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A nāḥiyah (Arabic: نَاحِيَة [ˈnaːħijah], plural nawāḥī نَوَاحِي [naˈwaːħiː]), also nahiyeh, 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 while in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Xinjiang, and the former Ottoman Empire, where it was also called a bucak, it is a third-level or lower division. It can constitute a division of a qadaa, mintaqah or other such district-type division and is sometimes translated as "subdistrict".
Ottoman Empire
The nahiye (Ottoman Turkish: ناحیه) was an administrative territorial entity of the Ottoman Empire, smaller than a kaza. The head was a mütesellim (governor) who was appointed by the Pasha.
The kaza was a subdivision of a sanjak and corresponded roughly to a city with its surrounding villages. Kazas, in turn, were divided into nahiyes (each governed by a müdür) and villages (karye, each governed by a muhtar). Revisions of 1871 to the administrative law established the nahiye (still governed by a müdür) as an intermediate level between the kaza and the village.
The term was adopted by the Principality of Serbia (1817–1833) and Principality of Montenegro (1852–1910), as nahija (Serbian Cyrillic: нахија).
Examples
Arabic-speaking countries
| Country | Level above (Arabic) | Level above (English) | Main article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Syria | mintaqah (formerly qadaa) | district | |
| Palestine | Liwa' | governorates | Districts of Palestine |
| Iraq | Qadaa | district | Subdistricts of Iraq |
| Lebanon | |||
| Jordan | Liwa' | governorate | Nahias of Jordan |
Turkic-speaking territories
- Xinjiang, China: a subdivision of a prefectural.
- Ottoman Empire: subdistrict, commune, parish; a subdivision of a kaza (قضاء).
Other
- Districts of Tajikistan: a subdivision of a province.
- Donji Milanovac, a town in Serbia
| Arabic terms for administrative divisions | |
|---|---|
| First-level | |
| Second / third-level | |
| City / township-level |
|
| English translations given are those most commonly used. | |
Persian language
Persian has borrowed the Arabic word with the spelling ناحیه. Encyclopædia Iranica transliterates it mostly as nahia or, with diacritics, nāḥia/nāḥīa. In modern contexts it may be used with the meaning of anything between 'census region', and 'section' as in "Section (nāḥia) 2 of eleven local fishing stations".
See also
- Nahia (disambiguation page)
References
- Selçuk Akşin Somel. "Kazâ". The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire. Volume 152 of A to Z Guides. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. p. 151. ISBN 9780810875791
- ^ Gökhan Çetinsaya. The Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890–1908. SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East. Routledge, 2006. p. 8-9. ISBN 9780203481325
- "Jamkarān", Encyclopædia Iranica - online version. Quote: "... Jamkarān was the first village founded in the Qom district (nāḥia) by Jam. " Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
- "Census: i. In Iran", Encyclopædia Iranica - online version. Quote: "The country was divided into 25 census regions (nāḥīa)..." Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
- "Āstāna", Encyclopædia Iranica, Vol. II, Fasc. 8, p. 837 - online version. Retrieved 15 Dec 2024.
External links
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