Summary
Ruler of Egypt (1805-1848) whose forces occupied Greater Syria in 1831-1840; Doumani assesses that the occupation accelerated rather than precipitated ongoing trends in Jabal Nablus, while introducing city councils and new controls on the peasantry through conscription and disarmament (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 577-620).
Details
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Egypt’s emergence as the most formidable regional power under Muhammad Ali rested on expansion in agricultural production and trade with Europe and a large modern army along the French model that turned peasants into foot soldiers; the military was his primary vehicle for administrative, fiscal and economic structural change (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 577-620).
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Many elements of the Ottoman Tanzimat program of 1839 were similar to measures Muhammad Ali had already taken during the Egyptian occupation, which paved the way for the reforms’ implementation (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 621-676).
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Muhammad Ali had oriented Egypt’s economy firmly toward Europe and sought to reassure the European powers that Egyptian policies in Greater Syria would facilitate rather than hinder their economic interests (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 577-620).
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A monopoly system over agricultural commodities destined for overseas exports reached its epitome under Muhammad Ali in Egypt; in a communiqué dated September 1833 he instructed his son that the cotton harvest in the districts of Acre, Nablus, Jaffa and Gaza need not be purchased because of its small size, and the inhabitants were to be allowed to dispose of it as they wished (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 2167-2330).
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In 1824-1825 Muhammad Ali sent a merchant to arrange for the importation of indigo seeds from Bisan and Jericho (Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, lines 2390-2529).
Related pages
Rediscovering Palestine: Merchants and Peasants in Jabal Nablus, 1700-1900, Ibrahim Pasha, Tanzimat, Jabal Nablus, Anglo-Turkish Commercial Convention (1838)