Shamdin Agha (also known as Shamlin Agha; died 1860) was an Ottoman Kurdish commander of irregulars in the service of the Ottoman governors of

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

and

Sidon Eyalet The Eyalet of Sidon (; ) was an eyalet (also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, the eyalet extended from the border with Egypt to the Bay of Kisrawan, including parts of modern Israel and Lebanon. Depending ...

. In effect, he was powerful paramilitary chieftain in

. His descendants became a prominent family with his namesake, Shamdin, in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria () is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Ara ...

.Schilcher, 1985, p
147

Biography

Shamdin was born in

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

to a

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish language ** Northern Kurdish (Kurmanji) **Central Kurdish (Sorani) **Southern Kurdish ** Laki Kurdish *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern ...

tribal sheikh named Musa. In the early 19th century, he moved to the al-Salihiyah suburb of

. There, he built a power base from Kurdish immigrants and was assigned as the commander of a military garrison in the city, in the service of the Kurdish Wali of Damascus, Kunj Yusuf Pasha. When

Sulayman Pasha al-Adil Sulayman Pasha al-Adil ( – August 1819; given name also spelled ''Suleiman'' or ''Sulaiman'') was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet between 1805 and 1819, ruling from his Acre, Israel, Acre headquarters. He also simultaneously ...

became Wali of Damascus, Shamdin continued to serve as the commander of the Kurdish cavalry battalion, known as the Dalat. He was one of three of Sulayman Pasha's Kurdish cavalry officers, the other two being Ni'mat Agha and Ayalyaqin Agha. Sulayman Pasha died in 1819 and was succeeded by his deputy

Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali (commonly referred to simply as Abdullah Pasha; 1801–?) was the Ottoman governor (wali) of Sidon Eyalet between May 1820 and May 1832, with a nine-month interruption in 1822–23. Like his predecessors Jazzar Pasha and ...

. Shamdin Agha was the only commander from Sulayman's service to continue serving under Abdullah (r. 1820–1831).Winter, p. 336. During the 1820s, the Damascus provincial authorities assigned Shamdin control over certain rural districts in the Damascus Eyalet, including the

Beqaa Valley The Beqaa Valley (, ; Bekaa, Biqâ, Becaa) is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon and its most important farming region. Industry, especially the country's agricultural industry, also flourishes in Beqaa. The region broadly corresponds to th ...

. When

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Albanians, Albanian viceroy and governor who became the ''de facto'' ruler of History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty, Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely consi ...

's forces conquered Damascus (1831-1840), Shamdin maintained his loyalty to the Ottomans and was thanked by Sultan

Abdülmecid I Abdülmecid I (, ; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories. Abdülmecid's ...

. In 1857, the Ottoman authorities tasked him with eliminating another commander of irregulars, Aqil Agha, the semi-autonomous

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

chieftain of the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

. Shamdin's forces were decisively defeated by Aqil and his men at the

Horns of Hattin The Horns of Hattin ( ) is an extinct volcano with twin peaks overlooking the plains of Hittin, Hattin in the Lower Galilee, Israel. It is most famous as the site of the Battle of Hattin (1187). History and archaeology Excavations were carrie ...

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He lost his post as garrison commander when the local garrisons were abolished in Damascus by the Ottoman authorities as part of their

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

centralization and modernization efforts. However, his son Muhammad Sa'id became the commander of the new centralized garrison in the city.Khoury, 2003, p. 40.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Agha, Shamdin 1860 deaths 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Kurdish people from the Ottoman Empire Military personnel of the Ottoman Empire People from Acre, Israel People from Damascus 19th-century Kurdish people