West and Islam

1. West and Islam • Islamic world is divided about how to reverse decline and get Europeans out. • Do they return to the past or adopt Western ways? • Loss of Ottoman Empire (technically Islamic territory) creates a sense of crisis in the Middle east.

2. Egypt • Napoleon destroys Egypt’s local power balance. • The easy victory of the French demonstrates the vulnerability of Muslim regions. • Muhammad Ali emerges as ruler. • Introduces military reform and creates a powerful army and navy. • Tries to modernize economy through reforms in agriculture, infrastructure, education, industry. • Rules with powerful rural landlords, leaves peasants impoverished.

3. Decline • Ali’s successors abandon reform. • Dependent on a single crop, cotton. • The Regime and elite become indebted to Europeans. • Egyptians split on how to save their kingdom. Some wanted to revert to the past. • Others stressed the need to adopt Western science and technology. Contested conservative views and literal translation of the Qur’an.

4. Suez Canal • Europeans invest in the building of the Suez Canal. • Egyptian foreign debt and importance of the canal stimulated British and French intervention. • British ultimately rules Egyptians through puppet Khedives.

5. Sudan • British drawn into the disorder in the Sudan. • Egyptians conquest in the 1820’s but camel nomads resisted their authority. • The corrupt Egyptian regime oppressed sedentary farmers and alienated all classes by trying to end the slave trade. • Muslims are lead by a religious figure known as the Mahdi. • He proclaims a jihad against the Egyptians and British and wants to return Islam to its original purity.

6. Sudan • The Mahdists built a strong state with a society closely regulated by strict Islamic norms. • Europeans end Sudanese threat to Egyptians through war. • World of Islam suffers serious reverses. • Local economies become dependent on European products and demands.