Ahmad I ibn Mustafa

Ahmed I (Arabic: أبو العباس أحمد باشا باي‎‎), born 2 December 1805 in Tunis died May 1855 at La Goulette, was the tenth Husainid Bey of Tunis, ruling from 1837 until his death. He was responsible for the abolition of slavery in Tunisia in 1846.

He succeeeded his father Mustafa Bey on 10 October 1837. He had grand ambitions - to expand his army and create a modern navy; to build a new royal residence, a mint and modern institutions of education but neither he nor his brother-in-law the young Mustapha Khaznadar who served as his finance minister, had a clear idea of what such initiatives would cost. As a result, many of his projects became expensive failures which damaged the financial health of the country.

Soon after his accession, Ahmad Bey received the traditional Firman from the Sublime Porte which formally invested him with authority to rule from the Ottoman Empire and furnished him with the insignia of office. The Ottoman envoy, Osman Bey, arrived in la Goulette on 15 May 1838 on board a frigate. The following day, Osman Bey made his official entry into Tunis on horseback, preceded by all the ministers of the beylical cabinet who went before him until he was two leagues from the city. Before him were carried the sword of honour and the caftan to be presented to the Bey. He was escorted by spahis and followed by a large contingent of regular troops an Arab cavalry. Three days after his official entry into the city, the envoy presented himself at the Bardo Palace to formally invest Ahmad Bey with his insignia of office and present gifts. Named as a Divisional General in he Ottoman army in May 1838, he was later promoted by the Sultan to the rank of Marshal on 14 August 1840. This was the first time that a Bey of Tunis had held a rank higher than Divisional General. The purpose of these honours was to emphasise the supremacy of the Ottoman Empire over the Regency of Tunis.

...
Wikipedia