1869–1918 → 1885 850,000 Capital Baghdad | Established 1869 Today part of Iraq | |
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1885 141,160 km (54,502 sq mi) | ||
The Vilayet of Baghdad (Ottoman language: ولايت بغداد, Vilâyet-i Bagdad, Modern Turkish: Bağdat Vilâyeti, Arabic:ولاية بغداد) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire in modern-day central Iraq. The capital was Baghdad.
Contents
At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 54,503 square miles (141,160 km2), while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 850,000. The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.
Baghdad vilayet
History
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, which eventually led to the Battle of Al Wajbah, where the Ottomans were defeated.
Administrative divisions
Sanjaks of the vilayet:
- Baghdad Sanjak (Baghdad)
- Divaniye Sanjak (Al Diwaniyah)
- Kerbela Sanjak (Karbala, Mesed-i-Hüseyin)
- Najd Sanjak (June 1871 - 1875, then part of the Basra Vilayet)
Governors
Notable governors of the Vilayet: