Page 241 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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hV* .louni'd of the . I turn ran Oriental Saeteh/, !H).J (11)70)
I POMTIC’A L NARRATIVE laiwl :\t 1hi* largest town of the
major
g:\nlrn complex of the region, the town by which
The history of the province of al-Ihtsa was
given its distinctive character by its location on t.he province came to be known by the Ottomans
the eastern frontier. Two months’ journey by :uul notice served by Istanbul that permanent
annexation to the empire of the entire region waa
courier from Istanbul, it was relatively isolated,
intended.11 The routine token of Ottoman occupa­
little affected by the. major imperial wars and
tion, the land survey (tahrir), wils first seriously
social and economic turmoil of the sixteenth
begun no later than September of 1553.u
century- Al-Hasil was, however, during the six­
teenth century in direct contact with the Empire's
sometime enemy Portugal. The course of rela­ n .Several ordera dated in this month arc addressed to’
tions between the two, and between al-Hasil and or concerned with "LahM Sancak befciai Mehmed,” who n
at this time was in Basrah requisitioning troope and •
Bahrein Island which was in the sixteenth cen­
supplies for hia outpost: see Koi;u$ SS8: pp. I02a, 112b, i
tury under Portuguese influence, highlights the 115a. Al-IjasA, or al-'AhsA, was always spelled Lalyjd ux
otherwise uneventful history of the province’s the Ottoman documents and literature. Henceforth also 'i
relations witlj external forces. I shall render al-l.IasA as LahaA, to maintain consistency *’
Another striking feature of al-Hasa’s history of usage in the text and document quotations.
n Ko&u? 8S3, p. 118a (handed over in Istanbul for:
concerns the stubborn resistance of the Ban I
delivery on the 19 Rebi' ' L-Exrvel (henceforth abbreviated'}
tJalid leaders who had been ousted from the as REJ 959/5 March 1552) is an order to the sancak bc£i 1
government of al-Hasa by the Ottoman conquest. of LahsA, Mehmed, informing him of the amount of*
Never wholly reconciled to foreign rule they led sd/ydne (or, annual tax payment total due the central**
Imperial Treasury) assigned to LahsA by the Treasury!
one unsuccessful revolt after another until in the
Otfice in Istanbul. For the usage of sdlydne here, see be-|
end, aided by the Ottoman decentralization of
low, p. 505. Henceforth the date given for a document in J
the seventeenth century, they returned to power. the footnotes is assumed to be that date upon which tha-'j
One other matter cannot be discussed here for document was handed over to the messenger in Istanbul J
lack of materials in the muhimme series, but is for delivery, unless otherwise stated.
11 So I assume, on the basis of pages apparently tom •
perhaps crucial to an understanding of the larger
from a ruznam^e register and filed now in the Ba^vakAlet ,
role of al-HasA in Ottoman Imperial policy. This Archives under the Maliye'dcn Mudcverre Series, no ’..j
is the administrative relationship of the province 17642, pp. 714-18. These pages register the issuance of j
beratlar for certaia timers and ze'amets assigned, re-J
with Basra, especially in the seventeenth century.
newed, or transferred in the province of Lahsi. Nearly
I hope to take this up in a later article. all of the lezkireler for these grants were issued in Labs*
These, then, are the main features of al-IJas&’s by the sancak be&i Mehmed on the eve of Zti’l'Kads |
(henceforth abbreviated as ZK) 960/19 October 1563,1
history during this period; the Portuguese,
and beratlar were issued and registered in the ruznam&rj
Bahrein and the BanI Ualid. They are each de­ book in Istanbul confirming the grant on 12 Muharrexa
scribed in some detail below. 961/19 December 1553. The detailed descriptions of th^
numerous villages included in the grants (seventeen
The initial conquest of the province and its relations are mentioned in the eight entries) taken together with
«% the exacting bureaucratic requirements of the Ottomaq
unth the Portuguese
timer/ze'amet system makes it very likely that at least d
The few muhimme documents which mention preliminary survey had been carried out by $ewal 960/
September 1553. Ba^vekAlet Archives, Muhimme ▼. 1,
the initial conquest of the province give no spe­
no. 43, entry no. 566 (documents of this series henoej
cific dates for that event. There are no indications forth are abbreviated as M 43:566) in the year 9SS/158(
of the reasons for the conquest. Nevertheless, refers to a full tahrir being carried out in La^si in tbtf
960’3/1550'a. In line four the document reads . . .
it is possible to establish fairly clearly on the basis
yirmi yilden mubaddem vilSyet-i LaKsd tahrir olunduki(
of certain of these documents that by March of . . . The document’s source for the “twenty years proi
1552 garrisons had been introduced at least in- viously” was a petition sent by certain inhabitants Q

,y*
; ;.
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