# Ottoman Province of Basra (1538)

URL: https://allhistories.com/kuwait/timeline/1538-ottoman-province-of-basra
Location: Basra, Iraq
Themes: main-event

Wikipedia's article on the Basra Eyalet says that Basra was incorporated as an Ottoman province in 1538, with an Ottoman governor in place by 1546. The article on Basra instead says Rashid ibn Mughamis acknowledged Suleiman in 1536 and that Ottoman forces arrived in 1546, bringing tighter but still nominal control. Dates therefore differ. The province replaced Basra's earlier hereditary government, which was reduced to an ordinary eyalet. In the early seventeenth century a traveller noted that the province had no ziamets or timars, as the governor rented all the lands. In 1702 the eyalet had eight sanjaks. Wikipedia does not describe the border with Kuwait. Ottoman control remained nominal for long periods, and Basra's governors often depended on tribal allies. The Basra article says the Portuguese acted as military protectors of Basra from 1595, and that the Ottomans captured Basra in 1668, a date that conflicts with the earlier ones. These conflicting dates appear in the notes. At this point in the timeline (1538), no single ruler is recorded; the head of the Gulf was contested between Safavid, Muntafiq and Jabrid powers, while the Portuguese were active in the Gulf (1508 – 1546).

## Why it matters
The Basra province was the Ottoman administrative frame within which Kuwait's later claims of nominal Ottoman suzerainty rested.

Ruler at the Time: [Safavid, Muntafiq and Jabrid influence; Portuguese in the Gulf](https://allhistories.com/kuwait/rulers/safavid-muntafiq-and-jabrid-influence-portuguese-in-the-gulf)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Basra Eyalet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basra_Eyalet)
- [Wikipedia — Basra](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basra)