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33-458: The name Gilf Kebir was given to the plateau by Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein in 1925, as it had no local name. It is known for its rugged beauty, remoteness, geological interest, and the dramatic cliff paintings- pictographs and rock carvings- petroglyphs which depict an earlier era of abundant animal life and human habitation. The Uweinat mountain range at the very south of the plateau extends from Egypt into Libya and Sudan . The plateau

66-781: A geologist and Commissioner of both Lahore and Hisar in Punjab , India, and who, like his father, Captain Alexander McMahon (born 1791, Kilrea , County Londonderry , Ireland), had been an officer with the East India Company . He was educated in England at Haileybury College , the recently-founded successor of the East India Company College . When he joined the school, his father had an address in Exeter . He then proceeded to

99-578: A British protectorate which he strongly opposed. Others give more mundane reasons, pointing out that the prince asked to be relieved of responsibility in order to be able to pursue an exciting life of discovery and travel. Kamal el Dine Hussein was indeed an avid explorer, traveler and collector of oriental antiquities and works of art. In 1925 and 1926 he led expeditions to the Gilf Kebir ('great wall') which he named, using innovative Citroën half-tracks . A famous reference to Kamal el Dine Hussein occurs in

132-657: A cook. The expedition explored the area by Gypsy Moth plane, by car, and on foot. 1933 Patrick Clayton and Ladislaus Almasy discovered the Aqaba-Pass , the only way up Gilf Kebir from the southern plains i.e. from wadi Sura. The plateau was the site for various British logistical operations during the Second World War , and due to the extremely dry conditions and lack of population, remains of this occupation are often found intact. A large airbase, including huge navigation arrows laid out in army petrol cans, can still be seen at

165-553: A formal renunciation of the throne, in order for the United Kingdom not to appear in the eyes of the Egyptian public as having deprived him of his legitimate rights. Although there were rumours that Kamel el Dine had declined the succession under the influence of his wife Nimet Allah (who did not recognize the legitimacy of her brother Abbas Hilmi II 's dethronement), most historians explain his decision by his unwillingness to reign under

198-873: A long correspondence with Husayn bin Ali , Sharif of Mecca , the Ottoman-appointed ruler of the Hijaz, to use the Bedouin tribes under his control to support the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in overthrowing the Ottomans. He promised Husayn an independent area under Arab governance that was to include what was then the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (later Mandatory Palestine ), in exchange for Arab support in Britain's conflict against

231-533: A member of the governing body of Imperial College. On 19 October 1886, in Bombay , McMahon married Mary E. Bland, a daughter of F. C. Bland of Derriquin Castle, County Kerry . Their daughter Jessica was born in 1887. In 1909, at the church of St George's, Hanover Square , London, she married Henry A. Hetherington, of Berechurch Hall, Colchester . McMahon and his wife retired to England. McMahon died on 29 December 1949 at

264-428: Is crisscrossed by Wadis (dry, seasonal riverbeds). These include: Gilf Kebir Plateau lies in the heart of the eastern part of the vast Sahara Desert , and, thus, gets some of the most extreme climates on Earth. This is the driest place on the planet, not only because the area is totally rainless (the annual average rainfall amount hardly reaches 0.1 mm) but also because the geological aridity index/dryness ratio

297-452: Is over 200, which means that the solar energy received at the ground evaporates 200 times the amount of precipitation received. Rainfall may fall every twenty years in Gilf Kebir. The Gilf Kebir is known for its prehistoric Neolithic petroglyphs Saharan rock art has been found to resemble the art of Nile valleys. The Saharan area was wetter until mid- Holocene or about 4000 BC, when

330-643: The Arab Bureau , described him as "quiet, friendly, agreeable, considerate and cautious", although later in his career Storrs and others were not so charitable. McMahon was made a Knight of Grace of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ). Although a temporary appointment, it became a permanent post, for an experienced political administrator. With the approval of Kitchener and Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey , McMahon began

363-585: The Baluchistan Agency ). During these years he was promoted to captain on 10 March 1894, and major on 10 July 1901. He received the temporary rank of colonel while employed on special duty on the Sistan frontier in 1903. McMahon spoke Persian , Afghani , and Hindustani , and his aptitude for languages led him also to learn Arabic . In 1911, the Viceroy Lord Hardinge appointed McMahon as

