Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabarti's Chronicle of the French Occupation, 1798

Rating:
Summary: A fateful meeting of East and West
Review: The Chronicle of Al-Jabarti is an account of the first six months of Napoleon' s invasion and occupation of Egypt 1798. Sheikh 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Jabarti was an astronomer at Al-Azhar. As a member of the 'Ulama, Napoleon appointed him to the Diwan, or Grand Council, through which the French had hoped to govern Egypt. This allowed Al-Jabarti to compile a detailed chronicle of the French organization of administrative matters, the battles and the flight of the Mamluks to Upper Egypt and the Revolt of Cairo. Al-Jabarti left a valuable record of his impressions of the French in terms of their character and learning. With the possible exception of the very protracted Spanish Reconquista which ended with the fall of Granada in 1492, it had not been since the Crusades that a 'Western' power had attempted an invasion of a Muslim land on the scale and scope of Napoleon. The French General had also brought to Egypt an army of scholars from L' Academie whose purpose it was to study and record all possible aspects of interest, while also showing off European science and learning. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (Napoleon's private secretary) included in his Memoirs a brief account of the invasion of Egypt . A reading of both The Chronicle and the Memoirs provides an interesting insight as to how the Arabs and the French saw each other.

Rating:
Summary: A fateful meeting of East and West
Review: The Chronicle of Al-Jabarti is an account of the first six months of Napoleon' s invasion and occupation of Egypt 1798. Sheikh 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Jabarti was an astronomer at Al-Azhar. As a member of the 'Ulama, Napoleon appointed him to the Diwan, or Grand Council, through which the French had hoped to govern Egypt. This allowed Al-Jabarti to compile a detailed chronicle of the French organization of administrative matters, the battles and the flight of the Mamluks to Upper Egypt and the Revolt of Cairo. Al-Jabarti left a valuable record of his impressions of the French in terms of their character and learning. With the possible exception of the very protracted Spanish Reconquista which ended with the fall of Granada in 1492, it had not been since the Crusades that a 'Western' power had attempted an invasion of a Muslim land on the scale and scope of Napoleon. The French General had also brought to Egypt an army of scholars from L' Academie whose purpose it was to study and record all possible aspects of interest, while also showing off European science and learning. Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (Napoleon's private secretary) included in his Memoirs a brief account of the invasion of Egypt . A reading of both The Chronicle and the Memoirs provides an interesting insight as to how the Arabs and the French saw each other.