Dynasty of Hasan Pasha The Mamluks ruled the
pashaliks of
Baghdad,
Basrah, and
Shahrizor. The pashalik of
Mosul was ruled by the
Iraqi Jalili dynasty. •
Hassan Pasha (1704–1723) • Ahmad Pasha (1723–1747) son of Hassan •
Sulayman Abu Layla (1749–1762) son-in-law of Ahmad • Omar Pasha (1762–1776) son of Ahmad • Abdullah Pasha (1776–1777) • Sulayman the Great (1780–1802) son of Omar • Ali Al-Kahiya (1802–1807) son of Omar • Sulayman the Little (1807–1810) son of Sulayman Great •
Said Pasha (1813–1816) son of Sulayman Great •
Dawud Pasha (1816–1831)
Hassan Pasha (1704–1723) In Baghdad, Hassan Pasha (), the Ottoman governor of
Georgian origin sent from
Constantinople, and his son Ahmad Pasha (1723–47) established a Georgian Mamluk household, through which they exercised authority and administered the province.
Ahmad Pasha (1723–1747) Hassan's son and successor, Ahmad (), continued to recruit the Mamluks and promoted them to key administrative and military positions. Both Hasan and Ahmad rendered a valuable service to the
Ottoman Porte by curbing the unruly tribes and securing a steady inflow of taxes to the treasury in Constantinople as well as by defending Iraq against yet another military threat from the
Safavids and
Afsharids of Iran. By the time Ahmad Pasha died in 1747, his Mamluks had been organized into a powerful, self-perpetuating elite corps of some 2,000 men ("Georgian Guard"). On Ahmad's death, the sultan attempted to prevent these Mamluks from assuming power and sent an outsider as his
wali in Baghdad. However, Ahmad's son-in-law Sulayman Abu Layla, already in charge of
Basra, marched on Baghdad in the head of his Georgian guard and ousted the Ottoman administrator, thereby inaugurating 84 years of the Mamluk rule in Iraq.
Sulayman Abu Layla (1749–1762) By 1750, Sulayman Abu Layla had established himself as an undisputed master at Baghdad and had been recognized by the Porte as the first Mamluk Pasha of Iraq. The newly established regime embarked on a campaign to gain more autonomy from the Ottoman government and to curb the resistance of the
Arab and
Kurdish tribes. They managed to counter
Al-Muntafiq threats in the south and brought Basra under their control. They encouraged
Omani and
European trade and allowed the
British East India Company to establish an agency in Basra in 1763.
Omar Pasha (1762–1776) The successes of Mamluk regime, however, still depended on their ability to cooperate with their Ottoman suzerains and religious elite within Iraq. The Porte sometimes employed force to depose the recalcitrant pashas of Baghdad, but the Mamluks were able to retain their hold of the pashalik, and even enlarged their domains. They failed, however, to secure a regular system of succession and the gradual formation of rival Mamluk households resulted in factionalism and frequent power struggles. Another major menace to the Mamluk rule came from Iran whose resurgent ruler,
Karim Khan, invaded Iraq and installed his brother Sadiq Khan in Basra in 1776 after a protracted and stubborn resistance offered by the Mamluk general Sulayman Aga. The Porte hastened to exploit the crisis and replaced
Omar Pasha () with a non-Mamluk, who proved incapable of keeping order. This Sulayman the Great is known as ('the Great' in Turkish; ), and his rule (1780–1802) was efficient at first, but weakened as he grew older. He imported large numbers of Georgians to strengthen his clan, asserted his supremacy over the factionalized Mamluk households and restricted the influence of
Janissaries. He fostered economy and continued to encourage commerce and diplomacy with Europe, which received a major boost in 1798 when Sulayman gave permission for a permanent British agent to be appointed in Baghdad. However, his struggle against the Arab tribes in Northern Iraq was less despite the fact that he brutally crushed the revolters.
Sulayman the Little (1807–1810) After Ali's assassination in 1807, his nephew Sulayman the Little took over the government. Inclined to curtail provincial autonomies, Sultan
Mahmud II (1808–39) made his first attempt to oust the Mamluks from Baghdad in 1810. Ottoman troops deposed and killed Sulayman, but again failed to maintain control of the country. After yet another bitter internecine feud in 1816, Sulayman's energetic son-in-law
Dawud Pasha ousted his rival
Said Pasha (; 1813–16) and took control of Baghdad. The Ottoman government reluctantly recognized his authority. He later married the daughter of former Mamluk governor
Sulayman the Little (1807–1810). ==See also==