Abbas I of Egypt

Abbas Helmy I of Egypt (also known as Abbas Pasha, , ; 1 July 181213 July 1854) was the Wāli of Egypt. He was a son of Tusun Pasha, the younger son of Muhammad Ali Pasha whom he succeeded as de facto ruler of Egypt and Sudan. The Chambers Biographical Dictionary says of him: "igoted and sensual, he did much to undo the progress made under Muhammad Ali."

Early years Abbas was born on 1 July 1812 in Jeddah and was brought up in Cairo. Being the grandson of Muhammad Ali, he succeeded his uncle Ibrahim Pasha in ruling Egypt and Sudan in 1848.

As a young man, he fought in the Levant under his uncle Ibrahim Pasha in the Syrian War.

A 1886 study wrote of Abbas that he "undertook no great works, built no new canals, and did not even carry out the schemes and plans of his predecessors. Abbas has been called a bigot and a miser. He certainly was neither liberal in mind nor lavish with money."

Due to his negative policies towards Europeans and their influence, Abbas was not liked by them and in time his reputation was exaggerated and demonized to portray him as worse than he actually was. After he died the number of Europeans in Egypt rose drastically from 3,000, in 1850, to 90,000, in 1882, and 200,000 by 1900.

Horse breeding

Among Abbas' personal interests was the breeding of Arabian horses, which was said to be the overriding passion of his life. He continued a breeding program begun by Muhammad Ali. Upon becoming Wāli, Abbas accumulated additional horses and carefully documented the histories of the animals and their bloodlines, records which have been preserved into the present day.

Following Abbas' assassination, his Arabian horses were inherited by his eighteen-year-old son, Damad Prince Ibrahim Ilhamy Pasha who showed little interest in them, giving away several and putting the rest up for auction. In 1861, a distant relative, Ali Pasha Sherif purchased approximately 40 horses of the original Abbas Pasha stock and rebuilt the horse breeding program.

Honours

Footnotes