Isma’il Pasha

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Isma'il Pasha bigraphy, stories - Kedive of Egypt

Isma’il Pasha : biography

December 31, 1830 – March 2, 1895

Isma’il Pasha ( Ismā‘īl Bāshā, Turkish: İsmail Paşa), known as Ismail the Magnificent (December 31, 1830 – March 2, 1895), was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of the United Kingdom. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his grandfather, Muhammad Ali Pasha, he greatly modernized Egypt and Sudan during his reign, investing heavily in industrial and economic development, urbanisation, and the expansion of the country’s boundaries in Africa.

His philosophy can be glimpsed at in a statement that he made in 1879: "My country is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions".

He also secured Ottoman, and international recognition as Khedive in preference to Wāli. However, Isma’il’s policies placed Egypt and Sudan in severe debt, leading to the sale of the country’s shares in the Suez Canal Company to the United Kingdom, and his ultimate toppling from power at British hands.

Honours

  • Order of Glory, Nichan Iftikhar
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold, 1862
  • Order of Nobility, Special Class, 1863
  • Order of Osmanieh, Special class, 1863
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, 1866
  • Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, 1866
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 1866
  • Grand Cross of the Legion d’Honneur, 1867
  • Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India, 1868
  • Knight of the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, 1868
  • Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 1868
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Red Eagle, 1868
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, 1869
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy, 1869
  • Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer, 1869
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold, 1869
  • Honorary member: Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1874
  • Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar, 1st Class, 1875

Khedive of Egypt

After the death of Said, Ismail was proclaimed Khedive on January 19, 1863, though the Ottoman Empire, and the other Great Powers recognised him only was Wāli. Like all Egyptian and Sudanese rulers since his grandfather Muhammad Ali Pasha, he claimed the higher title of Khedive, which the Ottoman Porte had consistently refused to sanction. However, in 1867, Isma’il succeeded in persuading the Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz to grant a firman finally recognising him as Khedive in exchange for an increase in the tribute. Another firman changed the law of succession to direct descent from father to son rather than brother to brother, and a further decree in 1873 confirmed the virtual independence of the Khedivate of Egypt from the Porte.

Reforms

Ismail launched vast schemes of internal reform on the scale of his grandfather, remodeling the customs system and the post office, stimulating commercial progress, creating a sugar industry, building palaces, entertaining lavishly and maintaining an opera and a theatre. He greatly expanded Cairo, building an entire new quarter of the city on its western edge modeled on Paris. Alexandria was also improved. He launched a vast railroad building project that saw Egypt and Sudan rise from having virtually none to the most railways per habitable kilometre of any nation in the world.

One of his most significant achievements was to establish an assembly of delegates in November 1866. Though this was supposed to be a purely advisory body, its members eventually came to have an important influence on governmental affairs. Village headmen dominated the assembly and came to exert increasing political and economic influence over the countryside and the central government. This was shown in 1876, when the assembly persuaded Ismail to reinstate the law (enacted by him in 1871 to raise money and later repealed) that allowed landownership and tax privileges to persons paying six years’ land tax in advance.