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A rare early German plan of Cairo, combining al-Qāhira, the historic capital of Fustat, the commercial suburb of Bulāq, and the west-bank district of Giza ("Dschise"), after surveys by the Danish explorer Carsten Niebuhr. Issued by the Geographisches Institut in Weimar, this map was based on Niebuhr’s firsthand survey work from the 1760s and precedes the monumental plates of the Description de l’Égypte, published the same year.
The map is oriented with east at top and shows the city in remarkable detail, capturing the street grid, gardens, citadel, and major districts along both banks of the Nile, including Rōda Island. Forty-eight lettered and numbered sites are keyed at upper right, identifying the Ottoman pasha’s palace, quarters of the Mamluk beys, Greek and Coptic churches, mosques, military depots, the great bazaar, powder magazine, aqueduct, and other prominent features of the late Ottoman city. Several areas are marked as quarters for Jews, Franks, and Venetians, reflecting the multicultural character of the capital in the period just before Muḥammad ʿAlī Paşa’s sweeping reforms.
This map served as one of the first widely available printed plans of Cairo for German-speaking audiences, based on direct observation rather than classical sources or hearsay. In content and timing, it bridges two moments in European engagement with Egypt: the scientific expeditions of the Enlightenment and the colonial interests of the Napoleonic era.
![Paragone delle scoperte fatte sul Nilo equatoriale Dai viaggiatori Miani 1859–60 e Speke e Grant 1860–62 Offre, Dedica, Miani [with] Confronto Geografico intorno alle scoperte del Nilo fatte dai signori Speke e Grant e da G. Miani [and] La mia escursione all'Istmo di Suez](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/114363.jpg)
