An outline, era by era

Egypt (Muhammad Ali), Suez Canal (1869)

Late Modern Era / 19th Century · ~1800 – 1914

Muhammad Ali was an Albanian-born Ottoman officer who took power in Egypt in 1805, after the French had left and the country was in turmoil. He ruled until 1848 and founded a dynasty that governed Egypt until 1952. He built a strong army, state-run farming and industry, and schools, and for a time his forces challenged the Ottoman sultan himself, although he always remained nominally the sultan's governor.

The Suez Canal was a later project of his dynasty. Built by the French-led Suez Canal Company under a concession from Muhammad Ali's son Said, it was dug from 1859 and opened in November 1869. It joins the Mediterranean to the Red Sea across the Isthmus of Suez and shortened the sea route between Europe and Asia. The canal's cost and Egypt's heavy borrowing under Ismail drew the country into debt, and in 1882 Britain occupied Egypt, a story that began with the canal and Muhammad Ali's reforms.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. Muhammad Ali takes power in Egypt

    Event

    What happened

    French forces under Napoleon invade Egypt in 1798 and leave in 1801 after British and Ottoman pressure. In the confusion that follows, Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman officer of an Albanian contingent, gains support among the local religious leaders and notables. In 1805 they press the Ottoman government to name him governor of Egypt, and the sultan confirms him.

    The rest is history

    Muhammad Ali then set about breaking the power of the Mamluks, the old military elite. This culminated in the massacre of Mamluk leaders at the Cairo Citadel in 1811. He became the effective ruler of Egypt and began rebuilding the state around himself. Historians generally see this as the start of modern Egypt, and his family ruled until the revolution of 1952.

    Sources

    1. BookFahmy, Khaled. All the Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, His Army and the Making of Modern Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    2. BookMarsot, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid. Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad Ali. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

  2. The Citadel massacre of the Mamluks

    Event

    What happened

    On 1 March 1811 Muhammad Ali invites the Mamluk leaders to a ceremony at the Cairo Citadel, marking the departure of an army against the Wahhabis in Arabia. As the procession passes through a narrow way, his troops kill many of the Mamluks. Further killings of Mamluks follow in Cairo and the provinces.

    The rest is history

    The act ended the Mamluks as a rival power inside Egypt, though some fled south to Nubia. It left Muhammad Ali with no strong internal competitor. It cleared the way for him to take over tax-farming lands and reorganise the countryside under state control. The date, 1 March 1811, is widely given in the sources, though accounts of numbers vary.

    Sources

    1. BookFahmy, Khaled. Mehmed Ali: From Ottoman Governor to Ruler of Egypt. Oxford: Oneworld, 2009.
    2. BookAl-Jabarti, Abd al-Rahman. Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti's History of Egypt. Ed. Thomas Philipp and Moshe Perlmann. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1994.

  3. The new army and state economy

    Event

    What happened

    From about 1820 Muhammad Ali builds a modern army, drilled by European advisers and filled with conscripted Egyptian peasants. To pay for it he takes control of farming land and trade, expands cotton growing for export, and opens factories, arsenals and schools. Cotton, introduced as a long-staple crop in the 1820s, becomes Egypt's main export.

    The rest is history

    The new army made possible his wars in Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Greece. The heavy demands of conscription and taxes fell hard on villagers. The economy became tied to cotton and to European markets, which shaped Egypt's later dependence on foreign credit. The extent to which his industries succeeded is debated, as many were closed after the 1838 trade treaty with Britain.

    Sources

    1. BookFahmy, Khaled. All the Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, His Army and the Making of Modern Egypt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
    2. BookOwen, Roger. The Middle East in the World Economy 1800-1914. London: Methuen, 1981.

  4. War with the Ottoman sultan and the Convention of London

    Event

    What happened

    In 1831 Muhammad Ali sends his son Ibrahim into Syria, and Egyptian forces defeat Ottoman armies, reaching Anatolia by 1832. A second war begins in 1839. In 1840 Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia act together against him, and Britain's navy and Ottoman allies force Egyptian withdrawal from Syria.

    The rest is history

    In 1841 the sultan granted Muhammad Ali and his heirs hereditary rule over Egypt, but reduced his army and put him under Ottoman treaties and tariffs. The European powers had shown they would not allow the Ottoman Empire to be broken up by its own governor. Egypt became a recognised semi-autonomous province in a European-managed balance. Muhammad Ali, ageing, handed power to Ibrahim in 1848 and died in 1849.

    Sources

    1. BookFahmy, Khaled. Mehmed Ali: From Ottoman Governor to Ruler of Egypt. Oxford: Oneworld, 2009.
    2. BookCuno, Kenneth M. The Pasha's Peasants: Land, Society, and Economy in Lower Egypt, 1740-1858. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

  5. Ferdinand de Lesseps and the concession of 1854

    Event

    What happened

    Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French diplomat who had known Said as a young man in Egypt, wins the confidence of Said after he becomes viceroy in 1854. On 30 November 1854 Said grants him a concession to form a company to dig a canal across the Isthmus of Suez. A second, fuller concession follows in January 1856.

    The rest is history

    The Universal Suez Canal Company was formed in 1858 and sold shares mainly in France, with Said taking a large block. The terms put Egypt in a heavy commitment of labour and shares. Britain, led by Lord Palmerston, opposed the scheme for some years, fearing French influence on the route to India. Work began on 25 April 1859.

