Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire were
administrative divisions of the
state organisation of the Ottoman Empire based on military administration but with civil executive functions as well. Outside this system were various types of
vassal and tributary states. There were two main eras of administrative organisation. The first was the initial organisation that evolved with the rise of the Empire and the second was the organisation after extensive administrative reforms of 1864.
[edit] Initial organization
The initial organization dates back to the Ottoman beginnings as a
Seljuk vassal state (
Uç Beyliği) in central
Anatolia. The Ottoman Empire over the years became an amalgamation of pre-existing
polities, the
Anatolian beyliks, brought under the sway of the ruling
House of Osman.
This extension was based on an already established administrative structure of the
Seljuk system in which the hereditary rulers of these territories were known as
beys. These beys (local leadership), which were not eliminated, continued to rule under the
suzerainty of the Ottoman
sultans. The term bey came to be applied not only to these former rulers but also to new governors appointed where the local leadership had been eliminated.
The Ottoman Empire was, at first, subdivided into the sovereign’s
sanjak and other sanjaks entrusted to the
Ottoman sultan’s sons. Sanjaks were governed by
sanjak beyis, military governors who received a flag or standard – a "sanjak" (the literal meaning) – from the sultan. As the Empire expanded into
Europe, the need for an intermediate level of administration arose and, under the rule of
Murad I (r. 1359-1389), a
beylerbeyi or governor-general was appointed to oversee
Rumelia, the European part of the empire. About the same time a
beylerbeylik was also established for
Anatolia, excluding however the
Rum area around
Amasya, then the seat of the Empire, which remained under the sultan’s direct control (usually through his
grand vizier). Following the establishment of beylerbeyliks, sanjaks became second-order administrative divisions, although they continued to be of the first order in certain circumstances such as newly conquered areas that had yet to be assigned a beylerbeyi. In addition to their duties as governors-general, beylerbeyis were the commanders of all troops in their province.
[edit] First-order administrative units
The first-order administrative units were called
eyalet or
pashaluk.
[edit] Eyalets in 1299-1609
From the mid-14th century until the late 16th century, only one new beylerbeylik (
Karaman) was established.
[edit] Eyalets disappeared before 1609
The eyalets that existed before 1609 but disappeared and eyalets created after 1609.
- Abkhazia (Abhaz) (1578-?) (also called Sukhum [Sohumkale] or Georgia [Gürcistan] and included Mingrelia and Imeretia as well as modern Abkhazia – nominally annexed but never fully conquered)
- Akhaltsikhe (Ahıska) (c. 1603-?) (either split from or coextensive with Samtskhe)
- Dagestan (Dağıstan) (1578-?) (also called Demirkapı – assigned a serdar [chief] rather than a beylerbeyi)
- Dmanisi (Tumanis) (c. 1584-?)
- Ganja (Gence) (c.1588-1604)
- Gori (Gori) (c. 1588-?) (probably replaced Tiflis after 1586)
- Győr (Yanık) (1594–1598)
- Kakheti (Kaheti) (c. 1578-?) (Kakhetian king was appointed hereditary bey)
- Lazistan (c. 1574-?)
- Lorri (Lori) (c. 1584-?)
- Moldavia (Boğdan) (1595 only; the rest of the time Moldavia was a separate autonomous province)
- Nakhichevan (Nahçivan) (c. 1603) (possibly never separate from Yerevan)
- Poti (Faş) (1579-?) (may have also been another name for Trabzon)
- Sanaa (San'a) (1567–1569) (temporary division of Yemen)
- Shemakha (Şamahı) (c. 1583) (may have also been another name for Shervan)
- Szigetvár (Sigetvar, Zigetvar) (c. 1596) (later transferred to Kanizsa)
- Shervan (Şirvan) (1578–1604) (overseen by a serdar [chief] rather than a beylerbeyi)
- Tabriz (Tebriz) (1585–1603)
- Tiflis (Tiflis) (1578–1586) (probably replaced by Gori after 1586)
- Wallachia (Eflak) (1595 only; the rest of the time Wallachia was a separate autonomous province)
- Yerevan (Erivan) (1583–1604) (sometimes also included Van)
- Zabid (Zebid [Zebit]) (1567–1569) (temporary division of Yemen)
[edit] Eyalets in 1609
Conquests of
Selim I and
Suleyman I in the 16th century required an increase in administrative units. By the end of the latter half of the century there were as many as 42
eyalets, as the beylerbeyliks came to be known. The chart below shows the administrative situation as of 1609.
