French Studies of the Ottoman Empire's Arab Provinces

Abstract

French interest in the Arab countries of the Mediterranean is long-standing, the result of the geographical proximity of France to these countries and the commercial ties that developed between France and the échelles of the Levant. Travel accounts of the eighteenth century afforded the French a systematic, practically scientific familiarity with these countries, one that culminated in the Description de l'Egypte. French colonization of the Arab countries of North Africa and the Middle East only increased this interest. From 1830 to 1950, scholarly research was dominated by Orientalism, though colonial prejudices served only to tinge these thorough studies, whose results are often still valid. Research during the years 1950–70 underwent a transition marked by the process of decolonization. Since the 1970s, French research has experienced a rapid expansion, particularly in the field of urban studies, which is one of its traditional strong points.

Notes

 1. The memoirs of Chevalier d'Arvieux (1635–1702), who undertook a number of diplomatic missions between 1653 and 1683, were not published until 1735. The Description de l'Egypte of Benoit de Maillet (1656–1738), who was French consul in Cairo from 1692 to 1708, was published by Abbé Le Mascrier in 1735. Volney (1757–1820) spent 1783–85 in the Orient: his Voyage en Syrie et en Egypte was published in 1787.

 2. There were two editions of the Description de l'Egypte. The first came out between 1809 and 1822, published by the Imperial Printing House (9 volumes of text, 11 of plates), while the second was published between 1821 and 1829 by Panckoucke in Paris (18 volumes of text, 11 of plates).

 3. Marcel Clerget, Le Caire, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1934), Vol.1, p.178; Jean Sauvaget, Alep (Paris, 1941), p.239.

 4. H. de Grammont, Histoire d'Alger sous la domination turque (1515–1830) (Angers, 1887), pp.xiv–xv; Jean-Louis Miège, Le Maroc et l'Europe (1830–1894) (Paris, 1961), Vol.1, p.22, emphasis added.

 5. Henri Dehérain, Histoire de la Nation Egyptienne, Vol.5, L'Egypte turque (Paris, 1934).

 6. Eugène Plantet, Correspondance des deys d'Alger avec la cour de France (1579–1833), 2 vols. (Paris, 1889); Correspondance des Beys de Tunis et des Consuls de France avec la Cour (1577–1830), 3 vols. (Paris, 1893–99).

 7. Pierre Grandchamp, La France en Tunisie au XVIIème siècle: Inventaire des archives du consulat de France à Tunis, 10 vols. (Tunis, 1920–33).

 8. Gabriel Colin, Corpus des inscriptions arabes et turques (Paris, 1901); de Grammont, Histoire d'Alger, p.309.

 9. A. Devoulx, Tachrifat, recueil de textes historiques sur l'administration de l'ancienne Régence d'Alger (Algiers, 1852); Les corporations religieuses d'Alger (Algiers, 1862); and many articles published in the Revue Africaine.

10. The transfer of these ‘Turkish’ archives from Algiers to Aix took place during the Algerian war. They were kept at the Centre des Archives d'Outre-Mer and microfilmed (under great pressure, which resulted in a certain degree of confusion) before being returned to Algeria.

11. El Hadj Ahmed el-Mobārek, ‘Kitāb Tarīkh Qosantina’, Revue Africaine, 57 (1913), pp.265–305. Saleh el-Antri, ‘Constantine sous les Turcs’, Recueil de la Société Archéologique de Constantine (hereafter RSAC), 59 (1928–29).

12. A.Cherbonneau, ‘Inscriptions arabes de la province de Constantine’, Annuaire de Constantine, 1856–57; Gaston Mercier, Corpus des inscriptions arabes et turques: Constantine (Paris, 1902).

13. Ahmed Abdesselem, Les historiens tunisiens des XVIIe, XVIIIe et XIXe siècles (Paris, 1973). On the archives of Tunisia see R. Mantran, Inventaire des documents d'archives turcs (Paris, 1961); Moncef Fakhfakh, Sommaire des registres administratifs et fiscaux (Tunis, 1990).

