A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab,
[ (; meaning 'borough')][
* bg, околия (; meaning 'district');][ also Кааза
* el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality');][ also ()
* lad, kaza][
, group=note) is an ]administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
historically used in the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and is currently used in several of its successor states. The term is from Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extens ...
and means 'jurisdiction'; it is often translated 'district',[ 'sub-district'][ (though this also applies to a ), or 'juridical district'.][
]
Ottoman Empire
In the Ottoman Empire, a kaza was originally a "geographical area subject to the legal and administrative jurisdiction of a ''kadı
A ''kadi'' ( ar, قاضي '; tr, kadı) was an official in the Ottoman Empire. The term ''kadi'' refers to judges who preside over matters in accordance with Islamic law, but in the Ottoman Empire, the ''kadi'' also became a crucial part of the ...
''.[ With the first ]Tanzimat
The Tanzimat (; ota, تنظيمات, translit=Tanzimāt, lit=Reorganization, ''see'' nizām) was a period of reform in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. ...
reforms of 1839, the administrative duties of the ''kadı'' were transferred to a governor ''(kaymakam
Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...
)'', with the ''kadıs'' acting as judges of Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
.[ In the Tanzimat era, the kaza became an administrative district with the 1864 Provincial Reform Law, which was implemented over the following decade.][ A kaza unified the jurisdiction of a governor ''(kaymakam)'' appointed by the ]Ministry of the Interior
An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs.
Lists of current ministries of internal affairs
Named "ministry"
* Ministry ...
,[ a treasurer (chief finance officer), and a judge ''(kadı)'' in a single administrative unit.][ It was part of efforts of the ]Porte
Porte may refer to:
*Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire
*Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy
*John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator
*Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...
to establish uniform, rational administration across the empire.[
The kaza was a subdivision of a ]sanjak
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησι ...
[ and corresponded roughly to a city with its surrounding villages. Kazas, in turn, were divided into ]nahiyes
A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...
(governed by ''müdürs'' and ''mütesellim
''Mütesellim'' or ''mutesellim'' was an Ottoman gubernatorial title used to describe mainly the head of a ''nahiye'', but also other positions within the Ottoman hierarchy, depending on the context. Mostly this title was used for civil governor ...
s'') and villages (''karye'', governed by '' muhtars'').[ The 1871 revisions to the administrative law established the nahiye (still governing a ''müdür''), as an intermediate level between the kaza and the village.][
]
Turkey
The early Republic of Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
continued to use the term ''kaza'' until it renamed them ilçe
The 81 provinces of Turkey are divided into 973 districts (''ilçeler''; sing. ''ilçe''). In the early Turkish Republic and in the Ottoman Empire, the corresponding unit was the ''kaza''.
Most provinces bear the same name as their respectiv ...
in the 1920s.
Arab countries
The kaza was also formerly a second-level administrative division in Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
, but it is now called a mintaqah
Minṭaqah ( ; plural ''manāṭiq'' ) is a first-level administrative division in Saudi Arabia and Chad and for a second-level administrative division in several other Arab countries. It is often translated as ''region'' or ''district'', but th ...
.
The kaza or qadaa is used to refer to the following:
* districts of Iraq
Iraq's 18 governorates are subdivided into 120 districts (''kaza'').
The district usually bears the same name as the district capital.
The districts are listed below, by governorate (with capital in parentheses):
Al Anbar Governorate
* Al-Qa'i ...
(second-level, below the governorate)
* districts of Lebanon
The nine governorates of Lebanon are subdivided into 25 districts (''Aqdya'', singular''qadaa''). Beirut Governorate is not subdivided into districts, and Akkar Governorate comprises a single district.
The districts are further divided into mun ...
(second-level, below the governorate)
* Sub-districts (third-level, below the governorate and the district)
* subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine
The Districts and Sub-districts of Mandatory Palestine formed the first and second levels of administrative division and existed through the whole era of Mandatory Palestine, namely from 1920 to 1948. The number and territorial extent of the dist ...
* Counties of Israel
See also
* Alcalde
Alcalde (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor, the presiding officer of the Castilian '' cabildo'' (the municipal council) a ...
* Qadi
A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
Notes
References
{{Turkish terms for country subdivisions
Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
Types of administrative division
Arabic words and phrases