The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the height of European colonial activity in the Middle East. This was a period during which the British were involved in the affairs of Egypt and the Sudan as they formed alliances in the region for economic purposes. In 1820 the British and the Gulf-region sheikhs established economic pacts that would guarantee the British access to Gulf-region resources and in 1839 they annexed Aden. The British went to war with Iran in 1856 over rights of way to India and China through Iran and later, in 1907, England and Russia would vie for power in Iran and divide it for their interests. The Italians entered the Middle East also at the beginning of the 20th century, establishing presence in Libya through a series of campaigns over a twenty year period.

The French, in turn, gained control over Algiers in 1830 and also pressed into Lebanon in 1860. In 1881 the French established a protectorate in Tunisia and would through the northern gateway of Africa establish a presence in what are today the modern nations Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Niger, Guinea, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin. France’s intention was to establish a firm east-west axis of control across the African continent in opposition to the British Empire’s north-south axis of power. The two imperial powers were at odds, though by 1904 the two had reached a series of agreements under the Entente Cordiale which eventually led the way for Britain to support France’s grab for Morocco as a French protectorate. Previously, in 1869, the French and British had collaborated with their financing to assist the Egyptians in construction of the Suez Canal.

The colonies of the Middle East were exploited for their resources and their strategic location as well as for the wealth of their artistic traditions, brought back to Europe in the antiquities trade. Sometimes with the assistance of their hosts, the British and other European powers returned to their countries with cultural treasures

destined for the museums of the future. This is how the Parthenon’s treasured “Elgin Marbles” were taken from their place of origin at the Acropolis, at the time an Ottoman military fort, to the British Museum. The colonial era in the Middle East also led to greater European travel in the region and a fascination for all things from Africa and the Near East.

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