[This map was drawn by the Imperial Engineering Office].

Very good. Manuscript. Dissected and mounted on linen. Light soiling. Size 55 x 32.25 Inches. An extraordinary, one-of-a-kind large-format manuscript folding map of Ottoman Syria produced by the sultan's Imperial Engineering Office c. 1832. It was made in the context of the First Egyptian Ottoman War (1831 - 1833), which saw the region temporarily come under Egyptian rule. A Closer Look Covering nearly the entire eastern Mediterranean coast from Iskenderun to just south of Jaffa (now Tel Aviv), this map includes a variety of political, infrastructural, and topographical details. Mountains are illustrated, and waterways are traced, as are roads between settlements. The various Ottoman eyalets , including Sidon (????? ????), Damascus (????? ???), Tripoli (????? ?????? ???), and Aleppo (???, here as a ?????? or flag / banner), are labeled in large black text and traced with hand-coloring. Settlements, many of which were the center of lower-level administrative divisions such as sanjaks or livas and kazas , are also identified and divided from each other by dotted lines. At left and top, the Mediterranean Sea, Gulf of Iskenderun, and Adana Eyalet are labelled. At bottom right is an inset of the Dead Sea and environs, as far west as Jerusalem. Near Acre (???), soundings mark out nautical depths in the adjoining bay, the best natural harbor in the region. The First Egyptian - Ottoman War (1831 - 1833) This part of the Ottoman Empire had historically been ruled rather lightly. Following a remarkable string of conquests in the early 16th century, in which the Ottomans seized most of the Levant from the Mamluk Sultanate, titles and privileges were granted to allies and local clan leaders willing to work with the Ottomans. Greater Syria was effectively ruled as semi-autonomous territories, with the clans being tasked with collecting taxes (keeping a portion for themselves) while providing military service to the sultan. This system worked well to maintain stability on the frontiers of the empire but proved incapable of stopping powerful external challenges. These weaknesses became apparent at the turn of the 19th century. Seeing control of the eastern Mediterranean as essential to his wider contest with the British, Napoleon invaded Egypt and Syria in 1798 - 1801. Although the French generally found success on the battlefield, especially in the campaign's early months, capturing many of the essential coastal fortifications and settlements seen here, Napoleon's attention was drawn back to Europe with the War of the Second Coalition (1798 - 1802). Moreover, the benefits to France from invading and occupying so much territory were outweighed by costs, including diseases, which killed as many French troops than died in battle. With British assistance, the Ottomans regrouped and increasingly threatened the French gains, recapturing Cairo and Alexandria in the summer of 1801, leading to an 1802 treaty which ostensibly reestablished the status quo ante . However, the conflict was a shock to the Ottoman Empire, demonstrating the wide technological, economic, and administrative deficit of the Ottomans vis-à-vis the premier European powers. Sultan Selim III (r. 1789 - 1807) instituted a series of military reforms, but was hampered by established interests, namely the Janissary Corps. In the Levant, the sultan turned to an extremely capable administrator and military strategist named Muhammad Ali to restore Ottoman rule. Muhammad Ali was successful in pacifying Egypt, but then immediately moved to assert his autonomy and instituted a range of modernizing reforms far beyond those being pursued by the sultan. He proved to be a double-edged sword for the Ottomans - conquering the Sudan, reconquering Arabia, and nearly reconquering Greece in the 1820s - before threatening to topple the Sublime Porte itself in the 1830s. An undercurrent of tensions between the Sublime Porte and Muhammed Ali exploded in the latter stages of the Greek War of Independenc.…