Baghdad Eyalet was an Iraqi

Ottoman Iraq

Ottoman Iraq refers to the period of the history of Iraq between 1534 and 1920 when the region was ruled by the Ottoman Empire.Ottoman Iraq was divided into the three vilayets.* Mosul Vilayet* Baghdad Vilayet* Basra Vilayet...

 eyalet

Eyalet

Eyalets were a former primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The term is sometimes translated province or government. Depending on the rank of their commander, they are also sometimes known as pashaliks, beylerbeyliks, and kapudanliks.From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth...

 of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 centered around Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

. Its reported area in the 19th century was 62208 square miles (161,118 km²).

History

Ismail I

Ismail I

Ismail I , known in Persian as Shāh Ismāʿil , was a Shah of Iran and the founder of the Safavid dynasty which survived until 1736. Isma'il started his campaign in Azerbaijan in 1500 as the leader of the Safaviyya, an extremist heterodox Twelver Shi'i militant religious order and unified all of Iran...

 took the Baghdad region from the Aq Qoyunlu in 1508. After the Safavid takeover, Sunni Muslims, Jews and Christians became targets of persecution, and were killed for being infidels. In addition, Shah Ismail ordered the destruction of the grave of Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi

Hanafi

The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...

 school of law which the Ottomans adopted as their official legal guide.

In 1534, Baghdad was captured by the Ottoman Empire

Capture of Baghdad (1534)

The 1534 Capture of Baghdad by Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire from the Safavid dynasty under Tahmasp I was part the Ottoman–Safavid War of 1532 to 1555, itself part a series of Ottoman–Persian Wars. It was taken without resistance, the Safavid government having fled and leading the...

, and the eyalet was established in 1535. Under the Ottomans, Baghdad fell into a period of decline, partially as a result of the enmity between its rulers and Shia Safavid Empire to the east, which did not accept the Sunni control of the city. Between 1623 and 1638, it was once again in Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian hands. It was recaptured by the Ottomans in 1638.

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

Mamluk rule in Iraq

The Mamluks who ruled Iraq in the 18th century were freed Georgian slaves converted to Islam, trained in a special school, and then assigned to military and administrative duties. They presided, with short intermissions, over more than a century in the history of Ottoman Iraq, from 1704 to 1831...

. Direct Ottoman rule was reimposed by Ali Ridha Pasha

Ali Ridha Pasha

Ali Ridha Pasha led the Ottoman army in 1831 against the mamluk governor in Baghdad after Da’ud Pasha refused to relinquish his office. Ali Riza Pasha captured the city and mamluk leader Da’ud Pasha ending the mamluk rule in Baghdad...

 in 1831. From 1851-1852 and from 1861–1867, Baghdad was governed, under the Ottoman Empire by Mehmed Namık Pasha

Mehmed Namik Pasha

Mushir Mehmed Emin Namık Pasha was a major Ottoman statesman of the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire. He served under five sultans and acted as counsellor to at least four of them...

. The Nuttall Encyclopedia reports the 1907 population of Baghdad as 185,000.

Administrative divisions

Sanjaks of Damascus Eyalet in the 17th century:

Seven of the eighteen Sanjaks of this eyalet were divided into ziamet Ziamet Ziamet was a form of land tenure in Ottoman Empire, consisting in grant of lands or revenues by the Ottoman Sultan to an individual in compensation for his services, especially military services. The ziamet system was introduced by Osman I who granted land tenure to his troops... s and Timar Timar Timar is a land granted by the Ottoman sultans between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a tax revenue annual value of less than 20 000 akçes. The revenues produced from land acted as compensation for military service. A Timar holder was known as a Timariot... s: Sanjak of Hilla Sanjak of Zeng abad Sanjak of Javazar Sanjak of Rumahia Sanjak of Jangula Sanjak of Kara tagh [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: Sanjak of Terteng Sanjak of Samwat Sanjak of Biat BIAT BIAT may refer to:* Boston Institute for Arts Therapy* British Institute of Architectural Technologists* Biate, a town in India... Sanjak of Derneh Sanjak of Deh-balad Sanjak of Evset Sanjak of Kerneh-deh Sanjak of Demir-kapu Sanjak of Karanieh Sanjak of Kilan Kilan Kilan is a city in the Central District of Damavand County, Tehran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 3,038, in 913 families.The name Kilan means - according to its natives - Kingsplace.... Sanjak of Al-sah