principality · Mesopotamia and Iran
Bahdinan emirate
Origins
The Bahdinan emirs claimed descent from the Abbasid caliphs through an ancestor named Baha al-Din, who gave the dynasty its name. They ruled from Amadiya (Amedi), a town on a sheer rock plateau in the mountains of northern Iraq, from at least the late 14th century.
Rule and society
The emirs governed Kurdish tribes, Assyrian Christian and Jewish villages and Yazidi communities in the valleys between the Great Zab and the Khabur. After the Ottoman conquest of the region in the 16th century they became hereditary vassals of the Ottoman Empire, providing troops for its wars with the Safavids; Sultan Husayn Wali was a notable ally of the Ottomans. Amadiya was known for its madrasas and its Sunni scholars.
Decline and legacy
Weakened by internal feuds and attacks by the Soran emirate in the 1830s, the emirate was abolished during Ottoman centralisation in the early 1840s, its lands placed under the governor of Mosul.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (2)
- Bahdinan emirate was a vassal of Ottoman Empire1534 CE – 1843 CE
- Bahdinan emirate was conquered by Ottoman Empire1843 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bahdinan emirate. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bahdinan-emirate
- MLA
- “Bahdinan emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bahdinan-emirate. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Bahdinan emirate.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bahdinan-emirate.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bahdinan emirate’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/bahdinan-emirate (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