Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was an Ottoman Albanian viceroy and governor who effectively ruled Egypt from 1805 to 1848, and is widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. During his rule, he controlled Egypt, Sudan, Hejaz, the Levant, Crete, and parts of Greece.
Originally a military commander in an Albanian Ottoman force sent to reclaim Egypt from French occupation under Napoleon, Muhammad Ali rose to power through political manoeuvres. In 1805, he became the Wāli (governor) of Egypt and was bestowed the rank of Pasha.
As Wāli, Ali aimed to modernize Egypt through significant reforms in the military, economy, and culture. He also carried out a forceful purge of the Mamluks, consolidating his rule and putting an end to Mamluk influence in Egypt.
Militarily, Ali recaptured Arabian territories for the sultan and independently conquered Sudan. His efforts to suppress the Greek rebellion were unsuccessful due to intervention by European powers at Navarino. In 1831, Ali waged war against the sultan, capturing Syria, crossing into Anatolia, and posing a direct threat to Constantinople. However, due to European pressure, he was forced to retreat.
After a failed Ottoman invasion of Syria in 1839, Ali launched another invasion of the Ottoman Empire in 1840, defeating the Ottomans and making way for a potential capture of Constantinople. Faced with further European intervention, he accepted a brokered peace in 1842 and withdrew from the Levant. In return, he and his descendants were granted hereditary rule over Egypt and Sudan. His dynasty ruled Egypt for over a century until the revolution of 1952 when King Farouk was overthrown by the Free Officers Movement led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, establishing the Republic of Egypt.
Life
Muhammad Ali was born in the Sanjak of Kavala (modern-day Kavala) in the Rumelia Eyalet to an Albanian family from the Korça region. He was the second son of a Bektashi Albanian tobacco and shipping merchant named Ibrahim Agha, who also served as an Ottoman commander of a small unit in their hometown. His mother was Zeynep, the daughter of Çorbaci Husain Agha, another Muslim Albanian notable in Kavala. When his father died at a young age, Muhammad was taken and raised by his uncle Husain Agha with his cousins. As a reward for Muhammad Ali's hard work, his uncle gave him the rank of "Bolukbashi" for the collection of taxes in the town of Kavala. Muhammad Ali later married his cousin Amina Hanim, a wealthy widow, who was the daughter of Ali Agha and Kadriye (Zeynep's sister).
After Muhammad's promising success in collecting taxes, he earned the rank of Second Commander under his cousin Sarechesme Halil Agha in the Kavala Volunteer Contingent of Albanian mercenaries. This contingent was sent to re-occupy Egypt following General Napoleon Bonaparte's withdrawal. In 1801, his unit was part of a larger Ottoman force sent to re-occupy Egypt after a brief French occupation that ended Mamluk dominance. The expedition, aboard Xebecs, landed at Aboukir in the spring of 1801. One of his trusted army commanders was Miralay Mustafa Bey, who had married Muhammad's sister Zubayda and was the ancestor of the Yeghen family.