began as a small trickle of American travelers to Egypt in
the early part of the nineteenth century became a steady stream,
rivaling the flow of the Nile, by the first years of the twentieth
the late 1860s,
began as a small trickle of American travelers to Egypt in
the early part of the nineteenth century became a steady stream,
rivaling the flow of the Nile, by the first years of the twentieth
the late 1860s, Thomas Cook and Son began offering Nile excursions
on steamers and luxurious dhahabîyehs, reducing
much of the hardship of earlier travel. These conveniences
brought more American visitors to Egypt, ranging from noted
public figures to midwestern businessmen and their families.
Soon, the exotic locales of Nubia and the oases of the Western
Sahara Desert were offered as de rigueur stops on the Grand
Tour for American travellers.
1867, Samuel Langhorne Clemens in the guise of Mark Twain
made a tour of Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land and described
them in his book Innocents Abroad (1869). Americans
who later traveled through these same regions liked to retell
Twain's witty anecdotes and observations which they compared
to their own experiences.
number of the other Americans who published books based on
their own journeys to Egypt included Lincoln's Secretary of
State William H. Seward and his daughter Olivi