Tripoli, lacking direction from the Porte (Ottoman government), lapses into a period of military anarchy during which coup follows coup and few deys survive in office more than a year.

Ahmad Karamanli, a popular khouloughli cavalry officer, seizes Tripoli in 1711, then purchases his confirmation by the sultan as pasha-regent with property confiscated from Turkish officials he had massacred during the coup.

Although he continues to recognize nominal Ottoman suzerainty, Ahmad (reigned 1711-45) creates an independent hereditary monarchy in Tripoli with a government that is essentially Arab in its composition.

Intelligent and resourceful as well as ruthless, he increases his revenues from piracy, pursues an active foreign policy with European powers, uses a loyal military establishment to win the allegiance of the tribes, and extends his authority into Cyrenaica.