TR EN DE FR ARAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties

Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824)

Campaign · 1820

After the Hejaz campaign, the governor of Egypt, Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha, turned to Sudan to obtain the men and natural resources for the new army he planned to build. According to the TDV article on Mehmed Ali Pasha, the expedition launched in 1820 lasted two years and brought Sudan under his control. According to the TDV article on Sudan, the struggle between the Funj Sultanate of Sennar and the Kingdom of Dongola thereby ended with the annexation of Sudan by Mehmed Ali Pasha in 1820. Having seen his army's weaknesses in the Hejaz and Sudan campaigns, Mehmed Ali then had the French colonel Joseph Sève (Süleyman Pasha) build a new regular army. Darfur joined Ottoman–Egyptian Sudan only in 1874, under Khedive İsmail Pasha.

About the event

Date	1820–1822
Location	Sudan (Dongola and Sennar)
Result	Sudan came under Ottoman–Egyptian rule through the province of Egypt

Belligerents	Ottoman Empire	Funj Sultanate
Commanders	Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Pasha

This event in the atlas

Took place during the reign of Mahmud II (1808–1839). Mahmud II

Open the reign of Mahmud II on the map

Context of the period

By the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 4,551,000 km² in 1820; at the start of Mahmud II's reign they measured 4,551,000 km², at its end 3,803,000 km².

During Mahmud II (1808–1839) the atlas records 0 regions gained and 6 regions lost.

Regions lost: Cyclades (Naxos) (1821), Morea (Peloponnese) (1828), Akhaltsikhe (Childir) (1828), Athens–Central Greece (1829), Algiers (1830), Euboea (Negroponte) (1833).

Mahmud II in brief

He recentralised the state: he abolished the Janissaries and founded modern ministries, schools and the census. The territorial losses were heavy (Greece, Algiers, Bessarabia), but the administrative structure he built made the Tanzimat possible.

Other battles and treaties of Mahmud II

Alemdar Incident (1808)
Treaty of the Dardanelles (1809)
Ottoman–Wahhabi war (1811)
Treaty of Bucharest (1812) (1812)
Second Serbian Uprising (1815)
Revolt of Ali Pasha of Yanina (1820)
Greek War of Independence (1821)
First Treaty of Erzurum (1823)
Auspicious Incident (1826)
Akkerman Convention (1826)
Battle of Navarino (1827)
Treaty of Adrianople (1829) (1829)
Battle of Kulevicha (1829)
French conquest of Algeria (1830)
Revolt of Mehmed Ali Pasha of Egypt (1831)
Bosnian uprising (1831–1832) (1831)
Treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi (1833)
Treaty of Balta Liman (1838)

Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.

Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “KAVALALI MEHMED ALİ PAŞA” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.

Cite as: Atlas of the Sultans, “Egyptian conquest of Sudan (1820–1824): Date, Commanders and Outcome”, https://padisahlaratlasi.com/en/events/egyptian-conquest-of-sudan-1820-1824/ (last updated 12 November 2026). Corrections

Terms on this page: Khedive