Ottoman Land Reform in the Province of Baghdad

Publication Year
2019

Type

Book
Abstract

Keiko Kiyotaki is an Associate Research Scholar in the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

In Ottoman Land Reform in the Province of Baghdad, Keiko Kiyotaki traces the Ottoman reforms of tax farming and land tenure and establishes that their effects were the key ingredients of agricultural progress. These modernizing reforms are shown to be effective because they were compatible with local customs and tribal traditions, which the Ottoman governors worked to preserve. 
Ottoman rule in Iraq has previously been considered oppressive and blamed with failure to develop the country. Since the British mandate government’s land and tax policies were little examined, the Ottoman legacy has been left unidentified. This book proves that Ottoman land reforms led to increases in agricultural production and tax revenue, while the hasty reforms enacted by the mandate government ignoring indigenous customs caused new agricultural and land problems.

Contents

Acknowledgements 
List of Figures, Maps, and Tables 
Introduction 
1 The Province of Baghdad 
2 Agriculture 
3 Tax Farming and Public Finance 
4 Land Problems 
5 Land Reform 
6 Modifications of the Land and Tax Systems 
7 Land and Tax Systems during the British Occupation and Mandate Period 
8 The Decline of the Ottoman Legacy 
Conclusion 
Appendix: Lifetime and Short-Term Tax Farming
Glossary 
Bibliography 
Index 

Series Title
The Ottoman Empire and Its Heritage
Series Volume
66
Publisher
Brill
City
Leiden and Boston
ISBN
Cloth: 9789004366596; ebook: 9789004384347