The historian Nissim Maqqar concludes that documents like the above affirm the scientific goals of the expedition: to bring home geographic knowledge of the White Nile and to civilize (tamdïn) the tribes and uncivi- lized groups living along the river. In many instances, Maqqar takes Muhammad `Alï at his word, but it may be helpful to problematize the word tamdïn, loaded with meanings that changed with every decade of the viceroy's reign.

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 196