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Under Sa'id's rule there were several law, land and tax reforms. Some modernization of Egyptian and Sudanese infrastructure also occurred using western loans. In 1854 the first act of concession of land for the Suez Canal was granted, to a French businessman Ferdinand de Lesseps. The British opposed a Frenchman building the canal and persuaded the Ottoman Empire to deny its permission for two years. Sudan had been conquered by his father in 1821 and incorporated into his Egyptian realm, mainly in order to seize slaves for his army. Slave raids (the annual 'razzia') also ventured beyond Sudan into Kordofan and Ethiopia. Facing European pressure to abolish official Egyptian slave raids in the Sudan, Sa'id issued a decree banning raids. Freelance slave traders ignored his decree. At the behest of Napoleon III in 1863, Sa'id dispatched part of a Sudanese battalion to Mexico to help put down a rebellion there. Under Sa'id's rule the influence of sheikhs was curbed and many Bedouin reverted to nomadic raiding. In 1854 he established the Bank of Egypt. Sa'id died in January 1863 and was succeeded by his nephew Ismail. |
