In
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
,
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
and parts of
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
a mouza or mauza (also mouja) is a type of administrative district, corresponding to a specific land area within which there may be one or more settlements. Before the 20th century, the term referred to a revenue collection unit is a ''
pargana
Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...
'' or
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
district.
The mauza system in the Indian Subcontinent is similar to the
manorial system
Manorialism, also known as the manor system or manorial system, was the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of Europe, notably France and later England, during the Middle Ages. Its defining features included a large, sometimes forti ...
in Europe. The head of a mauza is styled as Mustajir, Pradhan or Mulraiyat, equivalent to Lord of the Manor in the manorial system.
As populations increased and villages became more common and developed, the concept of the mouza declined in importance. Today it has become mostly
synonymous with the ''gram'' or village. Most
voter lists, for example, now use the names of villages rather than mouzas.
In contemporary Pakistan, a mouza is defined as "a territorial unit with a separate name, definite boundaries, and area precisely measured and divided into plots/khasras/survey numbers."
Each mouza has a cadastral map maintained in the land revenue record and, except in
Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
, each one has a
Hadabast Number.
A mouza may be either a compact or a scattered unit, and there may be one or more settlements (aka
abadis, bastis,
dhok
Duhok ( ku, دهۆک, translit=Dihok; ar, دهوك, Dahūk; syr, ܒܝܬ ܢܘܗܕܪܐ, Beth Nohadra) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It's the Capital (political), capital city of Duhok Governorate.
History
The city's origin da ...
s,
goth
A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were:
*Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history
*Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history
Goth or Goths may also refer to:
* Goth (surname) ...
s, tola, etc.) in the mouza's territory.
A mouza may also be unpopulated.
In Sindh, a mouza is known as a deh.
See also
*
Mauja
Mauja ( ne, :ne:मौजा) is a town and Village development committee in Kaski District in the Gandaki Zone of northern-central Nepal. Most of the people lived in villages. A village was also called "Mauja". The chief of the village was the ...
References
{{reflist
Former subdivisions of Bangladesh
Subdivisions of Pakistan
Types of administrative division
Human habitats