Baghdad Eyalet Explained

Noautocat:no
Native Name:
Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ایالت بغداد
Common Name:Baghdad Eyalet
Conventional Long Name:Eyalet of Baghdad
Subdivision:Eyalet
Nation:the Ottoman Empire
Under Safavid occupation (1624–1638)
Year Start:1535
Year End:1864
Event Start:Capture of Baghdad
P1:Baghdad Province (Safavid Empire)Baghdad Province
Flag P1:Safavid Flag.svg
P2:Mamluk Sultanate
Flag P2:Mameluke Flag.svg
S1:Baghdad Vilayet
Flag S1:Ottoman_Flag.svg
Image Map Caption:The Baghdad Eyalet in 1609
Capital:Baghdad[1]
Today:Iraq

Baghdad Eyalet (Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ایالت بغداد|Eyālet-i Baġdād)[2] was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered on Baghdad. Its reported area in the 19th century was 62208sqmi.[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

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: John Macgregor. Commercial statistics: A digest of the productive resources, commercial.... 2013-06-26. 1850. Whittaker and co.. 12.
  2. Web site: Some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire. Geonames.de. 25 February 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130928180044/http://www.geonames.de/coutr-ota-provinces.html. 28 September 2013. dead.
  3. Book: The Popular encyclopedia: or, conversations lexicon. 2013-06-26. 6. 1862. Blackie. 698.
  4. Book: Gábor Ágoston. Bruce Alan Masters. Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. 2013-06-26. 2009-01-01. Infobase Publishing. 978-1-4381-1025-7. 71.
  5. Book: Donald Edgar Pitcher. An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire. 2013-06-26. 1972. Brill Archive. 126.
  6. Book: Evliya Çelebi. Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall. Narrative of Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the Seventeenth Century. 2013-06-26. 1834. Oriental Translation Fund. 90.