[b]Formal Application - The Sultanate of Egypt:[/b]

[hider][b][u]Government[/u][/b]

[b]Name:[/b] Sultanate of Egypt

[b]Flag/Badge:[/b] 
[img]https://i.imgur.com/eyQZy0I.png[/img]

[b]Head of State:[/b] Sultan Muhammad Ali Pasha
[b]Head of Government:[/b] Sultan Muhammad Ali Pasha
[b]Ideology:[/b] Conservative.

[b][u]Military[/u][/b]

[b]Army Numbers:[/b] 75,000 - 80,000 (After Point of Divergence.)

[b] Navy Numbers:[/b] (Copy Wikipedia if you are not using a Point of Divergence. If you are, use common sense and reason - No absurd numbers. Also, if you have multiple fleets, list each one's ships seperately, do not bunch them up).

[i]Mediterrenean Fleet (After Point of Divergence):[/i]

-8 Ships of the Line
-20 Frigates
-30 Corvettes
-10 Schooners
-20 Brigantines

[i]Red Sea Fleet (After Point of Divergence):[/i]

- 3 Ships of the Line
- 8 Frigates
- 10 Corvettes
- 5 Schooners
- 10 Brigantines

[b]Army Equipment:[/b] 

-Springfield Model 1842 (Rifle).
-Colt Walker 1846 (Pistol).
-The Harpers Ferry Model 1841 (Rifle).
-Aston Model 1842 (Pistol).
-20 Smoothbore Cannons (Field and Siege Guns).
-15 Rocket Artillery.

[b]Naval Ship Types:[/b] 

-Ships of the Line
-Frigates
-Corvettes
-Schooners
-Brigantines

[b][u]History, Expansion, and Economics[/u][/b]

The Point of Divergence began in the year 1840, where the British offered Muhammad Ali, then merely the rebellious viceroy of Egypt, a deal - Keep his military conquests, his navy, and gain independence from the Ottoman Empire in exchange for an earlier Suez Canal. Muhammad Ali agreed, and once the deal was signed, he found himself the new Sultan of Egypt, and ready to create a new modern nation which nevertheless did not lose its continuity and attachment to the Past. With a free hand to continue his reforms, and relations with the independent Greek Kingdom repaired by his' ceding Crete to them, he now had almost unlimited power in his nation.

His modernizing reforms involved improving education and fostering literacy, encouraging foreign business and trade, while at the same time making use of the Western Powers' current goodwill (extended by legally abolishing slavery) to foster trade with the parts of Africa which were still unconquered by European powers. Not just that, but he also founded a Military Academy in order to lessen his dependence on European specialists, as well as extended medical education to women in order to improve the expertise of midwives and women's doctors so that his pool of potential soldiers and workers can grow.

While these all came with a cost, economic growth was high due to investment in Egypt's agricultural economy, as well as the workshops and small factories the Sultan ordered built all along the Nile. Gold mining in Sudan was also a vital source of funds, especially when new methods of resource production were brought in from the West. And of course, there was Egyptian Cotton, which grew into a viable competitor against the American South's products. While taxes were still high, wages grew, and the standard of living in Egypt began to improve, although it was still poor by European Standards.

As for foreign affairs, Muhammad Ali chose to eschew intervention into Ethiopia as he grew older, knowing full well that he had to focus on building Egypt's economy. So in a surprising move, he chose to aid the would-be uniter of the Ethiopians, Sahle Dingil/Tewedoros II, in ascending to his nation's throne in exchange for preferential access to the coffee plants of said nation. At the same time, defenses are built up all across the Cicilian border with the Ottomans, where the local Armenian population is given tax exemptions in exchange for helping build fortifications and serving as soldiers and sailors.

Nevertheless, some touch of the old ruthlessness remains in the elderly, successful, Sultan of Egypt, as he is speculated to have secretly ordered the death of his most incompetent nephew, Abbas, in order to have an heir who would not scrap his modernizing policies (his competent eldest son, Ibrahim, is currently dying from tuberculosis). For now, however, despite the absolute nature of his rule and his insistence that it continue, Egypt's future looks bright... 

[b]Territory:[/b] Cilicia/Lesser Armenia, The Levant, the Hedjaz region of Arabia including the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina, Egypt and Sudan.

[b]Economic Description:[/b] Egypt makes most of its money from agriculture, whether of food crops or cash crops, with cotton making up most of the latter. It has also built up a proto-industrial economy of workshops and factories for local consumption of goods, as well as the production of guns, artillery, and ships. Mining in Sinai and Sudan is also a source of wealth, with gold and iron ore being important resources to the domestic and foreign economies. And finally, a Western-style Bank has been set up in Cairo itself, one which heralds the arrival of more 'sophisticated' financial institutions.

[b]Historical Claims:[/b] None, Egypt is satisfied.[/hider]