    Sources

    1. BookKarabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Knopf, 2003.
    2. BookMarlowe, John. The Making of the Suez Canal. London: Cresset Press, 1964.

  6. Digging the canal, 1859 to 1869

    Event

    What happened

    Digging begins in 1859 at Port Said, mostly by Egyptian peasants forced to labour under the corvée system. In 1863 Said dies and Ismail becomes ruler, and he objects to the forced labour and to land grants. Arbitration by Napoleon III in 1864 requires Egypt to pay compensation, and the company turns to steam dredgers and paid labour. The canal opens on 17 November 1869 with a grand ceremony attended by Empress Eugénie of France.

    The rest is history

    The canal is about 164 km long and linked the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, cutting the voyage from Europe to India by thousands of kilometres compared with going round Africa. Many workers died in construction, though precise numbers are uncertain and debated. The canal's cost helped push Egypt toward bankruptcy. It also became, at once, a strategic interest for Britain.

    Sources

    1. BookKarabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Knopf, 2003.
    2. BookFletcher, Max E. The Suez Canal and World Shipping, 1869-1914. Journal of Economic History 18 (1958).

  7. Ismail's debts and the British share purchase

    Event

    What happened

    Ismail, who ruled from 1863, borrows heavily from European banks to fund railways, cities and the canal ceremonies. In 1875 he needs cash and sells Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal Company. British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli arranges to buy them for about four million pounds.

    The rest is history

    Britain thus became the largest single shareholder in the canal. In 1876 Egypt could no longer pay its debts, and British and French officials took charge of its finances in a Caisse de la Dette. Ismail was deposed by the sultan in 1879. The debt crisis set the stage for the Urabi revolt and the British occupation.

    Sources

    1. BookLandes, David S. Bankers and Pashas: International Finance and Economic Imperialism in Egypt. London: Heinemann, 1958.
    2. BookOwen, Roger. The Middle East in the World Economy 1800-1914. London: Methuen, 1981.

  8. The British occupation of Egypt, 1882

    Event

    What happened

    In 1881 and 1882 an Egyptian army officer, Ahmad Urabi, leads a movement against foreign control and the ruling house. In June 1882 riots in Alexandria kill Europeans, and in July British warships bombard the city. A British army defeats Urabi's forces at Tell el-Kebir on 13 September 1882 and enters Cairo.

    The rest is history

    Britain said the occupation was temporary, but its troops stayed for decades, and Egypt was ruled in practice by a British consul-general, the best known being Lord Cromer. The khedives remained in office. The canal's security was a main concern, and the 1888 Convention of Constantinople declared it open to ships of all nations in war and peace. British forces remained in the canal zone until 1956.

    Sources

    1. BookCole, Juan. Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's Urabi Movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.
    2. BookHopkins, A. G. The Victorians and Africa: A Reconsideration of the Occupation of Egypt, 1882. Journal of African History 27 (1986).

  9. Napoleon and the lost canal of the pharaohs

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often told that a canal linking the Nile to the Red Sea was dug by the pharaohs, and that Napoleon found its traces in 1799, so the Suez Canal merely revived an ancient work. Some versions add that Napoleon's engineers wrongly measured the seas and gave up the plan, believing the Red Sea was ten metres higher than the Mediterranean.

    The rest is history

    Ancient canals did exist, though they ran from the Nile to the Red Sea, not straight across the isthmus. Inscriptions and Greek writers such as Herodotus describe works under Necho II and Darius I, and the Darius stelae near Suez record one. Napoleon did order a survey in 1799, and his engineer Lepère wrongly calculated a large height difference between the seas. That error was corrected in the 1840s by survey work, and the 1869 canal was a new sea-level cut without locks.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryHerodotus. Histories, Book 2.158. Greek prose history, 5th century BCE.
    2. PrimaryDescription de l'Égypte. Napoleonic scientific survey of Egypt, Paris, 1809-1829.
    3. BookKarabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Knopf, 2003.

  10. The canal was built by slaves

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A common belief says the canal was dug by slaves, with thousands of captives dying in the desert, and that the work was like the building of the pyramids.

    The rest is history

    The labourers were mostly Egyptian peasants conscripted through the corvée, a forced-labour system, not chattel slaves. They were often poorly paid and suffered from disease, heat and thirst, and many died. Conditions led to protests, including from Britain, which used the labour question as a diplomatic weapon against the project. In 1863 Ismail ended most forced labour, and in 1864 Napoleon III's arbitration awarded the company compensation. Machines then did more of the digging. Exact deaths remain unknown and are debated.

    Sources

    1. BookKarabell, Zachary. Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal. New York: Knopf, 2003.
    2. BookMarlowe, John. The Making of the Suez Canal. London: Cresset Press, 1964.

  11. Aida was written for the canal's opening

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is widely said that Verdi's opera Aida was commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and that its Egyptian setting was meant to mark the occasion.

    The rest is history

    Aida was commissioned by Ismail for the new Cairo Opera House, which opened in November 1869 with Verdi's Rigoletto, in the same season as the canal ceremonies. Verdi first refused, then accepted the commission in 1870. Aida premiered at Cairo on 24 December 1871, delayed by the Franco-Prussian War, which trapped the sets and costumes in Paris. So the opera was linked to Ismail's modernising ambitions, but it was not written for the canal opening.

    Sources

    1. BookBudden, Julian. The Operas of Verdi, Volume 3: From Don Carlos to Falstaff. London: Cassell, 1981.
    2. BookPhillips-Matz, Mary Jane. Verdi: A Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

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