The province of Basrah in the second half of the sixteenth century

Basra was established during the time of Hazrat Omar. In history, it was ruled by the Umayyads, Abbasids, Ilkhanids, and Timurids, and later by the Karakoyunlus and Akkoyunlus. The city had passed under Safavid rule in 1508. Suleiman the Magnificent stayed in Baghdad for a while after the Irakeyn campaign. Meanwhile, the Emir of Basra came to the Magnificent and presented his loyalty to the Ottoman Empire. After the city was subjected to the Ottoman Empire, it was initially left to the local government. The city was reconquered by Ayas Pasha in 1546, when Sheikh Yahya, who dominated the region, opposed Ottoman subordination. In the 16th century, an attempt was made to establish an Ottoman administration in the city. The Ottoman Empire sent tahrir trustees to the places it conquered in the classical period. Tahrir trustees determined the population and economic activities of the region. The tax system applied in these new sanjaks located far from the center has also been recorded in the tahrir books. These tahrir registers kept important information about the social, economic, and administrative structure of the states. In this study, Basra, which was an Ottoman province in the 16th century, was examined based on the Land Tahrir Registers. In addition to the Tahrir registers, many archive collections such as ammunition notebooks, financial management notebooks, and ruus notebooks belonging to the period were used. The transformation of Basra into a state, the geopolitical location and importance of the city, as well as the geographical, political, historical, ethnic, economic, and social structure of the region have been evaluated. In addition, foundations, which are an important element of the socio-economic structure of the city, were examined. With this study, the provincial administrative structure of the Ottoman Empire was revealed by examining the mufassal and ijmal notebooks belonging to the Basra Province. Key Words: Basra, State, Sanjak, Tahrir Registers.