Shamdin Agha (also known as Shamlin Agha; died 1860) was a commander of Kurdish irregulars in the service of the Ottoman governors of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

and

Sidon Eyalet ota, ایالت صیدا , common_name = Eyalet of Sidon , subdivision = Eyalet , nation = the Ottoman Empire , year_start = 1660 , year_end = 1864 , date_start = , date_end = , eve ...

. In effect, he was powerful paramilitary chieftain in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. His descendants became a prominent family with his namesake, Shamdin, in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

.Schilcher, 1985, p
147

Biography

Shamdin was born in

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

to a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

tribal sheikh named Musa. In the early 19th century, he moved to the al-Salihiyah suburb of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. There, he built a power base from Kurdish immigrants and was assigned as the commander of a military garrison in the city, in the service of the Kurdish Wali of Damascus,

Kunj Yusuf Pasha Kunj Yusuf Pasha (also spelled ''Kanj Yusuf Pasha'') was the Ottoman governor of Damascus Eyalet between 1807 and 1810. He was an ethnic Kurd. As governor, Kunj Yusuf enacted discriminatory policies against religious minority groups in Damascus an ...

. When

Sulayman Pasha al-Adil Sulayman Pasha al-Adil (c. 1760s – August 1819; given name also spelled ''Suleiman'' or ''Sulaiman'') was the Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet between 1805 and 1819, ruling from his Acre headquarters. He also simultaneously served as governor o ...

became Wali of Damascus, Shamdin continued to serve as the commander of the Kurdish cavalry battalion, known as the Dalat. He was one of three of Sulayman Pasha's Kurdish cavalry officers, the other two being Ni'mat Agha and Ayalyaqin Agha. Sulayman Pasha died in 1819 and was succeeded by his deputy

Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali (commonly referred to simply as Abdullah Pasha; 1801–?) was the Ottoman governor (wali) of Sidon Eyalet between May 1820 and May 1832, with a nine-month interruption in 1822–23. Like his predecessors Jazzar Pasha and S ...

. Shamdin Agha was the only commander from Sulayman's service to continue serving under Abdullah (r. 1820–1831).Winter, p. 336. During the 1820s, the Damascus provincial authorities assigned Shamdin control over certain rural districts in the Damascus Eyalet, including the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...

. When

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...

's forces conquered Damascus (1831-1840), Shamdin maintained his loyalty to the Ottomans and was thanked by Sultan

Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

. In 1857, the Ottoman authorities tasked him with eliminating another commander of irregulars,

Aqil Agha Aqil Agha al-Hasi ( ar, عقيل آغا الحاسي, given name also spelled ''Aqil'', ''Aqila'', ''Akil'' or ''Akili''; military title sometimes spelled ''Aga'') (died 1870) was the strongman of northern Palestine in the mid-19th century, durin ...

, the semi-autonomous

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...

chieftain of the

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Galil ...

. Shamdin's forces were decisively defeated by Aqil and his men at the

Horns of Hattin , photo = קרני חיטין.jpg , photo_size = , photo_alt = , photo_caption = View of the Horns of Hattin from the west. Sea of Galilee is in the background. , map = , map_alt = ...

br>
He lost his post as garrison commander when the local garrisons were abolished in Damascus by the Ottoman authorities as part of their

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. ...

centralization and modernization efforts. However, his son Muhammad Sa'id became the commander of the new centralized garrison in the city.Khoury, 2003, p. 40.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agha, Shamdin 1860 deaths 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire Military personnel of the Ottoman Empire People from Acre, Israel People from Damascus 19th-century Kurdish people