Imperialism through Islamic Networks 29times of war or famine, the route was unsecured, Bedouin attacks were frequent,
and some years the caravan got stuck in Damascus. During the decade-long
Egyptian occupation of Syria, the Ottomans lost control of the Damascus hajj
caravan. In 1832 and 1833 the caravan did not leave Damascus because of local
revolts and the Egyptians’ inability to secure the caravan route. Thereafter,
between 1834 and 1839, the Egyptians controlled and ran the caravan between
Damascus and Mecca, introducing new procedures and ceremonies and putting
their own officials in charge of it.^38 Only in the early 1840s, with the withdrawal
of Egyptian troops from Syria, did the Ottomans begin to reassert their author-
ity over the Damascus hajj caravan, and restore their traditional ceremonies.
Even so, by the 1840s the Damascus hajj caravan was an institution in decline.
Every year the numbers of pilgrims declined, to as few as 2,000 a year by 1850,
compared to tens of thousands at the start of the century. There were two reasons
for this. With the rise of steamship travel worldwide, hajj pilgrims were beginning
to shift away from traditional land routes to take sea routes to Arabia instead.
Figure 1.2. Procession of the Ottoman hajj caravan through Damascus. Early 1900s.
(Courtesy of the Kunstkamera Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia)