Albanians in Egypt: Muhammad Ali and a Remarkable Legacy

6 min read

No diaspora has a stranger place in the Albanian story than the Albanians in Egypt. For nearly 150 years Egypt was ruled by a dynasty founded by an Albanian, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the man remembered as the father of modern Egypt. And in the shadow of that dynasty, Egyptian cities became one of the great centers of Albanian literature and national awakening. This guide tells that remarkable history. It is part of our Albanians Around the World series.

Quick Facts

• The dynasty: Muhammad Ali Pasha, of Albanian origin, ruled Egypt from 1805 and founded a dynasty that lasted until the revolution of 1952.
• The community: Albanian soldiers, officials, traders and later intellectuals settled in Cairo, Alexandria, and provincial towns such as Beni Suef and Shibin el Kom.
• A literary cradle: Egypt was a major center of the Albanian national awakening, home to writers like Andon Zako Cajupi and Thimi Mitko.
• Today: Most of the organized community departed after the 1952 revolution. Egypt’s census does not record ethnic origin, so there is no official count of people of Albanian descent.

On This Page

• Muhammad Ali: The Albanian Who Founded Modern Egypt
• The Albanian Community
• A Cradle of Albanian Literature
• The Community Today
• Frequently Asked Questions

Muhammad Ali: The Albanian Who Founded Modern Egypt

Muhammad Ali Pasha was born around 1769 into an Albanian family in Kavala, an Ottoman port in what is now northern Greece. He came to Egypt as a commander in the Ottoman Albanian troops sent to drive Napoleon’s army out of the country. In the chaos that followed the French withdrawal, he outmaneuvered his rivals, won the backing of Egyptians, and in 1805 forced the Ottoman Sultan to recognize him as Wali, or governor, of Egypt. From that base he transformed the country. He built a European-style army and navy, founded military academies and factories, made Egyptian cotton a global cash crop, and centralized the state, reforms so sweeping that he is widely called the father of modern Egypt. The dynasty he founded ruled Egypt and Sudan through figures like Ibrahim, Ismail, and finally King Farouk, until it was swept away by the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. For nearly a century and a half, in other words, an Albanian house sat on the throne of Egypt.

The Albanian Community

Muhammad Ali’s rise drew his compatriots to Egypt. The community had begun with Albanian soldiers and officials in Ottoman service, many of whom had made their name expelling the French around 1800, but under the new dynasty it flourished. Albanians settled in Cairo, Alexandria, and provincial towns such as Beni Suef and Shibin el Kom. Many of the later arrivals were traders from the Korçë and Kolonjë regions of the southern Albanian lands, and they organized associations and publishing societies and prospered in a country ruled by a dynasty of Albanian origin.

A Cradle of Albanian Literature

Egypt’s greatest gift to the Albanian nation was cultural. Far from Ottoman censorship, the Albanian diaspora in Egypt became one of the most important centers of the Rilindja, the Albanian national awakening. Here Albanians published newspapers and books in their own language at a time when this was forbidden in the homeland. Some of the towering figures of Albanian literature worked in Egyptian cities, among them the folklorist Thimi Mitko, the collector Spiro Dine, and above all the poet Andon Zako Cajupi, who spent most of his life in Egypt, died in Heliopolis in 1930, and became one of the defining voices of the awakening. Egypt, improbably, helped give the Albanians their modern literature.

The Community Today

The Egyptian-Albanian world did not survive the 20th century intact. After the 1952 revolution ended the monarchy and Egypt turned toward Arab nationalism, most of the old Albanian community, tied as it was to the fallen dynasty and to a cosmopolitan Egypt that was disappearing, emigrated or assimilated. What remains today is above all a legacy: the dynasty’s monuments, Albanian-built architecture in Cairo, and a proud memory of the era when Egypt was ruled from an Albanian throne and gave shelter to the Albanian awakening.

The Dynasty Muhammad Ali Founded

Ruler	Reign	Known for
Muhammad Ali	1805 to 1848	Born in Kavala in 1769 to an Albanian family, came to Egypt in 1801 commanding Albanian troops, and made himself governor; built a modern army, industry and schools, and won hereditary rule for his family
Ibrahim	1848	His son and the dynasty’s great general, conqueror of Sudan, Arabia and Syria; ruled only months
Abbas I	1848 to 1854	Grandson; commissioned Egypt’s first railway, from Alexandria toward Cairo
Said	1854 to 1863	Granted the Suez Canal concession; Port Said carries his name
Ismail	1863 to 1879	Took the title Khedive, opened the Suez Canal in 1869 and rebuilt Cairo, then left the state deeply in debt
Tewfik and Abbas II	1879 to 1914	Ruled under the British occupation that began in 1882
Hussein Kamel and Fuad I	1914 to 1936	Sultans under the British protectorate; Fuad became King of Egypt at independence in 1922
Farouk	1936 to 1952	The last effective king, overthrown by the Free Officers in July 1952
Fuad II	1952 to 1953	An infant king in name only; the monarchy was abolished in June 1953

