ABSTRACT
In the first decades of the nineteenth century Egypt became an autonomous dynastic state within the Ottoman Empire. The viceroy (vālī) Meḥmed ʿAlī Paşa (r. 1805–48) and his successors pursued a policy that aimed at the centralization of political, economic and military power in the ruler’s and his family’s hands. Conflicts with the Ottoman central government arising from this policy were brought to an end in 1841 when sultan ʿAbdülmecīd (r. 1839–61) sanctioned Egypt’s privileged position as an autonomous province of the Empire. In an edict, the sultan and his government recognized Meḥmed ʿAlī as a lifelong viceroy of Egypt and conceded the right of hereditary rule to his descendants. Thus, Meḥmed ʿAlī’s family, now the legitimate Ottoman-Egyptian dynasty, was established as the undisputed centre of state and society in Egypt. The title “khedive” (turk.: ḫıdīv, ar.: khidīw), claimed by Meḥmed ʿAlī and his successors as early as the 1830s and recognized by the Porte as their official title in 1867, expressed their unique position as quasi-sovereigns of an Ottoman province.
