علي بن سليمان كاهية : سيرة عون دولة في الإيالة التونسية خلال النصف الثاني من القرن 19

Abstract EN

Through this article, we have tried to study the process of an important Makhzani family (from the Mamluks) whose presence in the Tunisian province was linked to the service of the Husseini family, which is the Suleiman Kahia family.

The main problem of our work is to identify the relationship of political circumstances to the change in the status of this family, and its retreat from the status of “favourites” to the confiscation of the revolution, besieging and imprisonment.

Through this article, we have shown the precarious position of the Mamluk families in Tunisia during the crisis of the nineteenth century.

They were subject to confiscation of their money and livelihood, victims of displacement and imprisonment, as well as scapegoating projects.

During the period under study, the Tunisian country suffered from structural crises (epidemics, famines, bad crops, climatic fluctuations...), and situational crises (the superiority of European countries, the interruption of piracy...), and therefore, the relationship of the authority with its agents is part of the crisis and not the cause of it.

The confiscation of the funds of the Makhzen families represented a primary goal for the Tunisian authority to compensate for their economic losses, in addition to the application of unfair tax policies.

Through this work, it became clear to us an important aspect of the state’s relationship with the population, as the issue of confiscation established a permanent crisis of confidence that made the state an enemy of the population rather than a sponsor of them.