1853 Cruchley Map of Egypt

This is an attractive 1853 map of Egypt issued by George Frederick Cruchley. Centered on the Nile Valley, Cruchley's map covers Egypt from the Mediterranean to Nubia. The map is color coded and divides Egypt into three sections, viz. Lower Egypt or Bahari, Upper Egypt or Said and Central Egypt or Vostani. Egypt, in ancient times was divided into the provinces of the Delta, the Heptanomis and the Thebaid. The Arabs, in modern times, renamed these provinces to the Bahari or the maritime district, the Vostani, and the Said or the high country respectively. The map notes several Arab tribes, rivers, towns, mountains and other topographical details. Elevation is rendered by hachures.

This time in history marks the decline of the Ottoman empire and its hegemony over this region. After the conquest of Palestine by Muhammad Ali's Egypt in 1832, British intervention returned control of Palestine to Ottoman rulers in 1840. In Egypt, following the expulsion of the Napoleonic forces by the Ottoman Mamluk Turks, Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, established the Mamluk dynasty that would rule Egypt until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Between 1820 and 1833, Ali annexed northern Sudan, Syria and parts of Arabia into the Mamluk Empire. In 1848 Abbas I, his grandson, was ruler of Egypt and Sudan. Abbas I, who spent most of his time in seclusion on the insistence of the British government, was responsible for the construction of the historic railway from Alexandria to Cairo.

Cruchley's General Atlas was unique for its period, employing a vivid color scheme extending even to the oceans, distinctive typography, and various uncommon decorative elements including a peacock feather crown and an imprint medallion, both of which break the printed border.  Though many of the maps in this atlas are copyrighted in 1841, the atlas was first published in 1843 from the Cruchley office at 81 Fleet Street, London, and proving popular went through numerous reissues well into the 1850s.