Ottoman Egypt and the Muhammad Ali dynasty

From Ottoman province to kingdom

After defeating the Mamluks in January 1517, the Ottoman sultan Selim I made Egypt a province of his empire, governed by a pasha sent from Istanbul. In practice Mamluk households kept much local power, and by the 18th century beys such as Ali Bey al-Kabir were almost independent. Cairo remained a great trading city, and Ottoman-style mosques, fountains and merchant houses were added to its streets.

The French expedition

In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte landed at Alexandria and defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids. Within weeks the British fleet under Nelson destroyed his ships at Abu Qir Bay, and the French were forced out in 1801. The expedition brought scholars whose work was published as the vast Description de l’Égypte, and in 1799 French soldiers found the Rosetta Stone at Rashid. It passed to the British in 1801, and its inscription helped Jean-François Champollion to decipher hieroglyphs in 1822.

Muhammad Ali

In the chaos that followed, an Albanian officer in the Ottoman army, Muhammad Ali, became governor in 1805. In 1811 he eliminated the Mamluk leaders at the Citadel. He built a modern army, introduced long-staple cotton as a cash crop, opened schools and factories and sent students to Europe. His alabaster mosque still crowns the Citadel, and his family would rule Egypt until 1952. In 1835 he also issued one of the first decrees to protect Egypt’s antiquities.

Ismail and the Suez Canal

His grandson Khedive Ismail (reigned 1863–1879) wanted Egypt to be counted as part of Europe. He built a new European-style quarter in Cairo and, on 17 November 1869, opened the Suez Canal. Huge debts forced him to sell Egypt’s canal shares to Britain in 1875, and European control of the country’s finances followed.

British occupation and independence

After the nationalist revolt led by Ahmed Urabi, Britain occupied Egypt in 1882 and declared a protectorate in 1914. When the nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul was exiled, the 1919 Revolution brought Egyptians of all classes and faiths onto the streets. Britain declared Egypt independent in February 1922, with reservations, and Sultan Fuad became King Fuad I. The same year Howard Carter found the tomb of Tutankhamun. Under King Farouk, Egypt was a battlefield of the Second World War, notably at El Alamein in 1942, and British troops stayed in the Canal Zone until after the monarchy fell in 1952.

Where to see it today

• Saladin Citadel, with the Mosque of Muhammad Ali and the Egyptian National Military Museum
• Rashid, its Rashid National Museum and the Citadel of Qaitbay at Rashid, where the Rosetta Stone was found
• Royal Jewelry Museum, Alexandria
• Port Said, Ismailia and Suez on the canal
• El Alamein Military Museum
• Egyptian Museum, opened in Tahrir Square in 1902

Last checked October 2026. Sources: britannica.com, britannica.com, britannica.com, britannica.com, britannica.com.