MEHEMED or MEnEmor Am, also Mon_km3rEn ALT, Viceroy of Eg,ypt, was b. in 1769 at Kavala, a little town in Macedonia. entered the Turkish army at an early age, and, in 1799, was sent to Egypt at the head of a contingent of 300 troops to co-operate • with the British against the French invaders. Here his fine military qualities rapidly developed themselves, and he at length became commander of the Albanian corps d'armee in Er.ypt. In 1806 he was recognized by the porte as viceroy of Egypt, and . pasha of Three Tails; but was soon involved in di,putes with the 3Iainelukes, who had long practically ruled Egypt. The struggle was filially terthinated in 1811, by the Inas *acre of the greater number of these at Cairo. The rest fled to Upper Egypt, but were expelled by Melietned in the following year. They then took refuge in Nubia from tlteir remorseless foe, but in 1820 he followed them thither, and they were utterly exterminated.
The Porte now felt alarm at his b,,rowing power, and with a view to break it, intrusted him with the command of an expedition against the Wahabis, a religious sect of Arabia. But the victories of his son, Ibrahim Pasha (q.v.), only rendered him more powerful, and his authority extended itself over a great part of the Arabian peninsula. Shortly after, he conquered Kordofan, added it to his dominions, and opened up a great trade in black slaves from the interior of Africa. About this time he began to reorganize his army ou somethinm like European principles, built a fleet, and erected fortresses, military work shops, and arsenals. His ambition, however, received a severe check by the total destruction of his new navy at Navarino, in 1827. In 1830 the Porte conferred on him the government of Candia, but this did not satisfy him; and in the following year, on a frivolous pretext, he sent out an army for the conquest of Syria, under 'bralurn Pasha, who, by his victory at Konieh (Dec. 20, 1832), brought the Turkish government to the
brink of ruin. The European powers now stepped in, and a treaty was concluded (May 4, 1833), by which Syria was ceded to Mehemed, on cdndition of his acknowledging him self a vassal of the sultan. Neither of the belligerents was satisfied, and Mehemed con tinued to plot in his usual secret and crafty style, till sultan Mahmud was oblig:ed in 1833. to declare war against his dangerous subject. The European powers again Interfered, and Mehemed SaW himself compelled to give up all his claims to the possession of Syria. and to content himself with getting the pashalic of Egypt made hereditary in his family. If the infirmities of age had not now begun to tell upon Meltemed, he might have become what many in fact have pronounced him to be—the regenerator of Egypt! He thor oughly cleared the country of robbers from Abyssinia to the mouths of the Nile; he may alinost be said to have introduced the cultivation of cotton, indigo, and sugar into the country. While Syria was under his rule, he increased to an immense extent the mulberry plantations, and consequently tlte cultivation of silk; and to crown all his efforts, he established in Egypt a system of national education! In his last y-ears, he fell into a sort of religious dotage, and at last, in 1848, resigned his viceroyship in favor of his son, Ibrahim Pasha (q.v.). Mehemed died Aug. 2, 1849.