It was 200 years ago in July that General Napoleon Bonaparte led his forces towards Egypt’s pyramids. “Soldiers, forty centuries look down upon you,” he told his staff. According to an article by John Dellinger in Military History Magazine (August 1998) Bonaparte, still a young general, had conceived of the mission himself, having been fascinated by the Orient since childhood. It was his thought that conquering Egypt would cut off Britain, France’s great rival, from overland access to India.

After about a year of fighting and occupying Egypt, Bonaparte found his supply line from Europe cut off by the British. It became increasingly difficult to achieve his objectives in the Middle East and so he abandoned his army, which remained in Egypt for two more years after his departure.

Bonaparte had brought about 500 scientists with him to record Egypt’s past and present. They found a culture that was considered to have changed little since medieval times. Some of the researchers studied Arab music. Professional dancers were among the camp followers of the army. According to Dellinger, Bonaparte was generous in allowing his troops to intermingle with the population.

However, the writer Auriant states that the awalem, professional entertainers for the well-to-do, fled Cairo before the French entered the city. The learned awalem chose not to intermingle with the invaders. Auriant also states that the less cultured ghawazi became so numerous among the camp followers, they were considered almost a pestilence. A general reported the problem to Bonaparte, who suggested that the local authorities should deal with it. In response, some 400 ghawazi were beheaded and their bodies cast into the Nile.

After Bonaparte, Egypt would never be the same again. Although France gave up the idea of conquering Egypt, the French fascination with Egypt, scholarly and otherwise, continued throughout the colonial era.