Cartographica Helvetica

Summary

Madlena Cavelti Hammer:

The 'Carte topographique de l'Egypte' from Napoleon's campaign 1798/99

Cartographica Helvetica 31 (2005) 21–30

Summary:

After the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte took over the command of the French army and conquered half of Europe and large territories around the Mediterranean. Between 1798 and 1801, the French army was in Egypt and carried out one of its most famous campaigns. Topographers always accompanied the campaigns and the conquered territories were thus surveyed and mapped on the spot. An interesting fact is that already during Napoleon's rule many of these military maps were engraved in copper but not published, except the map of Italy. However, when Napoleon abdicated, various maps were published right away as for example the Carte topographique de l'Egypte which consisted of 47 sheets at the scale 1:100,000 and was a part of the Description de l'Egypte, which in itself was a colossal work in literature, science as well as the arts.

Bibliographic note

Edited version of: Les traces cartographiques de Bonaparte dans les pays méditerranéens (1797–1815), spécialement en Egypte. In: Tetradia Ergasias 25/26 (2004) pp. 157–180.