Yusuf Karamanli

Yusuf Karamanli
Pasha of Tripoli
Predecessor	Ali Pasha (usurper)
Successor	Ali II
Born	1766 Tripoli, Ottoman Tripolitania
Died	1838 (aged 72)
Dynasty	Karamanli dynasty
Father	Ali I
Religion	Islam

Yusuf (ibn Ali) Karamanli, Caramanli or Qaramanli or al-Qaramanli (most commonly Yusuf Karamanli), (1766–1838) was the longest-reigning Pasha of the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania (in present-day Libya). He is noted for his role in the Barbary Wars against the United States.

Assumption of the throne

Born in

and claimed the throne for himself.

Barbary Wars

In 1796, Karamanli drafted and signed the

) to protect American shipping, refused the Pasha's demands. This led the Pasha to unofficially declare war in May 1801 by chopping down the flagpole with the American flag before the U.S. consulate.

The U.S. Navy attempted to blockade Tripoli's harbors with a squadron sent by President Jefferson in 1803. After some initial military successes, most notably the capture of the grounded American frigate USS Philadelphia in October 1803, the Pasha soon found himself threatened after a raid led by US Navy lieutenant Stephen Decatur to burn and scuttle the Philadelphia in Tripoli's harbor. By 1805, following a defeat at the Battle of Derna as well as the allied recruitment of his deposed brother Hamet Karamanli by American army officer and diplomatic consul William Eaton, Karamanli was forced to capitulate. He signed a treaty with American emissary Tobias Lear of the U.S. Department of State that officially ended the war on 10 June 1805.

Al-Jawazi massacre

On 5 September 1817, Yusuf Karamanli invited the leaders of the al-Jawazi tribe of Libya to his castle in Benghazi, following a dispute regarding tribute and an al-Jawazi uprising against his rule. Consequently, the Pasha ordered the execution of all attendees and of all other tribe members, which resulted in a massacre of at least 10,000 people. Survivors eventually sought refuge in neighboring countries, especially in Egypt.^[4][5]

Decline of the Karamanli dynasty

By 1819, the various treaties of the Napoleonic Wars had forced the Barbary states to give up corsair activity almost entirely, and Tripoli's economy began to crumble.^[1] Karamanli attempted to compensate for lost revenue by encouraging the trans-Saharan slave trade, but with abolitionist sentiment on the rise in Europe and to a lesser degree in the United States, this failed to salvage Tripoli's economy. As Karamanli weakened, factions sprung up around his three sons; though Karamanli abdicated in 1832 in favor of his son Ali II, civil war soon resulted. Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II in Istanbul sent in troops ostensibly to restore order, but they instead deposed and exiled Ali II, marking the end of both the Karamanli dynasty and an independent Tripoli.^[2]

References

Notes

1. ^ Hume 311.
2. ^ US Country Studies

Bibliography

• Fredriksen, John C. (2001), "Karamanli, Yusuf", America's Military Adversaries: From Colonial Times to the Present, ABC-CLIO,
  ISBN 1-57607-603-2
  .

References

• Folayan, Kola Tripoli during the reign of Yusuf Pasha Qaramanli. Ife, Nigeria: University of Ife Press, 1979.
• Hume, L. J. "Preparations for Civil War in Tripoli in the 1820s: Ali Karamanli, Hassuna D'Ghies and Jeremy Bentham." The Journal of African History 21.3 (1980): 311–322.
• London, Joshua E. Victory in Tripoli: How America's War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2005.
  ISBN 0-471-44415-4
• McLachlan, K. S. "Tripoli and Tripolitania: Conflict and Cohesion during the Period of the Barbary Corsairs (1551–1850)." Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series 3.3 (1978): 285–294.

Books

• LAFI (Nora), Une ville du Maghreb entre ancien régime et réformes ottomanes. Genèse des institutions municipales à Tripoli de Barbarie (1795–1911), Paris, L'Harmattan, 2002, 305 p.

External links

• US Country Studies: Libya

Preceded by Ahmad II Pasha

Pasha of Tripoli 1795–1832

Succeeded by Ali II