Bahdinan or Badinan was one of the most powerful and enduring Kurdish principalities. It was founded by ''Baha-al-Din'' originally from ''Şemzînan'' area in Hakkari in sometime between 13th or 14th century CE. The capital of this emirate was

Amadiya Amedi or Amadiya ( ku, ئامێدی, Amêdî, ; Syriac: , Amədya), is a town in the Duhok Governorate of Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It is built on a mesa in the broader Great Zab river valley. Etymology According to Ali ibn al-Athir, the name ...

for a long time. The rulers of the Bahdinan emirate governed over the Emirate since the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

, an early dynasty in Islamic history. It was centered in the town of ''Amadiya'' (or Amêdî) in the present-day Dahuk province in

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

. According to Evliya Celebi the principality was divided into the following districts:

Aqra Aqra, properly ʿAqra, is a diocese of the Chaldean Catholic Church , native_name_lang = syc , image = Assyrian Church.png , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Our La ...

Zakho Zakho, also spelled Zaxo ( ku, زاخۆ, Zaxo, syr, ܙܵܟ݂ܘܿ, Zākhō, , ) is a city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, at the centre of the eponymous Zakho District of the Dohuk Governorate, located a few kilometers from the Iraq–Turkey b ...

, Shikhoyi, Duhok, Zibari, and Muzuri. The districts were autonomous units under their own rulers who were appointed by the Khan of Amadiya. In addition to this, there were tribal chieftains with formalized positions (for example, the chiefs of the Sindi and Silvane tribes needed confirmation from the ruler of Zakho). The principality reached its peak during the reign of ''Bahram Pasha the Great'' (re. 1726–1767). Threatened by the expansionist and centralizing efforts of the Ottoman and Safavid empires, Bahdinan princes were drawn into prolonged confrontations with these two rival powers. The Bahdinan rulers, ''Esmail Pasha'' and ''Mohammad Said Pasha'' were deposed by the emir of the neighboring Soran principality in 1831. However, their rule was restored after the Ottomans defeated ''Soran'' in 1836. Although the Soran influence lasted only for a few years, the Bahdinan principality never fully recovered. Pursuing their centralization policy, the Ottomans overthrew the Bahdinan principality in 1843 (or 1838) and incorporated it in the Sandjak of

Mosul Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second larg ...

. The most famous ancient library in the region, in the Qubehan school at Amadiya, was destroyed by British troops putting down a revolt in the region in 1919, although some 400 manuscripts were rescued and eventually found their way into the Iraq Museum's collection.Faraj, S.S. Libraries and Librarianship in Iraqi Kurdistan. In: Libraries in the Early 21st Century: An International Perspective, edited by R.N. Sharma, vol.2, 297-311. 2012. Berlin: de Gruyter Saur.

References

Bahdinan
Encyclopædia Iranica, p. 485, By Amir Hassanpour.
Bahdīnān
The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Brill Academic Publishers.

References

See also