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Basra vilayet

First-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire

Basra vilayet

Summary

First-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire

FieldValue
native_name
Vilâyet-i Basra
common_nameBasra Vilayet
year_start1884
year_end1918
life_span1875–1880
1884–1918
event_endArmistice of Mudros
p1Baghdad Vilayet
flag_p1Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1922).svg
s1Mandatory Iraq
flag_s1Flag of Iraq 1924.svg
image_flagFlag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1922).svg
image_coatOsmanli armasi.svg
image_mapBasra Vilayet, Ottoman Empire (1900).svg
image_map_captionThe Basra Vilayet in 1900
capitalBasra
todayIraq
Kuwait
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
stat_year11900
stat_area142690
stat_pop1500,000
title_leaderGovernor
leader1Nasir Pasha
year_leader11875-1877
leader2Khalil Pasha
year_leader21916-1918
conventional_long_nameVilayet of Basra
status_textProvince of the Ottoman Empire

Vilâyet-i Basra 1884–1918 Kuwait Qatar Saudi Arabia

The Basra Vilayet (, ) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire. It historically covered an area stretching from Nasiriyah and Amarah in the north to Kuwait in the south. To the south and the west, there was theoretically no border at all, yet no areas beyond Qatar in the south and the Najd Sanjak in the west were later on included in the administrative system.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of 16482 sqmi, while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 200,000. The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.

The capital of the vilayet, Basra, was an important military centre, with a permanent garrison of 400 to 500 men, and was home to the Ottoman Navy in the Persian Gulf.

History

It was a vilayet from 1875 to 1880, and again after 1884, when it was recreated from the southern sanjaks of the Baghdad Vilayet.

After 1884, the vilayet was briefly expanded down the littoral of the Gulf to incorporate Najd and al-Hasa, including Hofuf, Qatar, and Qatif, the incorporation of Najd only lasted until 1913 before the end of the Basra Vilayet.

In 1899, Shaikh Mubarak concluded a treaty with Britain, stipulating that Britain would protect Kuwait against any external aggression, de facto turning it into a British protectorate. Despite the Kuwaiti government's desire to either be independent or under British rule, the British concurred with the Ottoman Empire in defining Kuwait as an autonomous caza of the Ottoman Empire. This would last until World War I.

Basra fell to the British on 22 November 1914, and the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force had occupied almost the whole of the vilayet by July 1915.

Administrative divisions

A map showing the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1317 Hijri, 1899 Gregorian, Including the Vilayet of Basra and it's sanjaks
Map of Basra Province in 1897

Sanjaks of the vilayet:

  1. Amara Sanjak
  2. Basra Sanjak
  3. Diwanniyya Sanjak
  4. Muntafiq Sanjak
  5. Najd Sanjak; from 1875, conquered by the Saudis in 1913.[[File:Arabia 1914.png|thumb|Arabia before World War I 1914]]

Governors

Governors of the Basra Vilayet:

  • Nasir Pasha (1875–1877)
  • Vekili Ferik Mehmed Münir Pasha (1877–1879)
  • Ferik Sabit Pasha (1879–1880)
  • Mazhar Pasha (1880–1882)
  • Yahya Pasha (1882–1884)
  • Ali Riza Pasha (1884–1886)
  • Izzet Pasha (1886–1888)
  • Ferik Shaban Pasha (1888)
  • Hidayat Pasha (1888–1891)
  • Mehmed Hafiz Pasha (1891–1892)
  • Bahriye Komutani Emin Pasha (1892)
  • Ferik Mahmut Hamdi Pasha (1892–1893)
  • Mehmed Hafiz Pasha (1893)
  • Hamdi Pasha (1st time) (1893–1896)
  • Arif Pasha (December 1896 – February 1898)
  • Mehmed Enis Pasha (March 1898 – April 1899)
  • Hamdi Pasha (2nd time) (April 1899 – January 1900)
  • Mehmed Muhsin Pasha (January 1900 – September 1902)
  • Mustafa Nuri Pasha (September 1902 – September 1906)
  • Abdurrahman Hasan Bey (September 1906 – August 1908)
  • Muharram Efendi (August 1908 – February 1908)
  • Marchdine Mehmed Arif Bey (February 1909 – September 1909)
  • Süleyman Nazif Bey (September 1909 – November 1910)
  • Kavurzade Huseyin Celal Bey (December 1910 – July 1911)
  • Bagdali Hasan Riza Pasha (July 1911 – December 1912)
  • Malik Efendi (December 1912 – February 1913)
  • Ali Riza Pasha (Feb 1913 – March 1913)
  • Alaeddin Bey Altaz (March 1913 – July 1913)
  • Izzet Pasha (July 1913 – December 1913)
  • Söylemezoglu Süleyman Sefik Pasha (December 1913 – July 1914)
  • Subhi Bey (July 1914 – November 1914)
  • Süleyman `Askari Pasha (November 1914 – 1916)
  • Khalil Pasha (1916 – 11 March 1917)

References

References

  1. Reidar Visser. (2005). "Basra, the Failed Gulf State: Separatism And Nationalism in Southern Iraq". LIT Verlag Münster.
  2. Reidar Visser. (2005). "Basra, the Failed Gulf State: Separatism And Nationalism in Southern Iraq". LIT Verlag Münster.
  3. [https://archive.org/stream/asiakeane00kean#page/460/mode/1up Asia] by [[A. H. Keane]], page 460
  4. {{Cite EB1911
  5. David H. Finnie. (1992). "Shifting lines in the sand: Kuwait's elusive frontier with Iraq". I.B.Tauris.
  6. Jasim M M Abdulghani. (23 April 2012). "Iraq and Iran (RLE Iran A)". CRC Press.
  7. John de Vere Loder Baron Wakehurst. (1923). "The Truth about Mesopotamia, Palestine & Syria". G. Allen & Unwin Limited.
  8. Nakash, Yitzhak. (16 February 2003). "The Shiʻis of Iraq: With a New Introduction by the Author".
  9. [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Saudi_Arabia.htm#Hasa Worldstatesmen — Saudi Arabia]
  10. Madawi al-Rasheed. (2002-07-11). "A History of Saudi Arabia". Cambridge University Press.
  11. [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Iraq.htm World Statesmen — Iraq]
Wikipedia Source

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