt : Notes and Views in Egypt and Nubia, Made During the Years 1825, 26, 27, and 28 : Chiefly Consisting of a Series of Descriptions and Delineations of the Monuments, Scenery, &c. of Those Countries … Cairo, Egypt: American University in Cairo Press.
(A.M)
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