Muhammad Ali framed Nile exploration as a personal legacy for his commander and Egypt

Evidence

Was this then a means of personalizing Egypt’s control of the resources of the Sudan? Prior to Selim Qapudan’s trip, Muhammad Alï had tried to enlist his commander, or hikimdar, of the Sudan, Khurshid Pasha, to lead another expedition up the Nile. In a letter to Khurshid Pasha, Muhammad Alï wrote that “each of the greatest of men who have come to this world and then left it, left a trace on which their name lies, or their highest hopes, or their fame.” To that lofty end, he instructed Khurshid Pasha to prepare for the exploration of the Nile’s origins, not only for the promise of promotion and personal fame this would guarantee Khurshid Pasha but also for Egypt, in its new state of “fluorescence”: “It is incumbent upon you to extend the greatest of your efforts to heighten and augment her situation.” — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 193