The Fez in the Northeast Africa: an analysis of the Ottoman administration on the Island of Massawa in 1849-1865 period

Abstract

This thesis is about the policies pursued by the Ottoman administration in Massawa, a city in Ottoman Abyssinia during the 1849-1865 period. After the end of Massawa’s decentralized administrative structure with the efforts of Mehmed Ali Paşa of Egypt, Sublime Porte found the opportunity to implement policies that were not possible to execute before. Starting from the late 1840s, the district governorship in Massawa pursued a wide range of precautions against any risks of occurrences that could endanger the remains of the Ottoman presence in Northern Abyssinia. When the correspondences of the French and British consulates in Massawa are examined along with the Ottoman archival material related to this port city, it can be deduced that Sublime Porte had concerns about a possible military alliance between Europeans and Abyssinians or a military invasion directly from Occidental nations to colonize the city. Therefore, the Ottomans followed specific strategies, along with the help of the Na’ibs of Arkiko, that limited the actions of foreign elements to maintain the status quo on the East Coast of the Red Sea, which resembled a blockade from the perspective of the Europeans and Abyssinians.