Sa'id of Egypt
| Said Pasha | |
|---|---|
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| Reign | 1854 - 1863 |
| Predecessor | Abbas I |
| Successor | Isma'il Pasha |
| Born | 17 March 1822 Cairo, Egypt |
| Died | 17 January 1863 (aged 40) Cairo, Egypt |
| Spouse |
Inji Hanimefendi Melekber Hanimefendi |
| Dynasty | Muhammad Ali Dynasty |
| Father | Muhammad Ali Pasha |
Muhammad Sa'id Pasha (Arabic: محمد سعيد باشا, Turkish: Mehmed Said Paşa, March 17, 1822 – January 17, 1863) was the Wāli of Egypt and Sudan from 1854 until 1863, officially owing fealty to the Ottoman Sultan but in practice exercising virtual independence. He was the fourth son of Muhammad Ali Pasha. Sa'id was a Francophone, educated in Paris.
Under Sa'id's rule there were several law, land and tax reforms. Some modernization of Egyptian and Sudanese infrastructure also occurred using western loans. In 1854 the first act of concession of land for the Suez Canal was granted, to a French businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps. The British opposed a Frenchman building the canal and persuaded the Ottoman Empire to deny its permission for two years.
Sudan had been conquered by his father in 1821 and incorporated into his Egyptian realm, mainly in order to seize slaves for his army. Slave raids (the annual 'razzia') also ventured beyond Sudan into Kordofan and Ethiopia. Facing European pressure to abolish official Egyptian slave raids in the Sudan, Sa'id issued a decree banning raids. Freelance slave traders ignored his decree.
When the American Civil War brought a cotton famine, the export of Egyptian cotton surged during Sa'id's rule to become the main source for European mills. At the behest of Napoleon III in 1863, Sa'id dispatched part of a Sudanese battalion to help put down a rebellion against the Second Mexican Empire.
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Wikipedia