14. Ibn Abī Dīnār, Histoire de l'Afrique du Nord, trans. E. Pellissier and Ch. de Remusat (Paris, 1845); Seghir ben Youssef, Mechra el-Melki, trans. V. Serres and M. Lasram (Paris, 1900); Exiga (dit Kayser), Description et histoire de l'île de Djerba (Tunis, 1884).

15. The Ithāf ahl al-zamān was finally published in an excellent (but non-critical) edition in Tunis, 1963–65, after independence.

16. Jean Deny, Sommaire des archives turques du Caire (Cairo, 1930); Ibn Iyas, Journal d'un bourgeois du Caire, trans. G. Wiet (Paris, 1960); Nicolas Turc, Chronique d'Egypte, ed. and trans. G. Wiet (Cairo, 1950).

17. Henri Laoust, Les gouverneurs de Damas sous les Mamelouks et les premiers ottomans (Damascus, 1952).

18. For Devouix, see n.9 above. Louis A. Berbrugger, Le Pégnon d'Alger, ou les origines du gouvernement Turcen Algérie (Algiers, 1860). For H. de Grammont, see n.4 above. See also Ernest Mercier, Constantine avant la conquête française (Constantine, 1878); idem, Histoire de Constantine (Constantine, 1903); E. Vayssettes, ‘Histoire de Constantine’, RSAC, 11, 12, 13 (1867–69).

19. This picture is being modified by the recent interest shown in the documents of the National Archives and the waqf documents.

20. Alphonse Rousseau, Les Annales tunisiennes (Algiers, 1864, reprinted in Tunis, 1980); E. Pellissier, Description de la Régence de Tunis (Paris, 1853, reprinted in Tunis, 1980).

21. Charles Monchicourt, Relations inédites de Nyssen, Filippi et Calligaris (Paris, 1929); idem, Etudes kairouanaises (Tunis, 1939). Monchicourt produced two geographical works which are very valuable for the modern period: La steppe des Fréchiches et des Madjeurs (Tunis, 1906) and La région du Haut Tell (Paris, 1913), as well as numerous articles.

22. Jean Pignon wrote just one book on the seventeenth-century period, Un document inédit sur la Tunisie au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1961), but he produced a large number of articles, which appeared largely in the Revue Tunisienne.

23. J.J. Marcel, Histoire de l'Egypte, L'Univers, Vol.13 (Paris, 1848).

24. R. Stephen Humphreys, Islamic History: A Framework for Inquiry (Princeton, 1991), p.228.

25. R. Lespès, Alger (Paris, 1930), published to mark the centennial of the conquest of Algiers; M. Clerget, Le Caire, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1934); J. Sauvaget, Alep (Paris, 1941); J. Caillé, La ville de Rabat, 3 vols. (Paris, 1949); R. Le Tourneau, Fès (Casablanca and Paris, 1949); G. Deverdun, Marrakech, 2 vols. (Rabat, 1966).

26. A. Pellegrin's work Histoire illustrée de Tunis (Tunis, 1955) cannot be compared with the works cited above, but he has written useful articles on Tunis. J. Sauvaget's ‘Esquisse d'une histoire de la ville de Damas’, Revue des Etudes Islamiques, 4 (1934), was supplemented by many articles on earlier periods.

27. Pignon's work has been referred to above, n.22. The subject of Marcel Emerit's major work is Abd el-Kader (L'Algérie à l'époque d'Abd el-Kader [Paris, 1951]), but he wrote many articles on pre-1830 Algeria and Algiers. See also André Nouschi, Enquête sur le niveau de vie des populations rurales constantinoises (Paris, 1961); Jean Poncet, La colonisation et l'agriculture européennes en Tunisie (Paris, 1962).

28. S.J. Shaw, The Financial and Administrative Organization of Ottoman Egypt (Princeton, 1962).

29. On the basis of a Turkish archival document, Marcel Colombe devoted a major article to the Algiers militia (‘Contribution à l'étude du recrutement de l'odjaq d'Alger’, Revue Africaine, 87 [1943]), before finally focusing on a more modern period.

