Page 11 - Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabi & Uman (1800-1870)

CHAPTER 1

SURVEY OF THE SOURCES

Since the study of Su‘udi relations with eastern Arabia and ‘Uman (1800-1871)
requires the consultation of a wide range of material dealing with the history of
every particular principality in the area both before and during the period
under consideration, we will survey here only those works most relevant to our
research. Sources for the period of this study include Arabic and English
manuscripts and printed documents, as well as reports and books.

A. Official Unpublished Archival Sources
1. Egypt: The National Archives, Cairo
The documents preserved in these archives are a very important source of
information. They are concerned with the history of Arabia during the first
half of the nineteenth century in general, and with the Turkish-Egyptian
expedition, rule, and activity in the Arabian peninsula in particular. They are a
mine of information on the political, social, and economic condition of the
territory. The bulk of this collection is the correspondence of Muhammad ‘All
Pasha, the zvali of Egypt, with the Sublime Porte and his officers and
commanders in Arabia, as well as with Arab rulers and tribal chiefs in various
parts of the peninsula. Some letters, statements, and reports in these archives
were written by Arabs in the Arabic language and attached to copies of their
Turkish translations. It is fortunate, however, that all the documents in the
Turkish language which relate to the history of the period under consideration
have been officially translated into Arabic by a commission whose members
were fluent both in Turkish and in Arabic, thus making them available for
Arab researchers who have no knowledge of Ottoman Turkish. These files,
though classified under various divisions and partly indexed, do not always
correspond with the subjects indicated or the date given in the file. Because of
this difficulty, one has to look for a certain document in various locations in
different files.
Four different collections of files were consulted for the preparation of my
research:
1. The Hijaz files, which contain information on the proceedings of
Muhammad ‘All, expeditions to al-Hijaz, the progress of the war and

7