For a century and a half the rulers of Egypt were, by descent, an Albanian family from the Ottoman Balkans, and the connection stayed visible: Albanian troops formed the core of Muhammad Ali’s early army, and Muhammad Ali’s statue in Kavala and his mosque on the Cairo citadel are both, in their way, Albanian monuments.

The Writers Who Worked From Egypt

Figure	Where in Egypt	Contribution
Thimi Mitko	Beni Suef	Merchant from Korçë whose Bleta Shqypëtare, printed in Alexandria in 1878, is a landmark collection of Albanian folk songs, tales and sayings
Spiro Dine	Shibin el Kom	Collected folklore and verse for decades; his Valët e Detit, printed in Sofia in 1908, is described as the longest book printed in Albanian up to that time
Andon Zako Çajupi	Cairo and Heliopolis	Lawyer and poet whose Baba Tomorri of 1902, written in Egypt, became one of the best loved books of Albanian verse
Milo Duçi	Cairo	Publisher of Albanian newspapers and plays in the Egyptian colony in the 1900s and 1920s
Loni Logori	Cairo	Poet and community leader who represented the Albanians of Egypt at the Congress of Elbasan in 1909

Egypt gave these men what the Ottoman Balkans denied them: presses, money and freedom to print in Albanian. The colony’s societies in Cairo and Alexandria raised funds for schools at home, and their newspapers reached readers from Korçë to Boston. When independence came in 1912, Egypt’s Albanian colony was among the diaspora communities that had supported the national cause.

What Remains

The community numbered in the thousands before 1952, with some accounts putting it at about 4,000 families. How many people of Albanian descent live in Egypt today is not known: Egypt’s census does not record ethnic origin, and published estimates vary widely. The revolution ended the monarchy that had been its patron, the nationalizations of the 1950s and 1960s took the businesses of foreign residents, and most Albanian Egyptians left for Europe, the United States or Albania itself. What remains is in stone and on paper: the Muhammad Ali mosque above Cairo, the family’s palaces, and the books that the Rilindja printed on the Nile. For the movement those books belonged to, see our guides to Naim Frashëri and Albanian independence, and for the wider diaspora, Albanians around the world.

Visiting the Albanian Past in Egypt

Travelers can still trace the connection. The Mosque of Muhammad Ali on the Cairo Citadel, built between 1830 and 1848 in the Ottoman style of Istanbul, holds the founder’s tomb and dominates the city’s skyline. The Manial Palace on Roda island, built by Prince Muhammad Ali Tewfik, and the Abdeen and Montaza palaces show the dynasty at its height. In Kavala, across the Aegean in Greece, Muhammad Ali’s birthplace is preserved as a museum and his equestrian statue stands on the old town square. For Albanians who want to see the world their ancestors helped build, Cairo is one of the most surprising stops.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Muhammad Ali of Egypt Albanian?

Yes. Muhammad Ali Pasha was born into an Albanian family in Kavala and rose to power at the head of Ottoman Albanian troops. He founded the dynasty that ruled Egypt from 1805 until 1952.

How long did the Albanian dynasty rule Egypt?

Nearly 150 years, from Muhammad Ali’s recognition as governor in 1805 until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 overthrew King Farouk.

Why was Egypt important to Albanian culture?

The Albanian diaspora in Egypt was a major center of the Rilindja, the national awakening, publishing Albanian books and newspapers and hosting writers like Andon Zako Cajupi when this was banned in the homeland.

Are there Albanians in Egypt today?

No official count exists, because Egypt’s census does not record ethnic origin, and published estimates vary widely. Most of the organized community emigrated or assimilated after the 1952 revolution, leaving a rich historical legacy rather than a large, visible community.

Sources

• Wikipedia: The Muhammad Ali dynasty
• Wikipedia: Albanians in Egypt
• Britannica: Muhammad Ali, Pasha and Viceroy of Egypt
• Wikipedia: Thimi Mitko
• Wikipedia: Spiro Dine
• Wikipedia: Muhammad Ali of Egypt

Related Reading

• Albanians Around the World: The Global Diaspora
• Albanians in Turkey
• The Rilindja: Albanian National Awakening
• Skanderbeg: Albania’s National Hero