30. Robert Mantran, Inventaire des documents d'archives turcs du Dar el-Bey (Paris, 1961).

31. Dominique Chevallier, La société du Mont Liban à l'époque de la révolution industrielle en Europe (Paris, 1971, recently reprinted). Among Chevallier's many students was Antoine Abdel Nour, the author of the important Introduction à l'histoire urbaine de la Syrie ottomane (Beirut, 1982), who tragically disappeared during the occupation of Beirut by Israeli troops.

32. André Raymond, Artisans et commerçants au Caire au XVIIIème siècle, 2 vols. (Damascus, 1974, reprinted in Cairo, 1999).

33. Lucette Valensi, Fellahs tunisiens: L'économie rurale et la vie des campagnes aux 18e et 19e siècles (Paris, 1977).

34. Pierre Boyer, L'évolution de l'Algérie médiane de 1830 à 1956 (Paris, 1960); idem, La vie quotidienne à Alger à la veille de l'intervention française (Paris, 1963). Boyer has written a number of articles on Ottoman Algeria.

35. Jacques Revault, Palais et demeures de Tunis, 4 vols. (Paris, 1967–78).

36. I am most grateful to Jean-Paul Pascual and Isabelle Grangaud for their help in drawing up this listing.

37. See the (not entirely irony-free) comments by Oleg Grabar in ‘Reflexions on the Study of Islamic Art’, Muqarnas, 1 (1983), p.2: ‘In accuracy of information and completeness of control over subject matter, the traditional technique exemplified by the French grande thèse is unmatched.’

38. Mantran has written several articles about Turkish inscriptions in the provincial capitals.

39. A. Raymond, The Great Arab cities in the 16th–18th Centuries: An Introduction (New York, 1984); idem, Grandes villes arabes à l'époque ottomane (Paris, 1985). Some of my articles have been published in collections of my work entitled La ville arabe, Alep, à l'époque ottomane (Damascus, 1998), and Arab Cities in the Ottoman Period (Aldershot and Burlington, VT, 2002).

40. Baber Johansen, The Islamic Law on Land Tax and Rent (London, 1988); idem, Contingency in a Sacred Law (Leiden, 1999); Randi Deguilhem (ed.), Le waqf dans l'espace islamique (Damascus, 1995); Daniel Panzac, La peste dans l'empire ottoman, 1700–1850 (Louvain, 1985).

41. Temimi has devoted a number of publications to the Arab provinces (especially Tunis and Algiers) and is the founder of the Centre d'Études et de Recherches Ottomanes, Morisques, de Documentation et d'Information (CEROMDI) at Zaghouan.

42. The first major works by these two historians were Abdul-Karim Rafeq, The Province of Damascus, 1723–1783 (London, 1966); Muhammad H. Cherif, Pouvoir et société dans la Tunisie de Husayn bin ^cAlī, 2 vols. (Tunis, 1984).

43. Nora Lafi, Une ville du Maghreb entre ancien régime et réforme ottomane: Tripoli de Barbarie (1795–1911) (Paris, 2002); Isabelle Grangaud, La ville imprenable: Une histoire sociale de Constantine au XVIIIème siècle (Paris, 2002); Paul Sebag, Tunis au XVIIe siècle (Paris, 1989); idem, Tunis: Histoire d'une ville (Paris, 1998). For M. Tuchscherer, F. Soudan, and P. Bonnenfant, see nn.45 and 56.

44. The chapters dealing with Ottoman Egypt in Volume 2 of the Cambridge History of Egypt (Cambridge, 1998) show that this difficulty is not exclusively French.

45. Jihane Tate, Une waqfiyya du XVIIIe siècle à Alep (Damascus, 1990); M. Tuchscherer, Chronique de ^cAbd al-Rahmān b. Hasan al-Bahkalī (Cairo, 1992). Ibn Abi l-Dhiyaf, Chronique des rois de Tunis, chapitres 4 et 5, ed. and trans. A. Raymond (Tunis, 1994); Benjamin Lellouch, L'Egypte d'un chroniqueur turc du milieu du XVIè siècle, thesis, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, n.d.; B. Marino and T. Okawara, Catalogue des registres des tribunaux ottomans (Damascus, 1999); Frédérique Soudan, Le Yémen ottoman d'après la chronique d'al-Mawza'i (Cairo, 1999); Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Collection des voyageurs occidentaux en Egypte, 25 vols. (Cairo, 1970–95).

