ABSTRACT

One of the products of Michael Winter’s scholarly interest in Ottoman history is his Egyptian Society under Ottoman Rule, 1517–1798. 1 At first sight, the title may seem a bit surprising: the study covers a very long period, three centuries, but leaves out the fourth, that is, the nineteenth century, with which Winter is also well acquainted. But the study does not deal with political history alone; it has also a strong focus on society. The great wealth of information relates to pre-modern, especially urban society in Ottoman Egypt, although it does not by any means neglect the political setting. 2 If the discussion had been extended to the nineteenth century, it would have gone beyond the framework of the study. The political, social and cultural developments of that century brought a quantitative increase in change to Ottoman Egypt, which is inevitably linked with a qualitative aspect, namely the beginning of modernity. Although dating the onset of modernity has been and still is a much contested issue, there is fairly wide agreement that the eighteenth century (at least until the early 1770s) is still to be considered pre-modern. 3 Moreover, Ottoman rule over Egypt was clearly interrupted by the French occupation in 1798. Winter’s study can end there, and thus avoid the thorny problems of nineteenth-century modernity.