Khedivate of Egypt

The Khedivate of Egypt was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, established and ruled by members of the dynasty of Muhammad Ali. In 1867 the Ottoman sultan gave Muhammad Ali's grandson Isma'il Pasha the title of Khedive, together with near-total autonomy over internal affairs, certain diplomatic privileges and control of the order of succession. Isma'il and his successors kept modernising the Egyptian state on European models, and among the major projects of the era was the Suez Canal, which opened in 1869. Costly reforms produced heavy foreign debts that let European powers increase their influence, which fed nationalist opposition and the Urabi revolution of 1879 to 1882. Britain invaded and took control of Egypt in 1882, and in 1914 the formal link to the Ottoman Empire ended when Britain established the Sultanate of Egypt as a protectorate.