Shaykh al-Balad

Shaykh al-Balad (Arabic: شيخ البلد) (Ottoman Turkish: شیخ البلد), (lit. "Chief of the Country" or "Chief of the Town") was a political and administrative title used in Ottoman Egypt. By the eighteenth century, it had become one of the highest positions held by the Mamluk military elite, and its holder often exercised authority that rivaled or surpassed that of the Ottoman governor of Egypt (wali)..