The Pasha increasingly began to regard the Ottoman central government with suspicion. The chief aim of the Pasha's modernization schemes was always to finance his growing military by the s it numbered some , troops by increasing tax revenues, for which he devised an efficient collection bureaucracy. Whatever their aim, his infrastructure projects were ambitious and far-reaching, if brutal.
His most impressive accomplishment was the rebuilding of an ancient canal that linked Alexandria with the Nile River, an effort that reportedly cost the lives of some , of the Egyptian peasants who were ordered to do the digging. Under the Pasha's reign, the total length of Egypt's irrigation channels more than doubled, and the amount of land under cultivation between and increased by about 18 percent.
Also costly in human terms was a military campaign in Sudan in the early s, intended to swell the ranks of Egyptian slaves; only 3, of 20, Sudanese survived a forced march from their homeland to the Egyptian city of Aswan. One effect of these developments was an increase in Egyptian cotton exports to Europe's hungry markets, with the Pasha and his relatives, whom he installed in key administrative posts, profiting at each checkpoint. Another form of foreign exchange was tourism, with members of the European nobility flocking to Egypt to experience its rich heritage of treasures from the ancient world.
The Pasha replaced Egypt's patchwork of village, tribal, and religious governments with a modern set of administrative divisions modeled on those of European countries.
And, anxious to ensure a steady supply of new military draftees, he established new hospitals and took the advice of European doctors regarding the efficacy of the new smallpox vaccine, invented by Edward Jenner in Britain in The s marked the apex of Muhammad Ali's expansionist ambitions. After initial consideration of a thrust westward toward Tripoli, he launched an invasion of Syria in , using the excuse that he was only trying to arrest a group of 6, Egyptian draft dodgers.
A force of 30, fighters under his son Ibrahim Pasha captured the city of Acre now in northern Israel after a siege lasting six months, overran the rest of Syria, and then moved forward into the Anatolia region of present-day Turkey in In a battle on the Anatolian plains north of Konya, Turkey, the Pasha's forces defeated Ottoman troops under Grand Vizier Muhammad Rashid Pasha, leaving them with an open road to Constantinople and the imperial palaces.
Although Ibrahim Pasha urged his father to declare Egypt's independence from the empire, Muhammad Ali, who was culturally, linguistically, and administratively Ottoman, hesitated. The Turkish Sultan took advantage of this window of opportunity to ask for help from the European powers; turned down by British foreign minister Lord Palmerston, he persuaded a Russian navy to come to his aid. The result was 's Peace of Kutahia, which recognized Muhammad Ali's legitimacy as wali of Egypt, the Hijaz, and Crete, and granted Ibrahim Pasha the same status in several Syrian territories.
The Pasha's tax-collecting prerogatives were also expanded. That did not prevent a decline in Egypt's financial fortunes in the s, however, as the Pasha's enormous administrative and military reach showed signs of over-extension. The Pasha proposed a giant Nile River flood control project, to be built of stones from the Pyramids; it was initially abandoned but was later completed in Disaffection rose in Egypt due to high taxes and punishing military conscription rates among the young, but a second glorious campaign once again showed Ibrahim Pasha's military skills, as Egyptian forces defeated those of the ailing Mahmud II at the Battle of Nezib, near Urfa in southeast Turkey, in Once again the Pasha seemed on the brink of regional rule, and once again he hesitated.
This time it was British intervention that saved the new year-old Sultan, Abid-ul-Mejid, and allowed him to maintain control over the Ottoman Empire. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi supervised translations from French to Arabic on topics ranging from sociology and history to military technology, and these translations have been considered the second great translation movement, after the first from Greek into Arabic.
In , his government founded the first indigenous press in the Arab World, the Bulaq press. The Bulaq press published the official gazette of Muhammad Ali's government. Among his personal interests was the accumulation and breeding of Arabian horses. In horses obtained as taxes and tribute, Muhammad Ali recognized the unique characteristics and careful attention to bloodlines of the horses bred by the Bedouin, particularly by the Anazeh in Syria and those bred in the Nejd.
While his immediate successor had minimal interest in the horse breeding program, his grandson, who became Abbas I shared this interest and further built upon his work. Though Muhammad Ali's chief aim was to establish a European-style military, and carve out a personal empire, he waged war initially on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, Mahmud II , in Arabia and Greece, although he later came into open conflict with the Ottoman Empire. His first military campaign was an expedition into the Arabian Peninsula.
