The
Karamanli or
Caramanli or
Qaramanli or
al-Qaramanli dynasty was a series of
PashaPasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
s, of
TurkishTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
origin who ruled from 1711 to 1835 in
TripolitaniaTripolitania or Tripolitana is a historic region and former province of Libya.Tripolitania was a separate Italian colony from 1927 to 1934...
(
TripoliTripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...
and its surroundings in present-day
LibyaLibya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
). At their peak, the Karamanlis' influence reached
CyrenaicaCyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
and
FezzanFezzan is a south western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.-Name:...
covering most of Libya. The founder of the dynasty was Pasha
Ahmed KaramanliAhmed or Ahmad Karamanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli, was of Turkish origin. He founded the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania or Tripoli...
of
TurkishTurkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
origin.. The most well-known Karamanli was
Yusuf ibn Ali KaramanliYusuf Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli , was the best-known Pasha of the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania .-Assumption of the throne:Yusuf, a member of the Karamanli dynasty Yusuf (ibn Ali) Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli (most commonly Yusuf Karamanli),...
Pasha who reigned from 1795 to 1832, who fought a war with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in (1801–1805) and again jointly with
TunisTunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
and
Algiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
in 1815. Ali II Pasha marked the end of the dynasty. For a complete list of names, dates of births, deaths and reigns of all Karamanlis see
http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Libya.htm#Tripolitania or
http://www.hostkingdom.net/noafrica.html#Tripoli.
Origins
In the early eighteenth century, the
Ottoman EmpireThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
was losing its grip on its
North AfricaNorth Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
n holdings, including Tripolitania. A period of civil war ensued, with no ruler able to hold office for more than a year.
Ahmed KaramanliAhmed or Ahmad Karamanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli, was of Turkish origin. He founded the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania or Tripoli...
, a
JanissaryThe Janissaries were infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards...
and popular cavalry officer, murdered the Ottoman governor of Tripolitania and seized the throne. After persuading the Ottomans to recognize him as governor, Ahmed established himself as pasha and made his post hereditary. Though Tripolitania continued to pay nominal tribute to the Ottoman
padishahPadishah, Padshah, Padeshah, Badishah or Badshah is a superlative royal title, composed of the Persian pād "master" and the widespread shāh "king", which was adopted by several monarchs claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to the ancient Persian notion of "The Great" or "Great King", and...
, it otherwise acted as an independent kingdom.
An intelligent and able man, Ahmed greatly expanded his city's economy, particularly through the employment of corsairs on crucial
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
shipping routes; nations that wished to protect their ships from the corsairs were forced to pay tribute to the pasha. On land, Ahmed expanded Tripolitania 's control as far as
FezzanFezzan is a south western region of modern Libya. It is largely desert but broken by mountains, uplands, and dry river valleys in the north, where oases enable ancient towns and villages to survive deep in the otherwise inhospitable Sahara.-Name:...
and
CyrenaicaCyrenaica is the eastern coastal region of Libya.Also known as Pentapolis in antiquity, it was part of the Creta et Cyrenaica province during the Roman period, later divided in Libia Pentapolis and Libia Sicca...
before his 1745 death.
Barbary Wars
Ahmad's successors proved to be less capable than himself, preventing the state from ever achieving the brief golden ages of its
BarbaryThe Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans from the 16th until the 19th century to refer to much of the collective land of the Berber people. Today, the terms Maghreb and "Tamazgha" correspond roughly to "Barbary"...
neighbors, such as
Algiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
or
TunisTunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....
. However, the region's delicate balance of power allowed the Karamanli to survive several dynastic crises without invasion.
In 1793,
TurkishTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
officer Ali Benghul deposed Hamet Karamanli and briefly restored Tripolitania to Ottoman rule. However, Hamet's brother
YusufYusuf Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli , was the best-known Pasha of the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania .-Assumption of the throne:Yusuf, a member of the Karamanli dynasty Yusuf (ibn Ali) Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli (most commonly Yusuf Karamanli),...
(r. 1795-1832) returned to Tripolitania and with the aid of the bey of Tunis, reestablished Tripolitania's independence.
In 1801, Yusuf demanded a tribute of $225,000 from
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
PresidentThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Thomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
. Jefferson, confident in the ability of the new
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
to protect American shipping, refused the Pasha's demands, leading the Pasha to unofficially declare war, in May 1801, by chopping down the flagpole before the American consulate. Jefferson responded by ordering the US Navy into the Mediterranean, successfully blockading Tripolitania's harbors in 1803. After some initial military successes, most notably the capture of the
USS PhiladelphiaThe second USS Philadelphia was a 1240-ton, 36-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy.Originally named City of Philadelphia, she was built in 1798–1799 for the United States government by the citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Funding for her construction was the result of a...
, the pasha soon found himself threatened with invasion by American ground forces following the
Battle of DernaThe Battle of Derne was a decisive victory of a mercenary army led by a detachment of United States Marines and soldiers over pirate forces along the Barbary coast nation of Tripoli during the First Barbary War...
and the reinstatement of his deposed brother, Hamet Karamanli, recruited by the American army officer William Eaton. He signed a treaty ending the war on June 10, 1805.
Decline
By 1819, the various treaties of the
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
had forced the Barbary states to give up piracy almost entirely, and Tripolitania's economy began to crumble. Yusuf attempted to compensate for lost revenue by encouraging the trans-Saharan slave trade, but with abolitionist sentiment on the rise in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and to a lesser degree the United States, this failed to salvage Tripolitania's economy. As Yusuf weakened, factions sprung up around his three sons; though Yusuf abdicated in 1832 in favor of his son Ali II, civil war soon resulted. Ottoman Sultan
Mahmud IIMahmud II was the 30th Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. He was born in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, the son of Sultan Abdulhamid I...
sent in troops ostensibly to restore order, but instead deposed and exiled Ali II, marking the end of both the Karamanli dynasty and an independent Tripolitania. A descendant family with the same name still exists in modern Tripoli-Libya.
List of Rulers of the Karamanli (Caramanli) Dynasty (1711-1835)
- Ahmad I Pasha (29 July 1711 - 4 November 1745)
- Mehmed Pasha
Mehmed Pasha or Mehmet Pasha may refer to:*Koca Mehmed Nizamüddin Pasha , Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire*Rum Mehmed Pasha , Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire...
(4 November 1745 - 24 July 1754)
- Ali I Pasha (24 July 1754 - 30 July 1793)
- Ali (II) Burghul Pasha Cezayrli (30 July 1793 - 20 January 1795) (usurper)
- Ahmad II Pasha (20 January - 11 June 1795)
- Yusuf Pasha (11 June 1795 - 20 August 1832)
- Mehmed
Mehmed is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammed , it was originally spelled Mehemed, losing a vowel over time. It is the most common Turkish male given name, a common surname, and also often appears in derived compound names...
(1817) (1st time, in rebellion)
- Mehmed ibn 'Ali (1824) (1st time, in rebellion)
- Mehmed
Mehmed is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammed , it was originally spelled Mehemed, losing a vowel over time. It is the most common Turkish male given name, a common surname, and also often appears in derived compound names...
(1826) (2nd time, in rebellion)
- Mehmed
Mehmed is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic name Muhammed , it was originally spelled Mehemed, losing a vowel over time. It is the most common Turkish male given name, a common surname, and also often appears in derived compound names...
(July 1832) (3rd time, in rebellion)
- Mehmed ibn 'Ali (1835) (2nd time, in rebellion)
- Ali II Pasha (20 August 1832 - 26 May 1835)