Egypt’s wealth and position made it an unusual Ottoman province

Evidence

Egypt for all practical purposes was an Ottoman province and that Mehmed Ali was an Ottoman governor who received an annual investiture firman from the Sultan in Istanbul. Without bearing that in mind it would be difficult to explain why Mehmed Ali agreed to comply with the Sultan’s orders to help him in the Hijaz and Greek wars. Having said that, however, it should also be pointed out that Egypt had always had a unique position within the Ottoman Empire, that its wealth far surpassed that of most other provinces within the Empire (with the exception of the Balkans and Anatolia), and that it always had an influence on its neighboring provinces in Syria and the Hijaz. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 204

Categorization

• XREF: Directly addresses the reader’s question about Ottoman-Egyptian relations and Mehmed Ali’s legal standing within the Empire.