- Ahmed Karamanli
Ahmed or Ahmad Karamanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli, (most commonly Ahmed Karamanli) (1686-1745) was a
Janissary who went on to found theKaramanli dynasty (1711-1835) ofTripolitania orTripoli (in present-dayLibya ). He reigned (1711-1745), as the first Karamanli Pasha ofTripolitania .In the early 18th century, the
Ottoman Empire was losing its grip on itsNorth Africa n holdings, including Tripoli. A period of civil war ensued, with no ruler able to hold office for more than a year. Ahmed Karamanli, a Janissary and popularcavalry officer, murdered the Ottoman governor and seized the throne in 1711. After persuading the Ottomans to recognize him as governor, Ahmed established himself as pasha and made his post hereditary. Though Tripoli continued to pay nominal tribute to the Ottomanpadishah , it acted otherwise as an independent kingdom.An intelligent and able man, Ahmed greatly expanded his city's economy, particularly through the employment of
corsair s on crucial Mediterranean shipping routes; nations that wished to protect their ships from the corsairs were forced to pay tribute to the pasha. On land, Ahmed expanded Tripoli's control as far asFezzan andCyrenaica before his 1745 death.Ahmed's successors proved less capable rulers, however, and the kingdom was soon wracked by internal strife. The Karamanli dynasty would end a century later as the Ottomans retook control.
References
*McLachlan, K. S. "Tripoli and Tripolitania: Conflict and Cohesion during the Period of the Barbary Corsairs (1551-1850)." "Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series" 3.3 (1978): 285-294.
*Nora Lafi , Une ville du Maghreb entre ancien régime et réformes ottomanes. Tripoli 1795-1911, Paris, 2002External links
* [http://countrystudies.us/libya/16.htm US Country Studies: Karamanlis]
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Libya.htm#Tripolitania Worldstatesmen.org's History and list of rulers of Tripolitania]
* [http://www.hostkingdom.net/noafrica.html#Tripoli Hostkingdom.net's History and list of rulers of Tripolitania]
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