The life of Djellouli illustrates the role played by the Mediterranean Sea in developing the financial and political power of Tunisian beys under the Ottoman Empire.
[1] Mahmoud Djellouli was born into the Makhzen family, which dated back to the Hafsid dynasty, according to historian Ahmad ibn Abi Diyaf.
His business is linked to exported farm products to Europe and the Levant: leathers, olive oil, grain, wool and so on.
During this period he provided political, military and especially commercial intelligence to Tunisian authorities, allowing the bey to keep track of arm sales and of the efforts of the dey of Algiers to recruit Anatolian janissaries.
He later wrote that the qaid was the son of the "rich Djellouli of Tunis", whose fortune was estimated to be three million piasters and therefore was an important man.