Gunpowder Manufacture in Cairo from Bonaparte to Muhammad ’Alî: Adaptation, Innovation and the Transfer of Technology, 1798–1820

During the French occupation of Egypt, under General Bonaparte and his two successors, modern European technologies were there displayed on a large scale for the first time since the Roman Empire. The first printing press, the Cairo windmills and Conté’s mechanical workshops (Ateliers de mécanique) were undoubtedly the most important, both as symbols and as the basis for later modernization under Muhammad ’Alî.1 But in the context of a military expedition, technologies related to the army were prominent. Such was the case with gunpowder manufacture.