British Egyptology (1822-1882)

Author(s): Gold, Meira | Abstract: The growth of British Egyptology between 1822 and 1882 was a direct extension of informal colonial control. In the direct aftermath of the Anglo-French Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815), British fieldwork in Egypt focused on diplomatic collecting for the British Museum and topographical surveys by Orientalist expatriates seeking to differentiate between ancient and modern Egyptian cultures. A second phase of fieldwork developed from mid-century whereby experts in Britain relied on colonial networks of collectors and informants in Egypt to communicate field observations over long distances. British Egyptology was not yet a distinct field, and like other nascent scientific specialisations, developed with porous disciplinary boundaries. It thus encapsulated a wide variety of approaches which included chronology, philology, exegesis, ethnology, anthropology, museology, astronomy, and geology. British Egyptomania and academic Egyptology also grew in tandem as popularizers brought their work to the Victorian public and British tourists flooded into Egypt producing travel accounts. Egyptology was marketed for its ability to shed light on biblical historicity while public exhibitions highlighted the spectacle of the British imperial victories in the East.