Page 257 - Journal of Asian History_Neat

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Journal of the American Oriental Snarly, 00.3 {1070)
490

with Sh:ih Abb:w early m September of loJl the comrniinfunl) of tho LahsA fortress I.Iuseyn b. ‘AbdulUh
governor general of Lsibsft requested and was bought 300 gardens worth 303,000 a5^« for 740 ■
granted permission to proceed against the island Scv»*n or eight years later, when tho original owners ro- jj
if im conaucst might in fact be useful, but no turned, they found their gardens thus appropriated and
“7= ?JS;i
L." S V* L « - rT;iy r ”'t
action was taken by Lahaft. Bahrein . ter is \;ow more of the original owners havo come and de-^
exchange disappears entirely from the corre- manded their land. The present holders say that they;
bought the land legally (6iz bQ bdtflar dlvdndan t&tQb-'
spondence.
'dlmijtir mulkimiz dir dzyd). Finally, led by the dxlzddr^
Relations tcith the population and the Bani IJalid IJuseyin, they (the present holders] pressed their fair:
claim (vech-i meyrdh nizd* ’edub) and demanded their7
Revolt
money bark. If I (the present governor general of LabalJ'
Several problems of provincial administration force the return of the land there will be trouble frooi^
are mentioned with some regularity in the mu- the troops, and if I do not, there will be no security'
himme documents.' In themselves they were not established, with the result that even more proportry:
of sufficient importance to threaten Ottoman will be abandoned and people scauered. a «-
control Each, however, made its small contribu- Ireplyl The land should bo returned to the original;
tion in irritation and dissatisfaction, turning the owners. The present holders among the jsaiaaari*
, _ _ . . ... . . should be given vouchers (tem*,j«uJc) in return for tho-
people of LafysA away rom eix new s a us as 3Urren(jered land, to be redeemed for compensation when'
subjects of the greater empire toward the support they return lo Istanbul.11
of local political leaders who controlled the area
before the annexation and fought to control it Presumably the orders were carried out; no
again. other references are found to landowners dissatia-
The first of these problems arose from the lands on this particular score.77 r s
confiscated during and shortly after the conquest The Ottoman government was equally circum; if
of the province. The document which I have spect in dealing with the lands in Ka$.lf of a
summarized below, dated early in 1560, shows wealthy merchant residing on Bahrein. The.
clearly the difficulty and how it was to be re­ property was sizeable; later it was recommended
solved. that it be administered separately as a district
of the province, and was said to have an annual'
To the governor general of Lahsi:
tax income of about 150,000 akge.12 In 1558 0£
In the conquest of Lahsi, the populace (re’dyd) ecattered 1559 the land was confiscated by the governor
(perdkende) leaving their gardens. Mehmed, then gover­
nor general of La^sA, reported this to Istanbul and was 70 Dirdn is here used in the sense of the govern©
instructed to sell these gardens to the populace which
general’s office.
n M 3:1122, 21 $a*bin 967/17 May 1560.
M 52:1001 (no date recorded) is a short note to the 71 M 27:272, 25 $a’ban 983/29 November 1575. Sixths
governor (AdJnm) of Bahrein requesting his cooperation years later a request for a new land evaluation survey
in this matter. was approved; it was alleged in the request that "mwj
•• “To the viceroy of Lahsi: You report that the in- (local) subjects did not receive justice when Ka$lf an.
habitants of Bahrein are rd/irl, W-dln v* bl-mezheb and Lahsi submitted fori blundufru rcmdnlnda).’* Income q
regularly raid ships of good Muslims. In addition to her the poor was seized as rflvdnl and land illegally confix
pearl beds, Bahrein is an hindustdn iskeUti with a poten- cated for the tfludn. Seventeen years had passed sino
tial revenue of 100 yd* afcpe annually. It could be set up the last estimate (£arj: of property values), and a nei
as an independent (mxulakill) province (bcfUrbefilik). one was needed. This may have been prompted by a aee<
Examine the possibilities carefully and proceed if the to reassess values excessively inflated by the but pl*t/J
island could, in fact, be useful, but be oareful to do seeking as much compensation as possible for the suj
nothing which might damage din d devUt and the honor rendered land,
of the sultanate.” M 73:1058, ZK 999/September 1501. 71 M Zeyli 3: p. 128, 22 Safer 983/2 June 1575. i

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