The governor of Egypt is able to perform his tasks without the interference of the Mamluk beys (bey is the highest rank among the Mamluks) only in the first century of Ottoman rule.

A series of revolts by various elements of the garrison troops occurs during the latter decades of the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century.

There is also a revival within the Mamluk military structure during these years.

Political supremacy has passed to the beys by the middle of the seventeenth century.

As the historian Daniel Crecelius has written, from this point on the history of Ottoman Egypt can be explained as the struggle between the Ottomans and the Mamluks for control of the administration and, hence, the revenues of Egypt, and the competition among rival Mamluk houses for control of the beylicate.

This struggle will affect Egyptian history until the late eighteenth century when one Mamluk bey gains an unprecedented control over the military and political structures and ousts the Ottoman governor.