| Province Name | Ottoman Turkish Name and Transliteration (Modern Turkish) | Year Established | Current Location |
|
| Abyssinia | Habeş | c. 1554 | Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia | Included areas on both sides of the Red Sea. Also called "Mecca and Medina" |
| Adana | آضنه Ażana (Adana) | c. 1608 | Turkey |
|
| Aegean Archipelago | Cezayir | mid-16th century | Greece | Domain of the Kapudan Pasha (Lord Admiral); Also called Denizi or Denizli, later Cezayir Bahr-i Sefid |
| Aleppo | حلب Ḥaleb (Halep) | c.1516-1521 | Syria, Turkey |
|
| Algiers | جزاير غرب Cezâyîr-i Ġarb (Cezayir Garp) | 1519 | Algeria |
|
| Anatolia | Anadolu | c. 1365 | Turkey |
|
| Baghdad | بغداد Baġdâd (Bağdat) | 1535 | Iraq |
|
| Basra | بصره Baṣra (Basra) | c. 1552 | Iraq, Kuwait |
|
| Bosnia | Bosna | c. 1520s | Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro |
|
| Buda | Budin | 1541 | Hungary, Croatia, Serbia |
|
| Cyprus | قبرص Ḳıbrıṣ (Kıbrıs) | 1571 | Cyprus | c. 1660-1703 and 1784→ part of Aegean Archipelago Province |
| Diyarbekir | دياربكر Diyârbekir (Diyarbakır) | 1515 | Turkey, Iraq |
|
| Eger | اكر Egir (Eğri) | 1596 | Hungary, Slovakia |
|
| Egypt | مصر Mıṣır (Mısır) | 1517 | Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia |
|
| Erzurum | Erzurum | c. 1514-1534 | Turkey |
|
| Al-Hasa | Lahsa | c. 1579 | Saudi Arabia | Seldom directly ruled |
| Kefe (Theodosia) | Kefe | c. 1581 | Ukraine, Russia |
|
| Kanizsa | Kanije | 1600 | Hungary, Croatia |
|
| Karaman | Karaman | c. 1470 | Turkey |
|
| Kars | Kars | 1579 | Turkey, Georgia | Merged with Samtskhe in 1604. Finally bounded to *Erzurum in 1845. |
| Maraş | Maraş, Dulkadır | c. 1522 | Turkey |
|
| Mosul | Musul | c. late 16th century | Iraq |
|
| Ar-Raqqah | Rakka | c. late 16th century | Syria, Turkey, Iraq | Also called Ruha (Urfa) |
| Rumelia | Rumeli | c. 1365 | Bulgaria, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey | With Anatolia, one of the original two eyalets |
| Samtskhe | Çıldır | c. 1579 | Georgia, Turkey | Also called Meskheti, later possibly coextensive with Akhaltsikhe (Ahıska) Province. Most of eyalet passed to Russia in 1829. Remained parts of eyalet bounded to Erzurum in 1845. |
| Shehrizor | Şehrizor | c. mid-16th century | Iraq, Iran | Also Shahrizor, Sheherizul, or Kirkuk. In 1830, this eyalet bounded to Mosul province as Kirkuk sanjak. |
| Silistria | Silistre | c. 1599 | Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine | Later sometimes called Ochakiv (Özi); First beylerbeyi was the Crimean khan |
| Sivas | Sivas | c. early 16th century | Turkey |
|
| Syria | Şam | 1516-17 | Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, part of present Turkey and part of present Iraq. |
|
| Timişoara | Tımışvar (Temeşvar) | 1552 | Romania, Serbia, Hungary | Also called Temesvar Province |
| Trabzon, Lazistan | Trabzon | c. late 16th century | Turkey, Georgia | Also called Trebizond Province |
| Tripoli (Tripoli-in-the-East) | Trablus-ı Şam (Trablusşam) | c. 1570s | Lebanon, Syria |
|
| Tripolitania (Tripoli-in-the-West) | Trablus-ı Garb (Trablusgarp) | 1551 | Libya |
|
| Tunis | Tunus | 1574 | Tunisia |
|
| Van | Van | 1548 | Turkey |
|
| Yemen | Yemen | 1517-18, 1539 | Yemen, Saudi Arabia |
|
Sources:
- Colin Imber. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The structure of Power. (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.)
- Halil Inalcik. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600. Trans. Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973.)
- Donald Edgar Pitcher. An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire (Leiden, Netherlands: E.J.Brill,1972.)
