History · Lesson 12

Egypt, the Mahdiyya, Zanzibar and Ethiopia

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: A3 Egypt under Mohammed Ali and Khedive Ismail, British occupation; A4 the Mahdi and the Mahdiyya in the Sudan; B1 the Omani Empire (Zanzibar); B2 Ethiopia (Tewodros II, Menelik II)

WAEC: WAEC/NECO Paper 1 background (Africa and the wider world)

NECO: WAEC/NECO Paper 1 background (Africa and the wider world)

What you will learn

Explain the rise and reforms of Muhammad Ali.
Assess Khedive Ismail’s policies and the debt crisis.
Explain the Urabi revolt and the British occupation of 1882.
Explain the causes, course and results of the Mahdiyya.
Describe the Omani empire under Seyyid Said and the East African caravan trade.
Explain British action against the East African slave trade.
Assess Tewodros II, Yohannes IV and Menelik II.
Explain the causes and significance of the Battle of Adwa.

Key points

Muhammad Ali: pasha 1805; Mamluks destroyed 1811; died 1849.
Reforms: army of fellahin, monopolies, cotton, irrigation, schools, missions to France.
Expansion: Arabia, Sudan 1820–21, Greece (Navarino 1827), Syria; London 1840.
Ismail 1863–79: Khedive 1867; Suez Canal 17 Nov 1869; debts.
1875 shares sold; 1876 Caisse and Dual Control; 1879 deposed.
Urabi revolt; Alexandria bombarded 11 July 1882; Tel el-Kebir 13 Sept 1882; Cromer.
Mahdiyya causes: taxes, anti-slave-trade, Christian officials, religion, Egypt weak.
Mahdi 29 June 1881; Shaykan Nov 1883; Khartoum 26 Jan 1885; died 22 June 1885.
Khalifa to 1898; Omdurman 2 Sept 1898; Fashoda; Condominium 1899.
Seyyid Said: Zanzibar 1832, cloves, caravans; 1822, 1845, 1873 treaties; protectorate 1890.
Tewodros II 1855–68 (Magdala); Yohannes IV 1872–89 (Gundet, Gura, Metemma).
Menelik II: Wuchale 1889, Art. 17; Adwa 1 March 1896; Treaty of Addis Ababa.

Start here: Egypt in 1800 and the rise of Muhammad Ali

In 1800 Egypt was formally a province of the Ottoman Empire, ruled from Istanbul, but real power lay with the Mamluks, a military class of slave origin who collected taxes and fought among themselves. In 1798 the French under Napoleon Bonaparte invaded, defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids and occupied Egypt until 1801, when British and Ottoman forces made them leave. The French invasion showed Egyptians the power of modern European armies and science, and left a political vacuum.

Muhammad Ali takes power

Muhammad Ali (born at Kavala, in today’s Greece) arrived as an officer in an Albanian contingent of the Ottoman army sent against the French. In the confusion after 1801 he won the support of Cairo’s religious leaders (the ulama) and merchants, and in 1805 the Ottoman sultan recognised him as pasha (governor) of Egypt. He then removed his rivals:

In 1807 he defeated a British expedition at Rosetta.
On 1 March 1811 he invited the leading Mamluks to a ceremony at the Cairo Citadel and had them massacred. This ended Mamluk power.
He reduced the ulama’s independence by taking over religious endowment lands.

Historians often call him the "founder of modern Egypt". His family (the Muhammad Ali dynasty) ruled Egypt until the 1952 revolution.

His aims

He wanted a strong, wealthy Egypt that could be practically independent of the Ottoman sultan and hereditary in his family. To do that he needed a modern army, and to pay for the army he needed a productive economy and a trained elite. Every reform in section 12.2 serves that aim.

Worked example 12.1 (JAMB style)

Muhammad Ali consolidated his power in Egypt by (A) inviting the French back (B) destroying the Mamluks (C) abolishing Islam (D) selling the Suez Canal. Answer: B. The 1811 massacre at the Citadel removed his main rivals. D belongs to Khedive Ismail (1875), a common distractor.

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Practice questions

1. Muhammad Ali became ruler (pasha) of Egypt in

1805
1798
1882
1869

Show answer

A: 1805
After the French withdrawal.

2. Muhammad Ali massacred the Mamluks in

1805
1841
1798
1811

Show answer

D: 1811
At the Cairo Citadel.

3. Napoleon invaded Egypt in

1882
1869
1798
1805

Show answer

C: 1798
French left in 1801.

4. The Suez Canal opened in

1956
1869
1882
1798

Show answer

B: 1869
Under Khedive Ismail.

5. Britain bought Egypt’s Suez Canal shares in

1875
1869
1882
1898

Show answer

A: 1875
Disraeli’s purchase.

Key words

Pasha: Ottoman title for a governor or high official.
Khedive: Title (viceroy) granted to the ruler of Egypt in 1867.
Mamluks: Military class of slave origin that dominated Egypt before 1811.
Fellahin: Egyptian peasants.
Monopoly: Sole control of buying or selling a product.
Corvée: Compulsory unpaid labour on public works.
Dual Control: British and French supervision of Egyptian finances from 1876.
Veiled protectorate: British rule of Egypt behind a nominally Egyptian government (1882–1914).
Turkiyya: Sudanese name for Ottoman-Egyptian rule (1820/21–1885).
Mahdi: The "rightly guided one" expected to restore Islam and justice.
Khalifa: Successor; title of Abdallahi after the Mahdi.
Condominium: Joint rule of a territory by two states.

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