46. Eric Geoffroy, Le Soufisme en Egypte et en Syrie Sous les derniers mamelouks et les premiers ottomans (Damascus, 1995). Bernard Heyberger, Les chrétiens du Proche-Orient au temps de la réforme catholique (Rome, 1994). Although Rachida Chih's book Le Soufisme au quotidien (Arles, 2000) deals with the modern period, it touches on the end of the Ottoman period as well.

47. See n.43.

48. R. Ilbert, Alexandrie: 1830–1930, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1996); A. Raymond, Le Caire (Paris, 1993); idem, Le Caire des janissaires (Paris, 1995). The work of Michel Tuchscherer focused on Yemen and then on Egypt and the Red Sea: together with S. Denoix and J.-Ch. Depaule, he co-edited Le Khan al-Khalili, 2 vols. (Cairo, 1999), and he was responsible for both a symposium and a subsequent volume entitled Le commerce du café avant l'ère des plantations coloniales (Cairo, 2001). Bernard Maury (‘Etude sur trois palais d'époque ottomane au Caire’, thesis, Aix-en-Provence, 1980) has contributed to collective works on domestic housing conditions in Cairo (see n.53).

49. Jean-Claude David, Le waqf d'Ipshīr Pāshā à Alep (Damascus, 1982) and many studies on the city and its monuments. My articles are collected in 1998 and 2002 anthologies (see n.39 above). Because J.P. Thieck died prematurely, it was impossible for him to realize fully the talent apparent in ‘Décentralisation ottomane et affirmation urbaine à Alep’, in Mouvements communautaires et espaces urbains au Machreq (Beirut, 1985).

50. Jean-Paul Pascual, Damas à la fin du XVIème siècle (Damascus, 1983). Jean-Paul Pascual and Colette Establet, Familles et fortunes à Damas en 1700 (Damascus, 1994); idem, Ultime voyage pour la Mecque (Damascus, 1998); Brigitte Marino, Le faubourg du Mīdān à Damas à l'époque ottomane (Damascus, 1997). Randi Deguilhem's work deals with the waqf in Syria.

51. Daniel Panzac (ed.), Les villes dans l'empire ottoman: Activités et sociétés, 2 vols. (Paris, 1991–94).

52. Jacques Revault, Palais et demeures de Tunis, 4 vols. (Paris, 1967–78).

53. Alexandre Lézine, Trois palais d'époque ottomane au Caire (Cairo, 1972); J. Revault and B. Maury, Palais et maisons du Caire, 4 vols. (Cairo, 1975–83); B. Maury, A. Raymond, J. Revault, and M. Zakariya, Palais et maisons du Caire: Epoque ottomane (Paris, 1983).

54. J. Revault, L. Golvin, A. Amahan, et al., Palais et demeures de Fès, 3 vols. (Paris, 1985–92).

55. Groupe d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Proche-Orient, L'habitat traditionnel dans les pays musulmans autour de la Méditerranée, 3 vols. (Cairo, 1988–91).

56. Paul Bonnenfant, Les maisons tours de Sanaa (Paris, 1989); Paul Bonnenfant (ed.), Sanaa: Architecture domestique et société (Paris, 1995); Guillemette Bonnenfant and Paul Bonnenfant, Les vitraux de Sanaa (Paris, 1981); idem, L'art du bois à Sanaa (Aix, 1987). Bonnenfant has also worked on the architecture of Zabīd: Paul Bonnenfant (ed.), Zabīd, patrimoine mondial (Bruxelles, 1999).

57. Nicolas Michel, who has also written a work on Moroccan agriculture in the nineteenth century (Une économie de subsistances: Le Maroc précolonial [Cairo, l997]) has published ‘Les rizaq ihbâsiyya’, Annales Islamologiques, 30 (1996), pp.105–98, and a number of articles.

58. A final symposium was held in Cairo in April 2002, and its proceedings will be published by the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale.