Baghdad vilayet
The Vilayet of Baghdad was a first-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire in Ottoman Iraq, corresponding largely to modern-day central Iraq. The capital was Baghdad.
At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of, while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 gave the population as 850,000. The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.
Demographics
| Baghdad vilayet | Male | Female | Total |
| Muslims | 159,129 | 3,814 | 162,943 |
| Armenians | 373 | 373 | |
| Armenian Catholics | 723 | 723 | |
| Protestants | 40 | 40 | |
| Latins | 55 | 2 | 57 |
| Syriacs | 327 | 327 | |
| Jews | 13,621 | 94 | 13,715 |
| Total | 174,268 | 3,910 | 178,178 |
The last Ottoman Census of 1917 stated that in Baghdad Sanjak out of the 202,000 population, 88,000 were Jews, 8,000 Kurd, 12,000 Christians, 800 Persian and rest Arab and other Muslims.
History
In 1869, Midhat Pasha was inaugurated as governor of Baghdad. He extended Ottoman jurisdiction as far as the town of al-Bida, after he had established his authority in Nejd. In January 1872, Qatar was designated as a kaza under the Sanjak of Nejd. However, relations with the Ottoman authorities became hostile in both al-Bida and Nejd, leading eventually to the Battle of Al Wajbah, at which Ottomans were defeated.Administrative divisions
[file:Baghdad Vilayet — Memalik-i Mahruse-i Shahane-ye Mahsus Mukemmel ve Mufassal Atlas (1907).jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of subdivisions of Baghdad Vilayet in 1907]Sanjaks or Districts of the vilayet:
| Sanjak | Currently |
| Baghdad Sanjak | Baghdad |
| Divaniye Sanjak | Al Diwaniyah |
| Kerbela Sanjak | Karbala |
| Najd Sanjak | June 1871 - 1875, then part of the Basra Vilayet) |