2 Para – Baghdad Eyalet

In 1833, the currency situation in Baghdad Eyalet was characterized by profound monetary chaos and fragmentation, a direct legacy of weakened Ottoman central control and regional instability. Following the destructive Mamluk period and its overthrow in 1831, the eyalet's economy was in disarray. The official Ottoman currency, the kuruş (piastre), circulated alongside a bewildering array of other coins, including heavily debased local imitations, old Persian silver abbasis, Spanish dollars (riyals), and even ancient Venetian sequins. This created a complex and unreliable system where exchange rates fluctuated wildly, and the intrinsic silver content of a coin often mattered more than its nominal face value.

The root of the crisis was a severe shortage of valid, full-weight specie. Decades of local rulers striking inferior coins to finance their regimes had destroyed trust in the currency. Merchants and officials had to constantly weigh and assay coins, and major transactions often relied on barter or payment in specific, trusted foreign coinages. This monetary anarchy severely hampered trade, tax collection, and daily commerce, as the lack of a uniform standard invited fraud and discouraged economic activity.

This situation presented a major challenge for the new Ottoman governor, Ali Rıza Pasha, appointed after Sultan Mahmud II reasserted direct control over the eyalet. Part of the broader Tanzimat reforms aimed at centralization, his task was to impose monetary order by suppressing the circulation of debased and foreign coins and restoring the supremacy of standardized Ottoman currency. Success in this endeavor was seen as essential to stabilizing the local economy, facilitating integration with the imperial system, and strengthening Istanbul's fiscal and political authority in this strategically vital province.