al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya al-Jadida
- Author died
- 1311 AH
- Editions
- Dar al-Kutub wa-l-Watha'iq al-Qawmiyya
al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya al-Jadida (al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya al-Jadida li-Misr al-Qahira wa-Muduniha wa-Biladiha al-Qadima wa-l-Shahira, "The New Tawfiqian Topography of Cairo and its Ancient and Famous Towns and Regions") is a comprehensive 20-volume topographical and historical encyclopedia of Egypt composed by the Egyptian statesman, engineer, and scholar Ali Mubarak (1239–1311 AH / 1823/1824–1893 CE) .
Background and Purpose
Mubarak composed the work after observing that centuries had passed since al-Maqrizi's foundational fifteenth-century survey, al-Mawa'iz wa-l-I'tibar bi-Dhikr al-Khitat wa-l-Athar, resulting in significant transformations and the disappearance of many historic sites, buildings, and urban landmarks in Cairo . Aiming to bridge the four-century gap separating his era from al-Maqrizi's, Mubarak set out to document Cairo and all Egyptian cities and villages, tracing their ancient names, origins, original patrons, subsequent owners, and current nineteenth-century state . The composition and printing of the work took more than ten years to complete .
Structure and Content
The encyclopedia is organized into twenty volumes covering the topography, architecture, administration, and history of Egypt from the Fatimid era to the reign of Khedive Tawfiq :
- Volume 1: Surveys the history of Cairo and Egypt from the arrival of the Fatimids to the reign of Khedive Tawfiq, comparing historical conditions with contemporary developments and describing Cairo's modern quarters .
- Volumes 2–4: Cover Cairo's quarters, streets, alleys, and thoroughfares (akhtat, shawaari', durub, and harat), arranged in alphabetical order, with historical investigations tracing their changes since al-Maqrizi's time .
- Volume 5: Dedicated to the mosques of Cairo .
- Volumes 6–17: Provide exhaustive topographical surveys of the provincial cities, towns, and villages of Upper and Lower Egypt, recording facilities such as mosques, shrines, small prayer spaces (zawaya), monasteries, and churches, accompanied by biographical entries for prominent figures associated with each locality . Under the entry for his birthplace, the village of Barnabal al-Jadida in Daqahliyya, Mubarak includes an extensive autobiography in the ninth volume .
- Volume 18: Dedicated to the River Nile, nilometers (maqayis), and recorded flood levels from ancient times .
- Volume 19: Focuses on irrigation channels, canals, and waterways (al-tura' wa-l-khuljan) .
- Volume 20: Devoted to Islamic numismatics and coinage (al-nuqud al-islamiyya) .
Sources and Method
Mubarak drew upon early topographical and historical writers, including Ibn Abd al-Hakam, Ibn Zulaq, al-Musabbihi, Ibn Duqmaq, and al-Maqrizi, as well as biographical dictionaries such as al-Muhibbi's Khulasat al-Athar . His positions as a minister of public works, endowments (awqaf), and education gave him direct access to endowment registers (kutub al-waqf), title deeds ('uqud al-amlak), governmental archives, and family records . He also utilized European historical and travel accounts, 19th-century archaeological findings, epigraphic inscriptions, and numismatic evidence .
Reception and Publication History
The work has been described as a comprehensive atlas and historical encyclopedia of Egypt's topography, urbanism, and notable personalities . The historian Muhammad Abd Allah Inan noted that the genre of khitat had seen no comparable effort in novelty and exhaustiveness since al-Maqrizi, observing that Mubarak's task was in some respects more difficult because he had to navigate through the unrecorded Ottoman era and identify vanished sites amidst modern developments . A noted limitation of the original work is that, despite Mubarak's engineering background and familiarity with the French Description de l'Égypte, it was published without accompanying illustrative maps .
al-Khitat al-Tawfiqiyya was first published by royal order of Khedive Tawfiq at the Bulaq Press in 20 parts between 1304 AH and 1306 AH (1888–1889 CE) . It was later reprinted by the Egyptian General Book Authority, and a revised edition in 20 volumes was prepared by the Center for Heritage Editing at Dar al-Kutub and republished in 2004 .
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