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396-686: The British Indian Army . By May 1916, Turkish troops had arrived in Mecca, and McMahon received a telegram from Abdullah ibn Husayn , Sharif Husayn's son, that the Movement was ready. McMahon despatched the oriental secretary, Storrs, to London with a team of intelligence experts. The British decision to land an invasion force in the Dardanelles, instead of Alexandretta, and to promise the French Syria under

429-912: The Declaration to the Seven in response to a memorandum written by seven notable Syrians. After the Sykes-Picot Agreement was published by the Bolshevik Russian government in November 1917, McMahon resigned. He also features prominently in Seven Pillars of Wisdom , T.E. Lawrence's account of the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during World War I . McMahon was the son of Lieutenant-General Charles Alexander McMahon , FRS , FGS (1830–1904),

462-930: The Eight Bells Hills spot in the southeast of Gilf Kebir. It was also the site of the 2007 discovery of a bag that had been lost in the Second World War by a dispatch rider (Alec Ross) of the Long Range Desert Group , part of the British Army . This contained the rider's personal letters and photographs and had been well preserved. The Gilf Kebir is the setting for part of Michael Ondaatje 's novel The English Patient . It also plays an important role in Paul Sussman's The Hidden Oasis . Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein ( Arabic : كمال الدين حسين ) (20 December 1874 – 6 August 1932)

495-847: The High Commissioner in Egypt from 1915 to 1917. As the Foreign Secretary McMahon conducted the tripartite negotiations between Tibet, China and Britain that led to the Simla Convention . Even though China did not in the end sign the Convention, the agreement governed the British relations with Tibet till 1947. In Egypt, McMahon was best known for the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence with Hussein bin Ali , Sharif of Mecca , and

528-651: The Ottoman Turks in what came to be known as the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans. Their correspondence is known to historians from the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence . Sir Gilbert Clayton , Aubrey Herbert , Storrs and others of the intelligence community approved of McMahon's pro-Arabist policy from 1916 onwards. McMahon sat on the plan to use the Sharif to support British for six months. But it

561-625: The Royal Military College, Sandhurst . The Oriel McMahons are the Gaelic clan of Mac Mathghamhna who had come originally from the medieval Irish kingdom of Oriel in South Ulster , where they reigned from around 1250 until about 1600. Henry McMahon's own family had settled in the Downpatrick area of County Down before his great-grandfather, Arthur McMahon, moved to Kilrea, where he

594-677: The Sykes-Picot Agreement , irritated McMahon. On 23 November 1917, following the October Revolution , the Bolsheviks released copies the Sykes–Picot Agreement and other secret treaties, publishing full texts in Izvestia and Pravda . The Manchester Guardian then printed the texts on 26 November 1917. This caused great embarrassment to the Allies and growing distrust between them and

627-617: The Arabs, and McMahon resigned his post in protest. In 1920, McMahon was awarded the Order of El Nahda , 1st Class, by Husayn, the new King of the Hejaz . In 1925, he was promoted to a Knight of Justice of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (KStJ). McMahon was one of the founders of the Imperial College Masonic Lodge in 1923, at which time he was also

660-565: The Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. He held this position till 1915. During 1913–1914, McMahon was responsible for holding the tripartite conference to negotiate the Simla Convention between Tibet, China and Britain, and acting as Britain's plenipoteniary. Though the conference failed to produce a signed convention between all three parties, Tibet and Britain did agree the draft convention, which governed their mutual relations till

693-776: The Punjab Commission (civil service). He transferred to the Indian Political Department in 1890, serving in it till 1915. His various positions included North-West Frontier, Zhob and Thal-Chotiali agencies in Balochistan , Gilgit , Dir – Swat – Chitral and finally as the Agent to the Governor-General for Balochistan (a position that combined the Chief Commissioner for British Baluchistan and Political Resident for

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726-554: The end of British rule in India. Tibet and Britain also agreed their mutual border in the northeast India, which bears the name McMahon Line . In 1915, McMahon was sent to replace Sir Milne Cheetham , briefly acting for Lord Kitchener , who had become War Secretary in London, in the post of High Commissioner in the Sultanate of Egypt . When he arrived by train, Ronald Storrs , a member of