The holy cities of Mecca, and Medina had been captured by the House of Saud , who had recently embraced a literalist Hanbali interpretation of Islam.
Armed with their newfound religious zeal, the Saudis began conquering parts of Arabia. Muhammad Ali in turn appointed his son, Tusun , to lead a military expedition in The campaign was initially turned back in Arabia; however, a second attack was launched in that succeeded in recapturing Hejaz.
While the campaign was successful, the power of the Saudis was not broken. They continued to harass Ottoman and Egyptian forces from the central Nejd region of the Peninsula.
Consequently, Muhammad Ali dispatched another of his sons, Ibrahim, at the head of another army to finally rout the Saudis.
After a two-year campaign, the Saudis were crushed and most of the Saudi family was captured. The family leader, Abdullah ibn Saud , was sent to Istanbul, and executed. Muhammad Ali next turned his attention to military campaigns independent of the Porte, beginning with the Sudan which he viewed as a valuable addition resource of territory, gold, and slaves. The Sudan at the time had no real central authority and used primitive weaponry in its tribal infighting.
In Muhammad Ali dispatched an army of 5, troops commanded by his third son, Ismail and Abidin Bey , south into Sudan with the intent of conquering the territory and subjugating it to his authority. Ultimately, the superiority of the Egyptian troops and firearms ensured the deafeat of the Shaigiya and the subsequent conquest of the Sudan.
Ali now had an outpost from which he could expand to the source of the Nile in Ethiopia , and Uganda. His administration captured slaves from the Nuba Mountains, and west and south Sudan, all incorporated into a foot regiment known as the Gihadiya which were composed of the recently defeated Shaigiya who now took service under the invaders in exchange for keeping their domains.
Ali's reign in Sudan, and that of his immediate successors, is remembered in Sudan as brutal and heavy-handed, contributing to the popular independence struggle of the self-proclaimed Mahdi , Muhammad Ahmad , in While Muhammad Ali was expanding his authority into Africa, the Ottoman Empire was being challenged by ethnic rebellions in its European territories.
The rebellion in the Greek provinces of the Ottoman Empire began in The Ottoman army proved ineffectual in its attempts to put down the revolt as ethnic violence spread as far as Constantinople. With his own army proving ineffective, Sultan Mahmud II offered Muhammad Ali the island of Crete in exchange for his support in putting down the revolt.
Muhammad Ali sent 16, soldiers, transports, and 63 escort vessels under command of his son, Ibrahim Pasha. On 20 October at the Navarino , while under the command of Muharram Bey, the Ottoman representative, the entire Egyptian navy was sunk by the European Allied fleet, under the command of Admiral Edward Codrington — If the Porte was not in the least prepared for this confrontation, Muhammad Ali was even less prepared for the loss of his highly competent, expensively assembled and maintained navy.
With its fleet essentially destroyed, Egypt had no way to support its forces in Greece and was forced to withdraw. Ultimately the campaign cost Muhammad Ali his navy and yielded no tangible gains.
In compensation for this loss, Muhammad Ali asked the Porte for the territory of Syria. The Ottomans were indifferent to the request; the Sultan himself asked blandly what would happen if Syria was given over and Muhammad Ali later deposed. To compensate for his and Egypt's losses, the wheels for the conquest of Syria were set in motion. For not only had Syria abundant natural resources, it also had a thriving international trading community with well-developed markets throughout the Levant; in addition, it would be a captive market for the goods now being produced in Egypt.
Yet perhaps most of all, Syria was desirable as a buffer state between Egypt and the Ottoman Sultan. For the sake of appearance on the world stage, a pretext for the invasion was vital. Ultimately, the excuse for the expedition was a quarrel with Abdullah Pasha of Acre. The Egyptians overran most of Syria and its hinterland with ease. The strongest and only really significant resistance was put up at the port city of Acre. The Egyptian force eventually captured the city after a six-month siege, which lasted from 3 November to 27 May Unrest on the Egyptian home front increased dramatically during the course of the siege.
Ali was forced to squeeze Egypt more and more in order to support his campaign and his people resented the increased burden. After the fall of Acre, the Egyptian army marched north into Anatolia. There were now no military obstacles between Ibrahim's forces and Constantinople itself. Through the course of the campaign, Muhammad Ali paid particular focus to the European powers.
