Ali Bey

Ali Bey (1728-1773), Mamluk ruler of Egypt, born in the Caucasus, in what is now the Abkhazia region of Georgia. In his youth he was carried off to Egypt as a slave. By 1766 he had become one of the Mamluk beys, or governors. Gaining followers in the next five years, he slaughtered the other beys, proclaimed Egypt independent of the Ottoman Empire, and took the title of sultan. He conquered Syria and part of Arabia, but one of his sons-in-law, Muhammad Bey, called Abu al-Dhahab (1743?-1775), turned against him and defeated him in battle near Cairo in 1773.