the community grew rapidly, in terms of both size and prestige, as jews from iraq fled the persecution of the rule dawud pasha (1817-1831) in what was then a province of the ottoman empire, including many of the most illustrious families of baghdad. the iraqi jews, mostly from baghdad, soon outnumbered the original settlers from aleppo. by the end of the nineteenth century the kolkata community numbered some 1,800 people.