| Native Name: | Arabic: ولاية بغداد Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ولايت بغداد Vilâyet-i Bagdad |
| Conventional Long Name: | Baghdad Vilayet |
| Common Name: | Baghdad Vilayet |
| Subdivision: | Vilayet |
| Nation: | Ottoman Empire |
| Year Start: | 1864 |
| Year End: | 1918 |
| Event Start: | Vilayet Law |
| Event End: | Armistice of Mudros |
| P1: | Baghdad Eyalet |
| Flag P1: | Ottoman Flag.svg |
| S1: | Mandatory Iraq |
| Flag S1: | Flag of Iraq 1924.svg |
| Image Map Caption: | The Baghdad Vilayet in 1900 |
| Capital: | Baghdad |
| Today: | Iraq |
| Stat Year1: | 1885 |
| Stat Area1: | 141160 |
| Stat Pop1: | 850,000 |
| Demonym: | Bagdadi |
| Flag: | Flags of the Ottoman Empire |
The Vilayet of Baghdad (Arabic: ولاية بغداد; Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928);: ولايت بغداد|'Vilâyet-i Bagdad; Modern Turkish: Bağdat Vilâyeti) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in modern-day central Iraq. The capital was Baghdad.
At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 54503sqmi, while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 850,000.[1] The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.[1]
| Muslims | 159,129 | 3,814 | 162,943 | |
| Armenians | 373 | 373 | ||
| Armenian Catholics | 723 | 723 | ||
| Protestants | 40 | 40 | ||
| Latins | 55 | 2 | 57 | |
| Syriacs | 327 | 327 | ||
| Jews | 13,621 | 94 | 13,715 | |
| Total | 174,268 | 3,910 | 178,178 |
| Population of Baghdad according to Ottoman Yearbook 1917 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sanjak/Kaza | Jews | Kurd | Christians | Arab,Turks and other Muslims | Persian | Total | |
| Baghdad Sanjak | 88,000 | 44,000 | 8,000 | 101,400 | 800 | 202,000 |
In 1869, Midhat Pasha was inaugurated as governor of Baghdad. He extended Ottoman jurisdiction as far as the town of al-Bida, after he had established his authority in Nejd. In January 1872, Qatar was designated as a kaza under the Sanjak of Nejd. However, relations with the Ottoman authorities became hostile in both al-Bida and Nejd, leading eventually to the Battle of Al Wajbah, at which Ottomans were defeated.[4]
thumb|right|250px|Map of subdivisions of Baghdad Vilayet in 1907Sanjaks or Districts of the vilayet:[5]
| Baghdad Sanjak | Baghdad | |
| Divaniye Sanjak | Al Diwaniyah | |
| Kerbela Sanjak | Karbala | |
| Najd Sanjak | June 1871 - 1875, then part of the Basra Vilayet) [6] |
Notable governors of the Vilayet:[7]