Nahiyah

A nahiyah or nahiya (Arabic: نَاحِيَة, romanized: nāḥiya , plural نَوَاحِي, nawāḥī ), also spelled nahia, nahiyeh or nahiye, is a type of local area that usually includes several villages or small towns. It is a way that countries organize their regions for government and services.

The idea of a nahiyah comes from history, especially from the time of the Ottoman nahiye. Back then, it was a smaller part of a bigger area. Today, some countries still use this name for their local areas. Places like Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan still have nahiyahs as parts of their government system.

In other places, such as Tajikistan and Xinjiang in China, nahiyahs are also used to help organize smaller areas within bigger regions. A nahiyah can be a part of a larger area called a qada' or mintaqa, and it is sometimes called a "subdistrict". This system helps communities manage their local affairs and connect with the larger government.

Ottoman Empire

The nahiye was a smaller area in the Ottoman Empire, smaller than a kaza. It was led by a mütesellim, who was chosen by a higher leader called a Pasha.

A kaza was part of a bigger area called a sanjak and included a city and the villages around it. These _kaza_s were divided into _nahiye_s, each led by a müdür, and villages, each led by a muhtar. In 1871, changes to the rules made the nahiye an area between the kaza and the village, still led by a müdür.

Successor states in the Balkans

After becoming free, the Principality of Serbia (1817–1833) and the Principality of Montenegro (1852–1910) kept using the word nahija.

Examples

Arabic-speaking countries

Turkic-speaking territories

• Xinjiang, China: a part of a prefectural area.
• Ottoman Empire: a smaller area, like a community or group; part of a larger area called a kaza.

Other

• Districts of Tajikistan: a part of a province.
• Nahiye (Ottoman)#Successor states in the Balkans

Persian language

Persian has taken the Arabic word and spells it as ناحیه. Encyclopædia Iranica mostly writes it as nahia or, with special marks, nāḥia/nāḥīa. Today, it can mean anything from a 'census region' to a 'section,' like "Section (nāḥia) 2 of eleven local fishing stations."