The Mamluk dynasty of Iraq (Arabic: مماليك العراق, romanized: Mamālīk al-ʻIrāq) was a dynasty of Georgian Mamluk origin which ruled over Iraq in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
In the Ottoman Empire, Mamluks were freedmen who converted to Islam, were trained in a special school, and then assigned to military and administrative duties. Such Mamluks presided over Iraq from 1704 to 1831.
The Mamluk ruling elite, composed principally of Georgian and Circassian origin from Caucasian officers, succeeded in asserting autonomy from their Ottoman overlords, and restored order and some degree of economic prosperity in the region. The Ottomans overthrew the Mamluk regime in 1831 and gradually imposed their direct rule over Iraq, which would last until World War I, although the Mamluks continued to be a dominant socio-political force in Iraq, as most of the administrative personnel of note in Baghdad were drawn from former Mamluk households, or comprised a cross-section of the notable class in Mamluk times.
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Background
Even before the rise of the Mamluks, Iraq was never fully integrated into the Ottoman administrative system. The Mosul province was placed under the timar system where taxes were farmed out to cavalry officers. Baghdad and Basra were placed the salyane system where taxation was farmed out to the governors. Constant war with Iran weakened Ottoman control further. By the 1700s this problem was becoming worse.
The early 18th century was a time of important changes both in Constantinople and in Baghdad. The reign of Sultan Ahmed III (1703–30) was marked by relative political stability in the capital and by extensive reforms—some of them influenced by European models—implemented during the Tulip Period by Grand Vizier İbrahim Pasha.
As in the previous two centuries, Iraq continued to be a battleground between the rival Ottoman Empire and Safavid Empire. The region also suffered from frequent inter-clan struggles.
History
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.
In Baghdad, Hassan Pasha (Georgian: ჰასან ფაშა), 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.
Hassan's son and successor, Ahmad (Georgian: აჰმედ ფაშა), 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.
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.
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 (Georgian: ომარ ფაშა) with a non-Mamluk, who proved incapable of keeping order.