Kada su Francuzi, 1798. prvi put stigli na obalu Egipta, egipatsko društvo je i dalje bilo uvjereno da je njihovo osmansko, muslimansko društvo naprednije, da su u svakom pogledu bili ispred drugih, i mogli se obraniti od bilo čega čime ih Europa može napasti.
When the French first arrived off the coast of Egypt in 1798, Egyptian society remained convinced that their society, Ottoman, Muslim, was the superior society, that they were in every way, a greater civilisation than anything that Europe had to throw at them.