![Ahmad Hasnein](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Ahmad_Hasnein.jpg)
Ahmed Hassanein
Pasha
Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitar ...
,
KCVO, MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
() (31 October 1889 – 19 February 1946) or Aḥmad Moḥammad Makhlūf Ḥasanēn al-Būlākī () was an Egyptian courtier, diplomat, politician, and
geographic explorer. Hassanein was the tutor, Chief of the Diwan and Chamberlain to
Farouk, the king of Egypt from 1936 to 1952, and also represented Egypt in the
1924 Summer Olympics in
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
.
Early life
Hassanein was born in 1889, the son of an
Al-Azhar University professor, and grandson of the last Admiral of the Egyptian fleet before it was dismantled under British occupation in 1882. He studied at
Balliol College
Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the ...
of
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
.
Tutor
King Fuad I
Fuad I ( ar, فؤاد الأول ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; tr, I. Fuad or ; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sulta ...
, father of
Farouk, chose Hassanein 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 therefore unable to eloquently address his own nation, Farouk learned to speak Arabic proficiently under Hassanein's coaching.
Expeditions
![Hass-sats-all4-s](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Hass-sats-all4-s.gif)
During an expedition through the
Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...
in 1923, Ahmed Hassanein crossed a region defended by the puritanical
Senussis.
![Hassanein1924natgeog-p251-theodolite](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Hassanein1924natgeog-p251-theodolite.jpg)
In December 1922, Hassanein began a new scientific expedition from
Sallum
Sallum ( ar, السلوم, translit=as-Sallūm various transliterations include ''El Salloum'', ''As Sallum'' or ''Sollum'') is a harbourside village or town in Egypt. It is along the Egypt/Libyan short north–south aligned coast of the Mediterra ...
. 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. He corrected the position of his destination of Kufra on maps, and at the climax of his expedition discovered previously unknown water sources, the "Lost Oases" of
Jebel Uweinat
Mount Uwaynat or Gabal El Uweinat ( ar, جبل العوينات ', Arabic for 'Mountain of the springs') is a mountain range in the area of the Egyptian-Libyan- Sudanese tripoint. Because of thousands of prehistoric rock art sites, it is consi ...
and
Jebel Arkenu
Mount Arkanu or Jabal Arkanu (also Jebel Arkenu or Gebel Árchenu) is a mountain in Libya. Geography
The mountain is located in the Libyan Desert in the Kufra District of Libya, about 300 km southeast of El Tag.Bertarelli (1929), p. 515 and ab ...
, which opened new Sahara routes from Kufra to
Sudanic Africa. The latter was known since 1892 through Arab sources,.
[Bertarelli (1929), p. 515.] During the journey he took photographs of significant
rock art.
In September 1924, his report was published in the
National Geographic Magazine
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
with 47 photos and a map. His book, ''The Lost Oases'', was published the following year in English and later in Arabic and German.
Ahmed's work based on his journeys includes: an accurate map of a then-unknown region, based on astro-fixing and triangulation techniques; writings on the history and traditions of the isolated and fiercely independent Senussis sect in Libya; a published memoir; a geological collection; and thousands of photos and hours of footage. He was honoured with the title of
Bey
Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...
and the
Founder's Medal of the British
Royal Geographical Society in 1924.
Olympics
Hassanein competed at the
1920 and
1924 Summer Olympics in the
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ...
and
épée
The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...
competitions.
Hassanein mausoleum
Ahmed Hassanein was killed in an automobile accident on 19 February 1946 and was buried in the Mameluke Northern Cemetery across the Salah Salem road from the new seat of the Al-Azhar Imam in a mausoleum built by his brother-in-law, the architect
Hassan Fathy
Hassan Fathy ( arz, حسن فتحي; March 23, 1900 – November 30, 1989) was a noted Egyptian architect who pioneered appropriate technology for building in Egypt, especially by working to reestablish the use of adobe and traditional mud cons ...
.
Sources
*
References
External links
Definitive brief biography of Ahmed Hassanein: Introduction by Michael Haag to ''The Lost Oases'' by Ahmed Hassanein, The American University in Cairo Press, Cairo and New York, 2006*
ttp://www.saharasafaris.org/hassaneinbey/biography.htm Ahmed Hassanein biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassanein, Ahmed
1889 births
1946 deaths
Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford
Egyptian courtiers
Egyptian explorers
Egyptian male épée fencers
Egyptian pashas
19th-century Egyptian people
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 road incident deaths
Road incident deaths in Egypt
Olympic fencers of Egypt
Sportspeople from Cairo
Egyptian male foil fencers
Fellows of the American Physical Society