Le Bosphore Égyptien was launched in Port Said in 1878.[1] Its founder and editor was a lawyer, Octave Borelli,[2] and its directors were Giraud and Emile Barrière.[1] The headquarters of the paper was moved to Cairo, and it began to be published daily.[1]
Arthur Rimbaud published articles about his visit to Africa in the paper.[3] Another contributor was James O’Kelly, an Irish journalist and politician.[4] O’Kelly advocated the nationalist Irish-Egyptian interests in his writings.[4] Through its links to O’Kelly the paper became one of the media outlets which were often quoted by the Irish press.[4] In turn, Le Bosphore Égyptien frequently made references to the Irish resistance to British rule to provide a model for the resistance to British rule in Egypt.[4]
Le Bosphore Égyptien was subject to temporary bans due to its pro-French and anti-British stance.[3] For instance, it was closed by the authorities in April 1885.[5] It resumed publication soon after the Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Nubar Pasha expressed the regret of the Egyptian government about its closure to the French charge d'agent in Cairo.[6]
Later Le Bosphore Égyptien began to support the British rule in Egypt[2] and welcomed the appointment of Eldon Gorst as councillor in the Ministry of Interior in 1894.[7] The same year Le Bosphore Égyptien stopped publication.[5]
