Mula Mustafa Bašeskija (c. 1731 – 18 August 1809) was aBosnian chronicler, diarist, poet and calligrapher in theOttoman Empire.^[1] He chronicled the history and events inSarajevo,Bosnia,Herzegovina and in theOttoman Empire during his lifetime and is considered an important figure in the history of Sarajevo for preserving information that would have otherwise been forgotten.^[2]

Bašeskija was born into a poorMuslim family in aSarajevoquarter named afterMimar Sinan. Both his paternal grandfather Kadir and maternal grandfather Mehmed wereImams.^[3] Bašeskija lost his father Ahmed when he was a child. His mother Fatima remarried and died in 1772 of a stroke after a long illness. His uncle Topal Osman-aga died inBelgrade in 1760.

As a child Bašeskija attendedmaktab and latermadrasa.^[4] It wasn't until 1763 that he beganscribing Bosnian history. During the 1760s he also owned a small shop underneath a clock tower in Sarajevo.

In his shop, in addition to clerical jobs, he taught students and other people in theArabic calligraphy andSharia law. In 1779, he wrote that he and few friends met once a week in a house, where, in addition to gathering and conversing for half an hour, were dedicated to reading books.

Bašeskija left Sarajevo on 1 July 1781 and moved with his family to the villageZgošća nearKakanj, only to return to Sarajevo less than a year later in February 1782.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with most of Europe, experienced a resurgence of theBlack Death plague in the 18th century. Bašeskija chronicled the lives of 4,000 of the dead, mostly adultBosniaks.^[5]

Mula Mustafa Bašeskija added a collection of poems in theBosnian language in one of his yearbooks, arguing that the Bosnian language is much richer thanArabic, because there are 45 words for the verb "to go" in Bosnian.

Probably his best-known work isLjetopis o Sarajevu ("Chronicle of Sarajevo"), in which he detailed not only his life and the lives of his family members, but the urban life in Sarajevo in its various aspects and events in Sarajevo and theBosnian province as a whole from 1746 to 1804.^[6]

Bašeskija became ill in 1801 and died in the summer of 1809 aged about 77–78.

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