Nahiyah
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A nāḥiyah (Arabic: نَاحِيَة [ˈnaːħijah], plural نَوَاحِي, nawāḥī [naˈwaːħiː]), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. The Ottoman nahiye, also called a bucak, was a third-level or lower administrative division, and remains as such in some successor states such as Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan, with the Balkan states of Serbia and Montenegro having preserved the term for a while after liberation for the highest administrative unit as nahija. In Tajikistan and the autonomous Chinese region of Xinjiang, both from the Turco-Persian or Turkic regions of Asia, it is a second- and third-level division, respectively. A nahiyah can constitute a division of a qadaa, mintaqah or other such district-type division and is sometimes translated as "subdistrict".
Ottoman Empire
[edit | edit source]The nahiye (Ottoman Turkish: ناحیه) was an administrative territorial entity of the Ottoman Empire, smaller than a kaza. The head was a mütesellim (governor) who was appointed by the Pasha.
The kaza was a subdivision of a sanjak[1] and corresponded roughly to a city with its surrounding villages. Kazas, in turn, were divided into nahiyes (each governed by a müdür) and villages (karye, each governed by a muhtar).[2] Revisions of 1871 to the administrative law established the nahiye (still governed by a müdür) as an intermediate level between the kaza and the village.[2]
Successor states in the Balkans
[edit | edit source]After achieving national liberation, the Principality of Serbia (1817–1833) and Principality of Montenegro (1852–1910) preserved the term as nahija (Serbian Cyrillic: нахија).
Examples
[edit | edit source]Arabic-speaking countries
[edit | edit source]| Country | Level above (Arabic) | Level above (English) | Main article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syria | mintaqah (formerly qadaa) | district | |
| Palestine | Liwa' | governorates | Districts of Palestine |
| Iraq | Qadaa | district | Subdistricts of Iraq |
| Lebanon | |||
| Jordan | Liwa' | governorate | Nahias of Jordan |
Turkic-speaking territories
[edit | edit source]- Xinjiang, China: a subdivision of a prefectural.
- Ottoman Empire: subdistrict, commune, parish; a subdivision of a kaza (قضاء).
Other
[edit | edit source]- Districts of Tajikistan: a subdivision of a province.
- Nahiye (Ottoman)#Successor states in the Balkans
Persian language
[edit | edit source]Persian has borrowed the Arabic word with the spelling ناحیه. Encyclopædia Iranica transliterates it mostly as nahia or, with diacritics, nāḥia/nāḥīa.[3] In modern contexts it may be used with the meaning of anything between 'census region',[4] and 'section' as in "Section (nāḥia) 2 of eleven local fishing stations".[5]
See also
[edit | edit source]- Nahia (disambiguation page)
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Selçuk Akşin Somel. "Kazâ". The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire. Volume 152 of A to Z Guides. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. p. 151. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b Gökhan Çetinsaya. The Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908. SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East. Routledge, 2006. p. 8-9. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ "Jamkarān", Encyclopædia Iranica - online version. Quote: "... Jamkarān was the first village founded in the Qom district (nāḥia) by Jam. " Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
- ^ "Census: i. In Iran", Encyclopædia Iranica - online version. Quote: "The country was divided into 25 census regions (nāḥīa)..." Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
- ^ "Āstāna", Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 8, p. 837 - online version. Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
