Isma'il Pasha
(1830-1895), Khedive of Egypt and SudanSitter in 1 portrait
Son of Ibrahim Pasha of Albanian descent, Ismail was born in Cairo, the second son of three. Educated in Paris, he returned home after the death of his elder brother. Following the death of his uncle Said I, 'Ismail the Magnificent' as he became known, was pronounced the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan on 19 January (1863-1879). He shared the vision of his grandfather, Muhammed Ali Pasha, greatly modernizing and reforming Egypt and Sudan during his reign. He was responsible for establishing an assembly of delegates in November 1866. Initially an advisory board, they came to impart important influence on governmental matters. Ismail also tried to discourage and reduce slave trading. However Isma'il's policies and the costly war with Ethiopia, placed the Ottoman Khedivate of Egypt and Sudan in substantial debt to Europe resulting in the sale of the country's shares in the Suez Canal Company to the United Kingdom and his removal from power by the British.
Isma'il Pasha ('Statesmen. No. 360.')
by Théobald Chartran ('T')
chromolithograph, published in Vanity Fair 7 May 1881
NPG D44011
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