Ali I Pasha

Abu l-Hasan Ali I (Arabic: أبو الحسن علي باش‎‎; 30 June 1688 – 22 September 1756) (Also known as Ali Pasha and Ali Bey I) was the second leader of the Husainid Dynasty and the ruler of Tunisia from 1735 to 1756.

He was a grandson of Ali Turki, governor of Kef, and the nephew of Husayn I Bey. After the latter came to power in 1705, he was appointed governor of Sousse and then named heir apparent (1706). In 1724 he obtained the title of pasha from the Ottoman sultan.

Two years later, Husayn replaced him as heir with his son Muhammad; Ali therefore revolted, and, with the help of the dey of Algiers, defeated Husayn in 1735. Soon after his entrance in Tunis, however, he was forced to pay a large indemnity to the Algerian troops camped under the city's walls, amounting to the load of 35 mules in silver, and to promise a yearly tribute of 50,000 rials to the dey.

Husayn fled to Kairouan and tried to continue governing in Sousse and the Tunisian Sahel. Ali ordered his son Younes to besiege him. Husayn was captured and executed in 1740, but the latter's sons, Muhammad and Ali, fled and continued the civil war, one from Constantine and the other from Algiers.

In 1741 Ali conquered the island of Tabarka from the Republic of Genoa, deporting 1,500 Christians to Tunis. In the same year he sent an expedition against the French Cap Nègre, which was captured by his son Younes.

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