Kaza#Ottoman Empire

In the Ottoman Empire, a kaza was originally equivalent to the kadiluk, the district subject to the legal and administrative jurisdiction of a kadi or judge of Islamic law. This usually corresponded to a major city of the empire with its surrounding villages. A small number of kazas made up each sanjak ("banner") under a sanjakbey. Each kaza was in turn made up of one or more nahiyes ("districts") under müdürs{{what?|date=March 2024}} and mütesellims and several karyes ("villages") under muhtars.

With the first round of Tanzimat reforms in 1839, the administrative duties of each district's kadi were transferred to a kaymakam ("governor") appointed by the Ministry of the Interior and a treasurer, with the kadis restricted to solely religious and judicial roles. Kazas were further emended and distinguished from the kadiluks under the 1864 Provincial Reform Law, implemented over the following decade as part of efforts by the Porte to establish uniform and rational administration across the empire. The 1871 revisions removed the kazas' responsibility for direct supervision of their villages, placing them all under nearby nahiyes instead.

The subdistricts of Mandatory Palestine were known as nafa ({{lang|he|נָפָה‎}}) in Hebrew but as kaza, qada, etc. in Arabic. The same terms continue to be used in present-day Israel and Palestine.

Syria used kazas, qadas, etc. as its second-level administrative division after independence but later{{when?|date=March 2024}} renamed them mintaqahs.

The Republic of Turkey continued to use kazas until the late 1920s,{{when|date=September 2023}} when it renamed them subprovinces ({{lang|tr|ilçe}}).

Kaza, qada, etc. is also used to refer to the following:

• Districts of Iraq (second-level, below the governorates)
• Districts of Lebanon (second-level, below the governorates)
• Subdistricts of Israel (second-level, below the districts, in Arabic)
• Subdistricts of Jordan (third-level, below the governorates and the districts)

• Alcalde
• Qadi

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist|refs=

Gökhan Çetinsaya. The Ottoman Administration of Iraq, 1890-1908. SOAS/Routledge Studies on the Middle East. Routledge, 2006. p. 8-9. {{ISBN|9780203481325}}

Suraiya Faroqhi. Approaching Ottoman History: An Introduction to the Sources. Cambridge University Press, 1999. p. 88. {{ISBN|9780521666480}}

Donald Quataert. The Ottoman Empire, 1700-1922. 2nd Ed. Volume 34 of New Approaches to European History. Cambridge University Press, 2005. p. 108. {{ISBN|9781139445917}}

Eugene L. Rogan. Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850-1921. Volume 12 of Cambridge Middle East Studies. Cambridge University Press, 2002. p. 12. {{ISBN|9780521892230}}

Selçuk Akşin Somel. "Kadı". The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire. Volume 152 of A to Z Guides. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. p. 144-145. {{ISBN|9780810875791}}

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}}

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Category:Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

Category:Types of administrative division

Category:Arabic words and phrases