Knowledge gaps in conscription numbers forced Egypt to compile population data

Evidence

As early as 1825, for example, it was realized that to replace the soldiers who had fled or who were sent back to their villages, local officials had to know how many men were to be conscripted from their provinces in the first place. When Mehmed Ali was informed that 7,494 men were gathered in the year 1240 (1824/5), he wrote to the Director of his War Department, telling him “we have to know in the first place the number [of men] demanded from each province and the number actually gathered [in order to know] the number still remaining.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 410