Sultans and Feudal Lords

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Under the rule of the Ottomans, the Mamelouks did not cease to exercise their power. As the Ottoman empire expanded, the new world power adopted a government model that consisted of three authorities: local, military, and political. In Egypt, they realized that the power of the Mamelouks was strong enough to subdue the local people, yet not too strong to revolt against the Grande Porte, or the Ottoman Sultan. The Mamelouks were, therefore, left in charge of local affairs. Feudal Lords or Mamelouk Beys were appointed to each of Egypt's districts, and, in order to ensure no revolt attempt on the part of the Mamelouks, the Ottomans stationed their own soldiers, the Janissaries and the Azabs, in Cairo. Both orders consisted of soldiers, much like the Mamelouks, enslaved at a young age, raised as fighters, and appointed to high military, political, and civil posts. The Janissaries were among the most skillful of fighters. It was to them that Constantinople fell in 1453.

However, the ultimate political power was, at least theoretically, in the hands of the main authority, the Pasha, a Turk governor usually educated in Istanbul. In several occasions, Pashas were overruled by powerful Mamelouk Beys, who were subsequently subdued by the Ottoman troops, who received their orders from the Sultan, and so on. To the Sultans, what mattered most in the provinces was tax collection rather than political power. Meanwhile, little was being done to improve the social and economic status of Egypt or its capital city.

While common people suffered most from the Ottoman policy of isolationism and from the continuous fighting between the different ruling factions, a class of citizens emerged and somehow continued to survive. Merchants such as Gamal-el-din Al-Dhahabi prospered under the new system and commissioned some of the most beautiful architecture, which still exist to this day in Khan Al-Khalili and other parts of the city. Traders and merchants who had strong ties with Istanbul succeeded in maintaining a very decent living standard. In 1796, however, Cairo citizens, burdened by high taxes, revolted against their Ottoman rulers. It was a premonition to what was to come in the following years.