As J. B. Harley writes, "So the surveyor, whether conscious or otherwise, replicates not just the 'environment' in some abstract sense but equally the territorial imperatives of a particular political system. Whether a map is produced under the banner of cartographic sci- ence—as most official maps have been—or whether it is an overt propa- ganda exercise, it cannot escape involvement in the processes by which power is deployed." As these maps described the Sudan in increasingly precise detail, so too did their creators chart a more defined map of Egypt geographically, politically, and culturally. The process of conquering and studying the Sudan would create among Egyptians, by the last quarter of the century, a much stronger sense of the state and nation—of what Egypt meant. This small empire was drawn by its colonies.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 127