The idea emerged, powerfully, that the Sudanese benefited from crossing over into Egyptian culture, and that the civilizing hand of the Egyptian government would tame the awesome terri- tory of the Sudan itself. After 1882, the failure of `Uräbï's forces and the British occupation occurred within the context of the European scramble for Africa, a context about which Egyptians were growing more aware thanks to the spread of newspapers and journals in their country. A third, disquiet- ing element entered Egyptians' ideas of territorial conquest in Africa. This was the uncomfortable realization that, in the eyes of western European cul- ture, Egypt stood somewhere closer to Africa than to Europe when mea- sured on a scale that calibrated the achievements of each civilization, and that Egypt was just as vulnerable to conquest and colonization as the Sudan.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 349