Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds

Louis Linant de Bellefonds

Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds (born November 23, 1799 in Lorient , † July 9, 1883 in Cairo , Egypt ) was a French explorer who joined the building administration of Egypt in 1831 as a senior engineer, was given the title of Bey in 1837 , and was general director in 1862 the building administration and in 1869 building minister. Although less known than Ferdinand de Lesseps , Linant played a key role in the planning and construction of the Suez Canal .

Explorer

After a school education that emphasized math, drawing and painting, the 15-year-old Linant accompanied his father Antoine-Marie, a naval officer, on a sea voyage to survey and map Newfoundland .

After completing the relevant exams, the following year he took part in an exploration trip to Greece , Syria , Palestine and Egypt on the frigate Cléopâtre . After a draftsman died at the beginning of the trip, Linant was given the task of drawing views of Athens , Constantinople , Ephesus , Acre and Jerusalem . From Jaffa he traveled with his group on camels to Damietta and further on the Nile to Cairo. Linant decided there not to return to France, but to enter the service of Viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha , which he left soon after to go on research trips.

From 1818 to 1819 he was in Nubia , in 1820 he took part in the expedition of the French consul general Bernardino Drovetti to the Siwa oasis , to which no Europeans had penetrated in modern times and of which he published a series of drawings. Shortly thereafter, he explored along with the Italians Alessandro Ricci the Sinai ; the intention to travel on to Petra , however, failed due to hostilities in the region. The experience gained on this trip and the diverse contacts made with the local Bedouins , however, contributed to the success of the 1828 trip to Petra with Léon de Laborde (1807–1869). In the meantime, he visited Fayum in 1821 , after which he was commissioned by the Englishman William John Bankes (1786–1855) to make explorations in Sudan . This 13-month journey, begun in June 1821, led him to the ruins of al-Musawwarat as-sufra and Naqa , which he reached just before Frédéric Cailliaud , the first European to discover Meroe .

In 1824 Linant spent a few months in London, where the African Association suggested that he support him on an expedition similar to Jean Louis Burckhardt . After further trips to Nubia and Sudan, he tried in 1827 on behalf of the Association to pursue the White Nile as far upstream as possible, but was prevented from further progress at the 13th parallel by local hostilities. After his successful Petra trip in 1828 he retired, as he later wrote, for about a year alone with a good selection of books in a valley of the Sinai in order to acquire the knowledge he needed for a service as an engineer in the Egyptian administration needed. In 1831, the Société de Géographie in Paris commissioned him to lead a similar expedition, which was canceled by Viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha, who instead sent him to search for the gold mines of Etbai .

During this time he began to develop an interest in the Isthmus of Suez. In 1822 he had visited Suez , the traces of the ancient Trajan Canal , Lake Timsah and the ruins of Pelusium . In the following years he kept coming back to the isthmus, traveling through the desert between the Nile and the Red Sea to the monasteries of St. Antonius and St. Paul and exploring the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the arms of the water leading to Lake Menzaleh . As he later wrote, on these voyages he began the first studies for a connection between the two seas.

Engineer in the Egyptian building administration

In 1831 he returned to the Egyptian building administration, where he was initially appointed chief engineer of the building administration of Upper Egypt . There he was involved in modernizing the irrigation systems and dams. Between 1834 and 1836, as director of the administration of the canals, bridges and roads in all of Egypt, he was in charge of the construction work for the great Delta Barrages north of Cairo. In 1837 he moved to the building management in the Ministry of Information and received the title of Bey . In 1862 he became director general of the building administration and in 1869 he became a minister and member of the viceroy's council.

At the age of 70, he retired to write his memoirs. In June 1873 the viceroy Ismail awarded him the honorary title of pasha . Linant remained in Egypt until his death on July 9, 1883 in Cairo.

Savior of the pyramids

To make the construction of the great Nile dam easier, the viceroy Muhammad Ali Pasha is said to have suggested that he use the stone blocks of the pyramids. A contradiction was not feasible and might have resulted in Linant being replaced by another, compliant engineer. Linant therefore made a detailed, complex calculation, in which he demonstrated that new stone blocks from the quarry would be more cost-effective than using the blocks from the pyramids. With that the idea of ​​dismantling the pyramids was done.

Linant and the Suez Canal

Linant had already spoken to the French consul general Mimaut since 1830, then to Lesseps, who had been consul in Cairo since 1833, about his ideas for building canals between the two seas, which he developed further during his work in the Egyptian building administration. During this time he also made the acquaintance of the Saint-Simonist Prosper Enfantin , who tried with some followers to realize his ideas via a channel. In 1841 he presented the first plans to the English shipping company Peninsular Steam Navigation Co. (later P&O). In 1844 he handed his plans to Lesseps. In his capacity as a ministerial official, he was involved in the investigations of the Société d'Études du Canal de Suez , founded by Prosper Enfantin in 1846, carried out in 1847 by Alois Negrelli , Robert Stephenson and Paul-Adrien Bourdaloue . He wrote the report for the new survey carried out by Bourdaloue.

Lesseps, no longer active in the diplomatic service, received on November 30, 1854 from the new viceroy Said Pascha , an old friend, the first concession to build an as yet undefined canal through the isthmus by means of an international company that has yet to be founded. In this concession, Linant is designated as the viceroy's engineer at the company ( notre commissaire ingénieur auprès de la Compagnie ). In the following months, Linant worked with Eugène Mougel (1808-1890), a French hydraulic engineer involved in the construction of the Delta Barrages , a more detailed planning of the Suez Canal. Lesseps presented this plan with his report of April 30, 1855 to the viceroy, who declared it with a decision of May 19, 1855 as the content of his order regarding the further procedure for the construction of the Suez Canal. This decision stipulated that Linant and Mougel should determine, level and map the course of the canal in the area, carry out soundings and take soil samples, determine the essential wage and material costs and make an initial estimate of the number of workers required. The resulting plans should be published and discussed by an international commission; then the final route should be decided. Linant was aware, however, that working directly for the company was incompatible with his position as senior ministerial official and thus avoided taking up a position directly in the construction of the Suez Canal. Rather, he continued his career, at the end of which he became Egyptian building minister.

swell

• The article is largely based on the articles in the English and French WP and the following web links. The rescue of the pyramids is also portrayed in: Major Robert Hanbury Brown: The Delta Barrage of Lower Egypt . National Printing Department, Cairo 1902, p. 4. Digitized on archive.org

Web links

• Linant Pacha Biographical Presentation (French)
• Carnets de voyages et de notes de Maurice-Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds (1799-1883) on the digital library of the INHA - Institut national d'histoire de l'art (French)
• Early Visitors to Petra - Léon de Laborde and Louis Linant de Bellefonds in 1828 (English)
• First license, report of April 30, 1855 and notification of May 19, 1855 digitized in archive (French)

bibliography

• Mémoires sur les principaux travaux d'utilité publique exécutés en Égypte depuis les temps de la plus haute antiquité jusqu'à nos jours. Arthus Bertrand Éditeur, Paris 1872–1873, ( digitized on Google Books)
• L'Etbaye ou pays habité par les arabes Bichariehs: geography, ethnology, mines d'or. Arthus Bertrand Éditeur, Paris 1868, ( digitized on Google Books)