Karamanli dynasty

Ahmad's successors proved to be less capable than himself, preventing the state from ever achieving the brief golden ages of its Barbary neighbors, such as Algiers or Tunis.

[1] 'Ali ibn Mehmed neglected the affairs of state in the 1780s and delegated most of his power to his eldest son Hasan, whom he appointed as bey.

[2] In the early 19th century, Yusuf expanded Karamanli influence further by sending expeditions south to consolidate control of the trans-Saharan trade routes leading to Kanem–Bornu.

[3] From 1819 onward Yusuf started planning for a conquest of Bornu,[3] but the military expeditions that did take place seemed to be focused on profiting from the slave trade rather than on establishing administrative control over the region.

[2] In 1821, Mustafa al-Ahmar (al-Mukni's successor as Bey of Fezzan) led another expedition to the Lake Chad region to assist al-Kanimi, which was successful and returned with a large number of slaves.

[3] Yusuf prepared an army in the Fezzan for a major expedition against Bornu, but he needed external assistance to fund the campaign.

[3] By 1819, the various treaties of the Napoleonic Wars had forced the Barbary states to give up piracy almost entirely, and Tripolitania's economy began to crumble.

[5] Yusuf 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 the United States, this failed to salvage Tripolitania's economy.

Page of a Quran transcribed in mabsūt Maghrebi script in Libya at the end of the Karamanli period. [ 4 ]