Ahmed Karamanli

Ahmed Karamanli (1686–1745) was an Ottoman cavalry officer of Janissary origin who founded the Karamanli dynasty of Tripolitania. As Ottoman control weakened, he murdered the Ottoman governor in the 1711 coup and seized power.

He persuaded the Porte to confirm him as pasha and make the governorship hereditary, and Tripoli thereafter acted as an effectively independent kingdom, paying only nominal tribute. He enriched it through corsair raids on Mediterranean shipping and tribute from states seeking protection, and extended his rule over Fezzan and Cyrenaica before his death in 1745.