After the Flood

This chapter documents the long-term consequences of the Euphrates’ channel shift that occurred in the late seventeenth century. The rural order established by the Ottoman administration from the sixteenth century unraveled. The herders’ associations sponsored by the state disintegrated and gave way to assertive tribal confederations that regularly clashed with Ottoman authorities. To restore order, Istanbul empowered the governor of Baghdad Hasan Pasha, who fulfilled his mandate while pursuing his own personal agenda. He established a household that transformed into a provincial dynasty called the Pashalik of Baghdad, in control of the most important positions in the Ottoman provincial government. By the end of the eighteenth century, this trend toward provincial autonomy would place the most critical stretches of the Tigris and Euphrates under the command of Baghdad, which made the most important decisions related to navigation and irrigation.