Nahiye (Ottoman)

The nahiye or nahia or nahiya was an administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire, smaller than a kaza. The head was a mütesellim (governor) who was appointed by the Pasha.

The kaza was a subdivision of a sanjak and corresponded roughly to a city with its surrounding villages. Kazas, in turn, were divided into nahiyes (governed by müdürs) and villages (karye, governed by muhtars). Revisions of 1871 to the administrative law established the nahiye (still governed a müdür) as an intermediate level between the kaza and the village.