Page 25 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

/
S.M.iH OZ11A RAX
51
Tho refusal marked the end of his rule.27 Ay as Pasha, the then bcylnrbey
of Baghdad, was now ordered to punish Yahya. The Ottomans thus
entered Basra on 21 Sevval 032/20 December 1546.'26 After appointing
Bilal Mehmed Pasha to be muha/iz (governor) of Basra, Ay as Pasha
returned to Baghdad. For this success he was given 200,000 ak$e as
.4
terakki,29 Basra itself became a beylerbeylik under direct Ottoman *
control, the office being conferred now on Bilal Mehmed Pasha.30 5
X
Immediately after the conquest of Basra the Ottomans, well aware i *
of the significance of the trade through the Persian. Gulf, made an i
amicable approach to the Portuguese. Hajji Fayat, an Arab merchant,
was sent with a letter to the Portuguese governor of Hormuz, Manuel
de Lima. The letter made clear the intention of the Ottoman authorities
in Iraq. Manuel de Lima, reporting to the governor of India, wrote
that Ay as Pasha, tho chief Ottoman official in Iraq, was determined
to make Basra prosperous for the merchants.31 ;v
At the same time tho Ottomans sought to establish themselves on
the shores of the Persian Gulf. Very little is known about the Ottoman
penetration into the region of Lahsa. Manuel de Lima states that the §
Ottoman Turks took Lahsa immediately after their capture of Basra.31
Domingos Barbudo, whom Manuel de Lima sent to Basra to gather
information, stated that the capitao of Lahsa was a certain Abdullah
(Abedela). This man, the son of the former ruler of Lahsa, went to
V3
t7 Bilal Mohmed Pasha, who was given command of Basra after the Otto­
mans had taken it, explained the reasons for the campaign against Sheikh •J
Yahya of Basra in a lottor written in 1547. He wrote that Yahya had oppressed
all the people under his rule. Yahya i3 mentioned in the Portuguese translation *
of Bilal Mehmed’a letter as xeyue Haya (Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo, i
Colecfao de Sdo Louren$o IV, fol. 141 r). :4
*• Cf. Rustem Pa$a, op.cit., fol. 243 v; also Nazmi-zado Murteza, GiU$en-i %
Hulefa, (Istanbul, 1143/1730), fol. 62 v; the letter of Manuel do Lima (see Appen­ t
dix I).
I
** Terakki, meaning here an addition to his annual salary. ’I
10 “Padi^ah . . . Ayaa Pa$a’ya 200,000 ak^e terakki ve Bilal Mehmed Pa^a'ya •3
on korre yuz bin ak<;e ilo Basra vilayetinin beylerboyligini verdi” (Rustem Pa§a, ■ ■=?
■i
op.cit., fol. 243 v). Akps is the Turkish term for a silver coin expressed in Europe
as asper. /
*l “A sete de Julho veio o sou embaixador com hua carta para mim o qual i
ombaixodor he hum arabio mercador quo se chama hagy fayat . a detremi- .*
na^&o de ayaz baxa era fazer ba<jora muito prospers de mercador . . (see •3
s:
Appendix I).
Vi
” Ibid- Manuol de Lima refers no doubt to the northern part of al-Haaa, *5
j which covcrod most of north-eastern Arabia
• 3
,5

; •.
• ••