Historiography in Egypt (1800-1850)

This doctoral research consists of introduction and three main parts. The introduction comprises method, theorical approach, Ottoman-Egypt modernization and general view of Egypt history. In those parts, my main purpose is to trace the continities and discontinuities to figure out the period which is focal period in this study. The first part focuses on reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha and changes that took place in 1800-150 in Egypt. In this part, firstly we analyze political, economical and social transformations by comparing with the preceding Ottoman period to show and grasp the important differences. In the next chapter, we study printing press and publications. And then, we focus on translations from European languages like French and English to Arabic and Turkish in history field. We call this second quarter of 19th century as "passive period" in terms of historiography. In the second part, we study the historians, who lived and wrote during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, with an introduction for the purpose of tracing the Egyptian historiography and manifesting its main patterns thoroughout Ottoman period to place the 19th century Egyptian historiography in its context. We scrutinize respectively, Egyptian historians, Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, Abdallah al-Sharqavi, Ismail al-Khashshab and Ahmad al-Rajabi. Egyptian Historians are then compared among themselves on the basis of their own works. Abdurrahman al-Jabarti and his chronicle, Ajaib occupies a central position in this part. In the third and final chapter, we discuss the Egyptian historiography as a part of French invasion of Egypt. Firstly, we trace the historical background of French's interest of Egypt. And then this research deals with the chronicles related to the French invasion written by Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti and Niqula al-Turc with comparative approach. In this doctorate research, we use Arabic sources when analyzing the chronicles, at the same time, we consult with the English and French literature as far as we consider it necessary.