Ahmed

Pasha Pasha (; ; ) was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitary, dignitaries, and others. ''Pasha'' was also one of the highest titles in the 20th-century Kingdom of ...

(died February 1753), also called Şehla Ahmed Pasha, Hacı Şehla Ahmed Pasha, or Kör Vezir Ahmed Pasha ("Ahmed Pasha the Blind Vizier"), was an Ottoman

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

during the reign of

Mahmud I Mahmud I (, ; 2 August 1696 13 December 1754), known as Mahmud the Hunchback, was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754. He took over the throne after the quelling of the Patrona Halil rebellion. His reign was marked by wars in P ...

.İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı, Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971 (Turkish) He was also the

Ottoman governor of Egypt The Ottoman Empire's governors of Egypt Eyalet, Egypt from 1517 to 1805 were at various times known by different but synonymous titles, among them ''beylerbey'', viceroy, governor, governor-general, or, more generally, ''wāli''. Furthermore, th ...

from 1748 to 1751.

Early life

He was of Turkish origin. His family was from Alaiye (now

Alanya Alanya (; ), formerly Alaiye, is a beach resort town, resort city, a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of Antalya Province, Turkey. It is on the southern coast of Turkey, in the country's Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean R ...

Antalya Province Antalya Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. It is located on the Mediterranean Region, Turkey, Mediterranean coast of south-west Turkey, between the Taur ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

), but Ahmed was born in

Söke Söke is a municipality and district of Aydın Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,064 km2, and its population is 123,301 (2022). It is the largest district of Aydın Province by area. Söke is 54 km (34 miles) south-west of the city of Ayd� ...

(in

Aydın Province Aydın Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of southwestern Turkey, located in the Aegean Region. Its area is 8,116 km2, and its population is 1,148,241 (2022). T ...

, Turkey) to his father Cafer. One of his uncles was a

vizier A vizier (; ; ) is a high-ranking political advisor or Minister (government), minister in the Near East. The Abbasids, Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was at first merely a help ...

. He was appointed as the chief stableman (). In 1738, he was promoted to be the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

of Aydın Province. In 1742, he returned to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, the capital. He was appointed as the

nişancı was a high post in Ottoman Empire, Ottoman bureaucracy. The Turkish word literally means "court calligrapher" or "sealer", as the original duty of the was to seal royal precepts. History Although the post of the court calligrapher was establish ...

(one of the highest bureaucratic posts). Soon afterwards, he was promoted to be the

grand vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

on 23 June 1740. He was sometimes called ''Kör Vezir'' ("blind

") because he was somewhat cross-eyed.

As Grand Vizier

His term in the office was one of the few periods of peace in the history of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, as the war against the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

had just ended and

Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...

, Shah of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, was occupied in

Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...

and

Daghestan Dagestan ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Feder ...

. Despite the favorable conditions, Ahmed Pasha was unable to take advantage of the political state of peace and failed to follow his intended program of recovery and reform. Meanwhile, he was accused of dishonesty and indifference to state affairs. He was dismissed from the post on 21 April 1742 and was replaced by the more experienced

Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha Hekimoğlu Ali Pasha (1689 – 13 August 1758) was an Ottoman statesman and military leader who served as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire three times. Family His father, Nuh, was a Venetian convert to Islam who worked in Constantinople (m ...

, who had already once served a term as grand vizier 10 years ago.

Later years

He was exiled to the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

. Soon thereafter, however, he returned to government services. In 1743, he became the governor of the Sanjak of İçel (modern

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

, Turkey) and then the governor of

Sidon Eyalet The Eyalet of Sidon (; ) was an eyalet (also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the eyalet extended from the border with Egypt to the Bay of Kisrawan, including parts of modern Israel and Lebanon. Depending ...

. That year, a new war with Persia broke out, and Ahmed Pasha was given command () of northern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, where he successfully defended Kars against Nader. He then worked as the governor of

Aleppo Eyalet Aleppo Eyalet (; ) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. After the Ottoman conquest it was governed from Damascus, but by 1534 Aleppo was made the capital of a new eyalet. By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters Its reported area in the 19th centur ...

(in modern

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

) and

Diyarbekir Eyalet The Eyalet of Diyarbekir (; ) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was , slightly larger than the original Abbasid province in Upper Mesopotamia. In 1846 it was succeeded by the Kurdistan Eyalet. Government ...

. After the

Treaty of Kerden Treaty of Kerden (, Persian language, Persian:عهدنامه گردان) was signed between Ottoman Empire and Afsharid Iran on 4 September 1746. It concluded the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–46), Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746). Background ...

, he was appointed the governor of

Baghdad Eyalet Baghdad Eyalet (, ) was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered on Baghdad. Its reported area in the 19th century was . History Safavid shah Ismail I took the Baghdad region from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1508. After the Safavid takeover, Sunn ...

in 1747, the governor of

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

in 1748, and the governor of

Adana Eyalet The Eyalet of Adana () was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire, established in 1608, when it was separated from the Eyalet of Aleppo. Its reported area in the 19th century was . History The Ramadanids played a key role in 15th-century Ottoman-Maml ...

in 1751. However, Ahmed Pasha refused this last position in Adana, and in 1752, he returned to his former governorship in Aleppo, where he died in February 1753.Ayhan Buz: ''Osmanlı Sadrazamları'', Neden Kitap, İstanbul, 2009, pp 227-231

Interests

Contemporaries in Ottoman Egypt described him as a man interested in the

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

s and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, but reported that he was disappointed when he discovered that Egypt's famed

Al-Azhar University The Al-Azhar University ( ; , , ) is a public university in Cairo, Egypt. Associated with Al-Azhar Al-Sharif in Islamic Cairo, it is Egypt's oldest degree-granting university and is known as one of the most prestigious universities for Islamic ...

had ceased to teach about sciences and focused on only religious education. Reportedly, he found even the most educated Egyptians and

ulema In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

to be illiterate in basic mathematics, spending most of his time with the few he found that shared his interest in the sciences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmed Pasha, Nisanci 1753 deaths 18th-century grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire 18th-century Ottoman governors of Egypt Pashas Nişancı Turks from the Ottoman Empire Year of birth unknown Ottoman governors of Egypt Ottoman governors of Aleppo

Early life

As Grand Vizier

Later years

Interests

See also

References