Fearing another intervention that would reverse all his gains, he proceeded slowly and cautiously. For example, Muhammad Ali continued the practice of using the sultan's name at Friday prayers in the newly captured territories and continued to circulate Ottoman coins instead of issuing new ones bearing his likeness.
From this position, the European powers brokered a negotiated solution in May known as the Convention of Kutahya. The peace agreement fell short, however, of granting Muhammad Ali an independent kingdom for himself, leaving him wanting. Sensing that Muhammad Ali was not content with his gains, the sultan attempted to preempt further action against the Ottoman Empire by offering him hereditary rule in Egypt and Arabia if he withdrew from Syria and Crete and renounced any desire for full independence.
Within the Empire, however, both sides were gearing for war. Ibrahim already had a sizable force in Syria. In an echo of the Battle of Konya, Constantinople was again left vulnerable to Ali's forces. A further blow to the Ottomans was the defection of their fleet to Muhammad Ali.
At this point, Ali and Ibrahim began to argue about which course to follow; Ibrahim favored conquering the Ottoman capital and demanding the imperial seat while Muhammad Ali was inclined simply to demand numerous concessions of territory and political autonomy for himself and his family.
At this point, the European powers again intervened see Oriental Crisis of On 15 July , the British Government, which had colluded with Austria , Prussia , and Russia to sign the Convention of London , offered Muhammad Ali hereditary rule of Egypt as part of the Ottoman Empire if he withdrew from the Syrian hinterland and the coastal regions of Mount Lebanon.
Muhammad Ali hesitated, believing he had support from France. His hesitation proved costly; when French support failed to materialize, British naval forces moved against Syria, and Alexandria. Then he spread his army in all the areas of the country to kill all the remaining Mamluks. In order to do so, he had to reorganize Egyptian society, streamline the economy, train a professional bureaucracy, and build a modern military. The first thing he did was that he nationalized all iltizam lands of Egypt to secure avenue stream for Egypt.
He also raised taxes for those who had landed in Egypt. He focused on the production of weapons to build a modern military. Muhammad Ali Pasha started to construct a navy through the shipyard he established in Alexandria. He expanded the agricultural lands and established an industrial base for Egypt. He did his best to train a professional military and bureaucracy so he sent promising citizens to Europe to study.
Egyptian students in Europe had a big chance to learn different languages and skills. Muhammad Ali wanted to have more control against the crime in Egypt. He passed his first penal legislation in , in an effort to get a stronger hold over the population.
He was on his way to establishing an independent state. He established different police forces in regions in Egypt, especially in Alexandria and Cairo. Law has changed and autopsy became an important form of evidence used within the criminal law in Egypt. A new school of medicine for women was established by Antoine Clot in when Muhammad pasha allowed the establishment of such a school.
This school followed the French model. When Hakimas married, they have given the title of Effendi, the rank of second lieutenant, and a monthly salary of piasters. Egypt full of amazing attractions such as pyramids, temples, tombs, mosques, churches, and much more. So you can visit Mohammad Ali mosque through our Egypt tour packages , or if you are in Cairo you can check our below Cairo day tours to enjoy a private tour that includes visiting Muhammad Ali mosque.
Trips In Egypt team is composed of diverse individuals from all over the world who are the guardians of the ancient knowledge, magnificent attractions, and secrets of Egypt. They are travel enthusiasts, Egyptologists, Archaeologists, and history passionates who know every corner about the historical, geographical, geopolitical, and cultural nature of Egypt that trace back to more than years. You should wear whatever you want. It is advised to wear something light from cotton or linen, comfortable and put on sunblock during your time in Egypt in the summer and wear comfortable footwear like a closed-toe shoe to sustain the sandy terrain.
Yes, it is available all years. Yes, it is absolutely safe to travel to egypt, You will feel secure in Egypt as the current atmosphere of the country is very peaceful after the government took powerful measures like restructuring the entire tourist police to include all the important and tourist attractions in Egypt and construct an entire environment dedicated for ensuring the lives of all tourists.
As for the E-Visa for 30 days, you should have a valid passport for at least 8 months, complete the online application, pay the e-visa fee then print the e-visa to later be presented to the airport border guard. You could be one of the countries eligible for a free visa for 90 days. The temperature of Egypt ranges from 37c to 14 c, Summer in Egypt is somehow hot and winter is cool and mild but sometimes it becomes cold at night. The average of low temperatures vary from 9.
0コメント