Mapping Egypt
(Click on the images to enlarge)
The topographic atlas was the last installment of the
Description de lÉgypte, published in 1828. Ironically, the atlas of
maps was to have been the first segment,
providing a basis for all of the studies that
followed of the antiquities, natural history,
and modern state of Egypt. The French
contingent of scientists and engineers was
certainly well qualified to gather the necessary
information, since there were a large number
of topographical and civil engineers in the
group. Thirty-seven of them, in fact, were
responsible for gathering the necessary data
for the new map of Egypt. Colonel Pierre
Jacotin of the Corps of Topographical
Engineers directed the field work, and then
supervised the drawing of the maps and
engraving of the plates for their eventual
publication.
The results are remarkable,
considering the difficult conditions under
which the data was gathered. The surveyors
suffered from lack of time, lack of armed
escorts, and lack of precision instruments,
many of which had gone to the bottom of the
Mediterranean when the ship carrying them,
the
Patriote, ran aground and sank on the way
from France.
The best map of Egypt that was available
to the French expedition was one from 1765,
which meant it was more than thirty years old
before Napoleons forces arrived in
Alexandria. It had been compiled from books
and from other maps by a cartographer
named Bourguignon dAnville, and it gave a
good overall impression of the Nile Valley
and the Delta. It could not provide much
accuracy, since it was not based on actual
observations and measurement with
instruments.
That is what the French engineers and
surveyors in Napoleons expedition were
trained to do. Every place they went was
surveyed, measured off with chains, and fixed
to circle sightings made by the expedition
astronomer, Nicolas-Auguste Nouet. The
resulting map sections were exceptionally
detailed, as we can see in a detail of the
cataracts of Upper Egypt, which includes
Philae, Syene, and Elephantine. The
completed map turned out to be so superior
that the French military convinced Napoleon
to keep it sealed and unpublished as a state
secret. As a result, the map that is printed as
the first plate in the antiquities volume of the
Description de lÉgypte is dAnvilles out-dated
map of 1765.
Not until 1814, when Napoleon was
first exiled to Elba, did the compilers of the
expedition map of Egypt receive permission
to publish it. Twenty-three engravers were
put to work to produce the 47 sheets of the
topographic map that starts at the south end
of Egypt and proceeds to the Delta and
Mediterranean in the north. It was printed on
the largest paper available. The work finally
appeared in 1828, more as a supplement than
as a part of the
Description de lÉgypte. Place
names were given in both French and Arabic
characters. The compilers were extremely
concerned about accuracy, so the engraver
who was responsible for the Arabic characters
received special training and was tested
for his competency.
The final result resembles a modern
satellite or aerial map in precision and
detail. To determine the longitude of
Egyptian locations with respect to
the Paris Meridian required accurate
clocks to compare the time of certain
astronomical events with the known time
of those events in Paris. But the
chronometer results were not reliable,
and the cartographers could only
approximate the longitude on the map
relative to the Paris Meridian. Instead,
the coordinate grid used to establish the
relative positions of Egyptian locations
was based on a meridian passing through
the tip of the Great Pyramid of Giza and
a latitude line at right angles to it.
Everything could be plotted from these
coordinates, which was an acknowledgement of the precision of the north-south
alignment of the Great Pyramid. Its four
sides are almost perfectly aligned with the
four cardinal points of the compass.
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