759-598: The following year, he fixed the eastern escarpment of the plateau and first realised the true size of the plateau. In 1930 an expedition headed by Ralph Alger Bagnold followed the same route. In the winter of 1930-1, P. A. Clayton surveyed some of the areas. The western side of the Gilf Kebir was explored in 1932 by the Clayton-Almásy Expedition, headed by Sir Robert East Clayton and Count László E. Almásy , and accompanied by Patrick A. Clayton , Squadron Leader H. W. G. J. Penderel , three Arabian car drivers and

792-528: The monsoon retreated southwards, forcing humans to migrate. Some retreated eastward to the Nile valley, taking with them their beliefs and influencing Egyptian art. The hills of the Gilf Kebir were first seen from a distance by European explorers in 1910 - with W. J. Harding-King in 1910 and 1911, and Ball and Lieutenant Moore in 1918. The high southern part of the plateau was sighted for the first time by Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein in 1925, and on another expedition, in

825-469: The opening pages of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz 's novel Palace Walk (1956), where one of the protagonists states: "What a fine man Prince Kamal al-Din Husayn is! Do you know what he did? He refused to ascend the throne of his late father so long as the British are in charge." In 1934, a year after his death, fellow desert explorer László Almásy erected a monument to his one-time sponsor and friend, at

858-481: The position of heir. For his part, Kamal el Dine wrote a letter to his father in which he expressly and voluntarily renounced the succession. This was the only time in Egyptian history that an eligible heir gave up his rights to the throne of his own free will. On 21 September 1917, three weeks before Hussein Kamel's death, the British chose Ahmed Fouad as his successor. However, they first requested that Kamal el Dine make

891-631: The southern tip of the Gilf Kebir plateau at the far end of Egypt's Western Desert , part of the greater Libyan Desert . Educated at the Theresian Military Academy in Austria , Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein attained the rank of general and became the commander-in-chief of the Egyptian Army in 1914. Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein married in Cairo on 5 May 1904 to Princess Nimet Allah (1881–1965),

924-505: The throne remained vacant. The succession issue was discussed between Hussein Kamel and British High Commissioner Henry McMahon in May 1915 in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against the sultan. Hussein Kamel preferred to be succeeded by his son Kamal el Dine, but also recommended his half-brother Ahmed Fouad and his cousin Youssef Kamal in case Kamal el Dine was unwilling to assume

957-475: The youngest daughter of Khedive Tewfik Pasha . The couple gave birth to Prince Ali Samy Kamal (1920-2008). Henry McMahon (diplomat) Sir Vincent Arthur Henry McMahon GCMG GCVO KCIE CSI KStJ (28 November 1862 – 29 December 1949) was a British Indian Army officer and diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary in the Government of India from 1911 to 1915 and as

990-570: Was Sir Reginald Wingate who persuaded McMahon that the Arabs were ready, able and willing for Cairo to support Husayn in an effort to overthrow the Ottomans and establish a pan-Arab state made up of Ottoman Arab lands in the Middle East. Storrs thought the diplomacy was "in every way exaggerated." He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG) in 1916 upon his retirement from

1023-717: Was minister of the local Presbyterian congregation between 1789 and 1794: a prominent Irish Republican , Arthur McMahon was a member of the National Directory of the Society of United Irishmen and one of their colonels in Ulster during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 . He apparently fought at the battles of Saintfield and Ballynahinch . Following the rebels' overall defeat, he was able to flee to France , where he served with Napoleon ’s Irish Legion . It has been reported that he

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1056-730: Was captured by the British during the Walcheren Campaign of 1809 and sent to England, but was later able to return to France where, in June 1815, he eventually died fighting at either Ligny or Waterloo . McMahon was commissioned as a lieutenant into the King's (Liverpool) Regiment on 10 March 1883. He transferred to the Indian Staff Corps in 1885, joining the 1st Sikh Infantry in the Punjab Frontier Force . In 1887, McMahon joined

1089-409: Was the son of Sultan Hussein Kamel of Egypt . Several otherwise reliable sources mistakenly assert that Kamal el Dine Hussein held the position of heir during his father's three-year reign. In reality, Hussein Kamel had agreed with the British government upon his ascension to the throne to postpone the establishment of new rules of succession for the sultanate, meaning that the position of heir to

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