Gert Huskens

Beleven de Emiraten hun ‘Alexandrië-moment’? Gert Huskens is historicus en postdoctoraal onderzoeker bij het FWO van de UGent. Hij vergelijkt de huidige Emiraten met het Alexandrië van de 19de eeuw. ‘Nu de exodus vanuit de Emiraten op gang is ge...

www.demorgen.be/meningen/bel...

In 1882 werd Alexandrië platgebombardeerd. De stad veerde recht, maar verloor zijn positie als internationaal kruispunt. Wacht de Emiraten hetzelfde lot?

In @demorgen.be maak ik vandaag de vergelijking en leg ik verbanden met mijn eigen onderzoek voor het @fwovlaanderen.bsky.social aan de UGent.

That world came to an end in the 1880s. Frustrated by the debts and reeling from heavy losses at the Abyssinian front, several regiments of the Egyptian army revolted under the leadership of colonel Ahmed 'Urabi. Although Khedive Tawfiq appointed ‘Urabi Minister of War, tensions remained high.3bis

Will Doha, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai now have to hand over the baton as well? 9/9

In the wake of the British occupation, Egypt’s center of gravity shifted to Cairo. In the next years, most new hotels, clubs, learned societies, and companies were established in the capital. It would become the region’s new hub for imperial financial experimentation, exploitation and investment.8/9

Alexandria recovered after the war. The Place des Consuls was rebuilt, and new palaces replaced the old. Yet the city had lost its innocence. It had proven unsafe and vulnerable. The oligarchic Levantine elite of Alexandria clung to the past. 7/9

Consuls and envoys spent day and night cabling their respective governments to track their whereabouts. While Egyptian casualties far outnumbered foreign ones, the European press promoted the trope of an anti-Christian massacre and conspiracy. 6/9

During the bombardment, much of what had given the city its cosmopolitan allure was destroyed. The Place des Consuls, the beating heart of Alexandrian elite life, was reduced to rubble. Although some 50,000 Europeans fled in haste, tens of thousands of expatriates found themselves in a war zone. 5/9

On 11 June 1882, widespread violence between members of the foreign communities and local inhabitants erupted. Sabers rattled in Whitehall. An ultimatum to disarm the city’s fortifications was rejected. The British fleet responded with a devastating bombardment between 11 and 13 July 1882. 4/9

They decorated their city palaces with precious Egyptian antiquities and European fine art, cultivating a taste for all things gold-plated. Had “Dubai chocolate” existed at the time, it would surely have been served in their salons. 3/9

In many respects, Alexandria played a similar role in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. From 1875 onward, the Mixed Courts system granted subjects of Western powers a privileged legal status. Banking clans made staggering fortunes by speculating on the cultivation and trade of cotton. 2/9

Are the Emirates experiencing their Alexandria moment?

Over the last decade, the Gulf’s skyscrapers, luxury hotels, and sandy beaches have attracted influencers, crypto enthusiasts, and aspiring real estate moguls seeking fortune, fiscal optimization, and a jet-set lifestyle. 1/9

The nineteenth century is so back.

This was very handy, thanks.

Silly me for thinking 2026 would be the year of precedented times.

No conclusions yet.

Am I engaging with the historiography, or am I actually constructing an overly intricate straw man argument?

Stay tuned for more updates.

how many more students will I hear on the train talking about how chatgpt is writing their thesis before I scream challenge

Art of Darkness?🤔

The statue was featured at the 1937 World Expo in Paris*

An image of the statue is prominently featured on the cover of Stanard, Matthew. 2023. The Leopard, the Lion, and the Cock Colonial Memories and Monuments in Belgium. Leuven: Leuven University Press. A summary of its history can be found on pages 160-162.

Via library.oapen.org/viewer/web/v...

Paris before it was installed at its current location in Etterbeek in 1962, two years after Congo’s independence. It’s one of the most contested displays of Belgian colonial art in the public space. Via collections.heritage.brussels/fr/objects/5...

Dupagne was an agent of mining company Société internationale forestière et minière du Congo (Forminière) between 1927 and 1935. Upon resettling in Belgium, he became one of the country’s most productive sculptors in the field of colonial propagandist art.

So apparently Jeffrey Epstein had a taste for Belgian colonial art.

In the newly-released pictures of his estate we can see The Archer [Tireur à l'arc] by Arthur Dupagne (1895-1961).

Plotting in a Time of Cholera Gert Huskens on applying social network analysis to the history of sanitary internationalism.

Gert Huskens on applying social network analysis to the history of sanitary internationalism (with handy advice for anyone new to producing visualisations). thelausanneproject.com/2025/09/26/p...

@khowagayya.bsky.social you might like this

🔗 thelausanneproject.com/2025/09/26/p...

From obscure Belgian ophthalmologist to one of the contested sanitary experts.

In this blog on Dr. Pierre-Joseph Dutrieux’s cholera mission in 1883 Egypt, I demonstrate how networks, empires and epidemics intertwine.

Op dit moment werk ik een artikel af waarbij ik, onder andere, laat zien hoe het Belgische kolonisatieproject in Guatemala niet losstond van andere vormen van Europees imperialisme. Zo werd het Belgische experiment in Santo Tomas zelfs aanzien als een "model" voor de Franse kolonisatie van Algerije.

Needless to say, it was never realised. This is what the "city" looked like in 1844.

🗺️via uurl.kbr.be/1824398, digitized by @kbrbe

One of my favourite pieces of Belgian international history.

A plan for the Belgian colonial city of Santo Tomas de Guatemala, 1844.

A Foucauldian fever dream in Central America.

🗺️via uurl.kbr.be/1824400, digitized by @kbrbe.bsky.social