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Why did Egypt sell its shares in the Suez Canal Company to Britain in 1875?

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Cargo ships travel along the wide Suez Canal in Egypt, bordered by sandy desert on one side and greenery on the other. — Suez Canal Ships in the Suez Canal in Egypt. One of the world's most important shipping lanes, the Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

In 1875, the Egyptian viceroy, Ismāʿīl Pasha, was compelled to sell his holding of 176,602 shares in the Suez Canal Company to the British government due to severe financial troubles.12

Ismāʿīl had inherited a precarious economy and a significant burden of debt from his predecessors. His financial situation was further exacerbated by his own extravagant spending and unwise management, as well as the costs associated with securing his dynasty's autonomy and expanding Egyptian influence in the Sudan and the Red Sea region. Additionally, the collapse of cotton prices following the American Civil War had a disastrous impact on the Egyptian economy, leaving the country unable to meet its financial obligations.2

The sale of these shares to Great Britain—at the instigation of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli—was one of several desperate expedients attempted by the khedive to postpone national bankruptcy.12