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Baban Principality circa 1835.

Omar Agha, officer for Mahmoud Pasha of Baban, 1820.

Baban (1649–1850) were a Kurdish principality and ruling family originating from Darishmana in the region of Pijder. The founder of the dynasty and its first ruler was Fakih Ahmed (Arabic: Ahmad al-Fakih‎^{[citation needed]}) a descendent of the ancient^{[citation needed]} house of Soran. He also had a brother named Khidder Ahmed who lived with him. Fakih Ahmed Bey who was of a bold and proud spirit^[1] took a Frankish princess as his wife whom he met in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), the Ottoman Sultan^[who?] gave Fakih enormous hereditary land holdings in Kurdistan^{[clarification needed]} as well as his blessing to wed his new bride, before his death he added the areas of Mergeh and Mawutt to his land and thus laid the foundation of the principality his descendents would build and rule.

They together had whose grandson became powerful in central and southern Kurdistan. Ahmad's successor, Baba Sulaiman extended his influence to Kirkuk. During the reign of Sulaiman Pasha, Baban rule was extended to Koya, Khanaqin, Arbil, Harir, Altun Kupri, Badra and some areas of Eastern Kurdistan (western Iran). The headquarters of Baban was initially based at Qala Chuwalan, and later it was moved to the newly founded city of Sulaimaniya in 1781 during the reign of Mahmud Pasha Baban. The region under Baban rule stretched from the Little Zab river to the Sirwan.

The history of Baban from 1750 to 1847 was dominated by their rivalries against other Kurdish principalities such as Soran and Bohtan, and also their reaction against centralizing efforts of Ottomans and Qajars. The principality was finally destroyed during the modernization period in the Ottoman state in mid 19th century. The Baban princes helped the Ottoman forces in the Iranian wars of 1723-1746. The Baban revolt lasted for three years but was finally defeated by an alliance of the Ottoman forces and Kurdish tribes, Ahmed Pasha Baban the last ruler, was defeated near Koya in 1847. After that the region of Shahrazur was permanently annexed to the Ottoman territory. The last Baban prince left Sulaimaniya in 1850, despite the Baban of Sulaimania fighting long and bravely against the Turks for the independence of southern Kurdistan.^[2]

Timeline[link]

• Suliman Baba travels to Constantinople in 1678 and gains official Ottoman recognition of the families political hereditary rights^[3]
• The Baban princes helped the Ottoman forces in the Iranian wars of 1723-1746^[4]
• Abdulrahman Pasha becomes mirimiran prince of Kurdish princes in 1788^[5]
• Abdurrahman Pasha marches on the Ottoman Pasha of Baghdad Suleyman in June 1810 with 10,000 men^[6]
• Khana Mohammad Pasha takes the city of Senna the capital of the Ardalan principality in 1132^[7] and kills its Persian governor Hasan Ali Khan^[8]

List of Baban Princes[link]

1. Prince Faqi Ahmad, 1649–1670
2. Prince Sulaiman Baba, 1670–1703
3. Prince Khana Mohammad Pasha, 1721–1731
4. Prince Nawaub Khalid Pasha, 1732–1742
5. Prince Nawaub Salim Pasha, 1742–1754
6. Prince Nawaub Sulaiman Pasha, 1754–1765
7. Prince Muhammad Pasha, 1765–1775
8. Prince Abdolla Pasha, 1775–1777
9. Prince Ahmad Pasha, 1777–1780
10. Prince Mahmoud Pasha, 1780–1782
11. Prince Ibrahim Pasha, 1782–1803
12. Prince Abdurrahman Pasha, 1803–1813
13. Prince Mahmoud Pasha, 1813–1834
14. Prince Sulaiman Pasha, 1834–1838
15. Prince Ahmad Pasha, 1838–1847
16. Prince Abdollah Pasha, 1847–1850

Notable descendants of The Baban Princes[link]

• Babanzade Mustafa Zihni Pasha (1839–1911)
• Babanzade Ahmed Naim Bey, (1872–1934), Rector of Istanbul University, appointed a member of the Ayan Meclisi by Sultan Mehmed VI, and Islamist Philosopher
• Babanzade Ismail Hakki Bey, (1876–1913), Ottoman Minister of Education, Minister of Public Instruction, Member of Parliament and Expert on Foreign Affairs
• Babanzade Hüseyin Şükrü Bey, (1890–1980), Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Istanbul University and editor in chief of the Tercüman newspaper
• Babanzade Cihad Bey, (1911–1984), Minister of Press, Radio and Tourism, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Turkey, member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for Istanbul and then Izmir between 1946–1950, editor in chief of the Ulus^{[disambiguation needed ]} Newspaper and owner of the Tasvir newspaper
• Babanzade Hamdi Bey, Prominent member of the Committee of Union and Progress
• Babanzade Hikmet Bey, Founding member of Kürdistan Teâli Cemiyeti and the Committee of Union and Progress
• Babanzade Selim Bey, editor in chief of the Son Telgraf newspaper
• Babanzade Ismail Pasha, (1839–1920)
• Babanzade Fuad Bey

See also[link]

• List of Kurdish dynasties and countries
• List of Sunni Muslim dynasties

References[link]

References[link]

• Narrative of a residence in Koordistan, Claudius James Rich, James Duncan, Paternoster Row, 1836.
• The Sharafnama, Sharaf Khān Bidlīsī, 1597.
• The Emirate of Baban between the grinding stones of the Persians and Turks, Nawshirwan Mustafa, Zargata, 1998.
• The caravan of death, Karl Friedrich May, Seabury Press, 1979.
• First encyclopaedia of Islam: 1913-1936, M. Th Houtsma, BRILL, 1993.
• Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters, Infobase Publishing, 2009.
• A modern history of the Kurds, David McDowall, I.B.Tauris, 2000.

Baban is also the Welsh word for baby and is usually given to the youngest member of a family.

External links[link]

• Baban, By S.H. Longrigg, The Encyclopaedia of Islam.
• Baban, By W. Behn, Encyclopædia Iranica.
• A brief History of the Kurds and Kurdistan
• History of Baban Dynasty in Kurdish Notables, Chapter II, By Mir Basri, translated by Abdolkhliq Bahaddin, Sulaimania, 2002. (in Kurdish)