Ahmed Hassanein
![]() | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (July 2009) |
![]() | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (December 2007) |
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Hassanein1924natgeog-p251-theodolite.jpg/220px-Hassanein1924natgeog-p251-theodolite.jpg)
Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, KCVO, MBE (Arabic: أحمد حسنين باشا) (31 October 1889 – 19 February 1946)[1] or Aḥmad Moḥammad Makhlūf Ḥasanēn al-Būlākī (Arabic: أحمد محمد مخلوف حسنين البولاقى) was an Oxford-educated Egyptian courtier, diplomat, Olympic athlete in fencing, photographer, writer, politician, explorer and tutor to King Farouk.
Ahmed Hassanein was one of the most influential figures in Egyptian politics as the Chief of the Diwan and Chamberlain to Farouk, the king of Egypt from 1936 to 1952.
Son of an Al Azhar professor, he was a grandson of the last Admiral of the Egyptian fleet before it was dismantled under British occupation in 1882.
Tutor
King Fuad I, father of Farouk, chose Ahmed to tutor the Crown Prince during the Prince's studies as a teenager in London. While Fuad spoke Turkish as his mother-tongue and was not therefore able to eloquently address his own nation, Farouk, under the supervision of Ahmed Pasha Hassanein, learned to speak Arabic well and developed a strong sense of nationalism.
Expeditions
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Hassanein1924natgeog-p236-map.jpg/220px-Hassanein1924natgeog-p236-map.jpg)
During an expedition through the Libyan Desert in 1923, Ahmed Hassanein (then only Effendi in title) crossed a region defended by the fierce and puritanical Senussis.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/db/Hass-sats-all4-s.gif/220px-Hass-sats-all4-s.gif)
Hassanein's first journey was to the Kufra, the Senussi's oasis capital. The journey nearly came to grief owing to the inability of his companion, Rosita Forbes, to read a compass correctly.[citation needed] Forbes claims in her book The Secret of the Sahara: Kufara (1921) that she had been the inspiration and leader of the exhibition, though this claim has been challenged.[citation needed]
In December 1922, Hassanein began a new scientific expedition from Sallum. He recorded bearings and measures of distances, took photos, samples, wrote his journal, and interacted with his men to learn more about their traditions and places and natural phenomena. His success was ensured when he saw Kufra his destination in the horizon to correct its position for the first time on maps, but — even to his own surprise — there was more to be discovered. The climax of his expedition was the discovery of unknown water sources that opened new Sahara routes from Kufra to Sudanic Africa. The water sources or 'The Lost Oases' are Jebel Uweinat and Jebel Arkenu that were not even known to the Senussis he visited in Kufra.[citation needed] He is still remembered today for the significant rock art he photographed on this journey.
In September 1924, his famous report was published in the National Geographic Magazine with 47 photos and a map. His book 'The Lost Oasis' has followed a year later in English and subsequently in Arabic and German.
Ahmed's work includes: an unusually accurate map of a then-unknown region (based on astro-fixing and triangulation techniques), writings on the history and traditions of the isolated middle-eastern sect the Senussis in Libya, who had fought for their independence fiercely, a widely published memoir, a geological collection, thousands of photos, hours of footage, Bey title, and the prestigious Gold Medal of the British Royal Geographical Society in 1924.[citation needed]
Hassanein mausoleum
Hassanein was laid to rest in the Mameluke Northern Cemetery across the Salah Salem road from the new seat of the Al-Azhar Imam in a mausoleum[2] built by his brother-in-law, the renowned architect Hassan Fathy.
Olympics
He competed at the 1920 and 1924 Summer Olympics in the foil and Épée competitions.[3]
References
- ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1980). "The Royal House of Egypt". Burke's Royal Families of the World (snippet view). Vol. Volume II: Africa & the Middle East. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 36. ISBN 9780850110296. OCLC 18496936. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
{{cite book}}
:|volume=
has extra text (help) - ^ Recent photo of his Mausoleum with far in the background the building of the Imam of AlAzhar مبنى مشيخة الأزهر
- ^ "Ahmed Mohamed Hassanein Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Retrieved 2010-03-23.
External links
- 1889 births
- 1946 deaths
- Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
- Egyptian courtiers
- Egyptian explorers
- Egyptian fencers
- Egyptian pashas
- Egyptian photographers
- Egyptian writers
- Explorers of Africa
- Explorers of the Libyan Desert
- Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
- Fencers at the 1920 Summer Olympics
- Fencers at the 1924 Summer Olympics
- Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
- Members of the Order of the British Empire
- Motorcycle accident victims
- Olympic fencers of Egypt
- People from Cairo