Ḥassan Pasha (Mamluk)

Ḥassan Pasha (1657–1723) was a Georgian-origin Ottoman commander who founded the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq. A veteran of the wars against Iran, he was appointed vali of Baghdad in 1704 with a mandate to restore order. He subdued the unruly Arab and Kurdish tribes, curbed the Janissaries by raising Georgian and Circassian Mamluk troops, and remitted regular revenues to Istanbul.

In 1705 he had Karbala's channels cleaned and restored a caravanserai on the road to Najaf, and he also built schools and mosques. After his death in 1723 his son Ahmad Pasha succeeded him, and the Mamluk regime lasted until 1831.