Baghdad Eyalet

Eyalet of Baghdad
Arabic: إِيَالَةُ بَغْدَاد
Ottoman Turkish: ایالت بغداد
Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire
Under Safavid occupation (1624–1638)
1535–1864

The Baghdad Eyalet in 1609
CapitalBaghdad[1]
History 
1535
• Disestablished
1864
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Baghdad province
Mamluk Sultanate
Baghdad Vilayet
Today part ofIraq
Iran

Baghdad Eyalet (Arabic: إِيَالَةُ بَغْدَاد, Ottoman Turkish: ایالت بغداد, romanized: Eyālet-i Baġdād)[2] was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered on Baghdad. Its reported area in the 19th century was 62,208 square miles (161,120 km2).[3]

History

Safavid shah Ismail I took the Baghdad region from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1508.[4] After the Safavid takeover, Sunni Muslims, Jews and Christians became targets of persecution, and were killed for being infidels.[4] In addition, Shah Ismail ordered the destruction of the grave of Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi school of law which the Ottomans adopted as their official legal guide.[4]

In 1534, Baghdad was captured by the Ottoman Empire,[4] and the eyalet was established in 1535.[5] Between 1623 and 1638, it was once again in Iranian hands. It was decisively recaptured by the Ottomans in 1638,[4] whose possession over Iraq was agreed upon in the 1639 Treaty of Zuhab.

For a time, Baghdad had been the largest city in the Middle East. The city saw relative revival in the latter part of the 18th century under a largely autonomous Mamluk government. Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by Ali Ridha Pasha in 1831. From 1851 to 1852 and from 1861 to 1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by Mehmed Namık Pasha. The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000.

Administrative divisions

Sanjaks of Baghdad Eyalet in the 17th century:[6]

  • Seven of the eighteen Sanjaks of this eyalet were divided into ziamets and Timars:
  1. Sanjak of Hilla
  2. Sanjak of Zeng-abad
  3. Sanjak of Javazar
  4. Sanjak of Rumahia
  5. Sanjak of Jangula
  6. Sanjak of Kara-tagh
  7. [the name of the seventh sanjak is missing]
  • The other eleven sanjaks had no ziamets or Timars and were entirely in the power of their possessors:
  1. Sanjak of Terteng
  2. Sanjak of Samwat
  3. Sanjak of Biat
  4. Sanjak of Derneh
  5. Sanjak of Deh-balad
  6. Sanjak of Evset
  7. Sanjak of Kerneh-deh
  8. Sanjak of Demir-kapu
  9. Sanjak of Karanieh
  10. Sanjak of Kilan
  11. Sanjak of Al-sah

Sanjaks between 1682 and 1702:[7]

  1. Sanjak of Baghdad
  2. Government (Hükümeti) of Imadiyye
  3. Sanjak of Hille
  4. Sanjak of Cevâzir, Aşfatara, Kasr-ı Ruhûr, Mehcer and Reventin
  5. Sanjak of Derne and Dertenk
  6. Sanjak of Kasr-ı Şirin
  7. Sanjak of Semavât
  8. Sanjak of Zaho
  9. Sanjak of Zeng-i Abâd
  10. Sanjak of Cêssan-Bedre
  11. Sanjak of Ane
  12. Sanjak of Eriha
  13. Sanjak of Kızıl Ribat
  14. Sanjak of Altun Köpru
  15. Sanjak of Herîr (Government (Hükümeti) of Şehrân)
  16. Sanjak of Mîr-Aşiret-i Baclan

Sanjaks between 1727 and 1740[7]

  1. Sanjak of Baghdad
  2. Government (Hükümeti) of Imadiyye
  3. Sanjak of Derne and Dertenk
  4. Sanjak of Mendelcin
  5. Sanjak of Cêssan Bedre
  6. Sanjak of Herîr (Government (Hükümeti) of Şehrân
  7. Sanjak of Mendemi Aşireti (Mendemi Tribe)

References

  1. ^ John Macgregor (1850). Commercial statistics: A digest of the productive resources, commercial... Whittaker and co. p. 12. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  2. ^ "Some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire". Geonames.de. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
  3. ^ The Popular encyclopedia: or, conversations lexicon. Vol. 6. Blackie. 1862. p. 698. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  4. ^ a b c d e Gábor Ágoston; Bruce Alan Masters (2009-01-01). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-4381-1025-7. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  5. ^ Donald Edgar Pitcher (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire. Brill Archive. p. 126. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  6. ^ Evliya Çelebi; Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1834). Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the Seventeenth Century. Oriental Translation Fund. p. 90. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  7. ^ a b Kılıç, Orhan (1997). 18. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında Osmanlı Devleti'nin İdari Taksimatı-Eyalet ve Sancak Tevcihatı / In the First half of the 18th Century Administrative Divisions of the Ottoman Empire-Shire and Sanjak Assignments (in Turkish). Elazığ: Şark Pazarlama. p. 71. ISBN 9759630907.

See also