square - Cairo Umar Makram was born in 1750 in
Asyut. He was educated at
Al-Azhar University, and became a leader of the
nobles of Egypt and an Egyptian national figure. He was prominent in leading Egyptian resistance to the
1798 invasion of Egypt by France (led by
Napoleon). After the French withdrew from Egypt in 1801, a power struggle ensued between the
Mamluks, the
United Kingdom and the
Ottoman Empire, and Egypt was nominally restored to the Ottoman Empire. Umar Makram allied with
Muhammed Ali, the commander of the
Albanian troops within the army sent by the Empire to restore order. In May 1805, Egyptians led by Umar Makram forced the
Ottoman Sultan at the time,
Selim III to replace the
Wali Ahmed Khurshid Pasha with Muhammed Ali. Britain disagreed with this decision and attempted to invade Egypt in the
Alexandria expedition of 1807. Umar Makram soon discovered that Muhammed Ali planned to rule Egypt by himself and objected to a foreign ruler. Muhammed Ali
exiled Umar Makram to
Damietta on 9 August 1809, where he stayed for four years. Makram then moved to
Tanta, where he died in 1822. ==Legacy==