[edit] Eyalets established 1609–1683
- Crete (Girid [Girit]) (1669/70– )
- Morea (Mora) (1620–1687) and (1715–1829) (originally part of Aegean Archipelago Province)
- Podolia (Podolya) (1674–1699 only) (overseen be several serdars [chiefs] rather than a beylerbeyi)
- Sidon (Sayda) (1660– )
- Neuhäusl (Uyvar) (1663–1685)
- Oradea (Varad) (1661–1692)
[edit] Eyalets established 1683–1864
[edit] Lower-order administrative units
The provinces (eyalets) were divided into
sanjaks (also called
livas) governed by
sanjakbeys and were further subdivided into
timars (fiefs held by
timariots),
kadiluks (the area of responsibility of a judge, or
Kadı)
[1] and
zeamets (also
ziam; larger timars).
Some sanjaks, such as the
Mutasarrifate (Sanjak) of Jerusalem, were not part of a province. Sanjak governors also served as military commanders of all of the timariot and zeamet-holding
cavalrymen in their sanjak.
Some provinces such as Egypt, Baghdad, Abyssinia, and Al-Hasa (the
salyane provinces) were not subdivided into sanjaks and timars.
The area governed by an
Aga was often known as an
Agaluk.
[1]
[edit] Administrative reform, 1864-1885
As the Ottoman Empire began to decline, the administrative structure came under pressure.
In 1861, there existed an autonomous
Mount Lebanon with a Christian
mutasarrif, which had been created as a homeland for the
Maronite Christians under
European pressure.
In 1864, as part of the
Tanzimat reforms, an Ottoman law passed provided for a standard provincial administration throughout the empire with the eyalets becoming smaller units called
vilayet. These were governed by a
vâli or governor, still appointed by the
Porte but with new provincial assemblies participating in administration. The vilayets were subdivided into
sanjaks,
mutasarrifates and vassal states such as
Serbia,
Romania, and
Montenegro remained separate from the provincial system.
In 1885, the control of the Ottoman land in Asia Minor divided into 15
vilayets, one
sanjak and one mutersaflik of the vilayet of
Constantinople (both being on the Asiatic side of the
Bosporus). Every vilayet was further divided in a number of sanjaks. More specifically the political division of Asia Minor was as follows;
| region | map | vilayet | sanjaks | 1861 | 1885 | 1914 | 1918 |
| link | Bosnia Province | (Bosna) |  | |
|
|
|
| Crete Province | (Girit) | | |
|
|
|
| Cyprus Province | (Kıbrıs) (island with special status) (Kıbrıs Adası) | | |
|
|
|
| Danube Province | (Tuna) | | |
|
|
|
| Eastern Rumelia Province | autonomous | | |
|
|
| link | Edirne Province | (Edirne) (Also called Adrianople) | | | |
|
|
| Herzegovina Province | (Hersek) | | |
|
|
|
| Janina Province | (Yanya) | | |
|
|
|
| Kosovo Province | (Kosova) | | |
|
|
|
| Monastir Province | (Manastır) | | |
|
|
| link | Salonica Province | (Selanik) | | |
|
|
|
| Shkodër Province | (İşkodra) | | |
|
|
|
| Tripolitania Province | (Trablusu-Garb [Trablusgarp]) | | |
|
|
|
| Tunis Province | (Tunus) (autonomous eyalet, ruled by hereditary beys) (Tunus Eyaleti) | | |
|
|
| link | Aegean Archipelago Province | (Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefid [Akdeniz Adaları]) | | |
|
|
| link | Khedivate of Egypt | (Mısır) (autonomous khedivate, not a vilayet) (Mısır Hidivliği) | | |
|
|
|
| Hejaz Province | (Hicaz) | | | |
|
| Western |
| vilayet Dardanelles | (Independent) |
| | | |
| Western |
| Istanbul | sanjak of Uskudar |
| | | |
| Asia Minor |
| İzmit | (Independent mutersaflik) |
| | | |
| İzmir Vilayet | sanjaks of Manisa, İzmir, Aydın, Denizli, Mentese |
| | | |
| Bursa Vilayet | sanjaks of Balıkesir, Bursa, Erdogrul, Kütahya, Afyon |
| | | |
| link | Konya Vilayet | sanjaks of Burdur, Hamid abad, Atalya, Konya, Nigde |
| | | |
| link | Kastamonu Vilayet | sanjaks of Bolu, Çankırı, Kastamonu, Sinop |
| | | |
| link | Ankara Vilayet | sanjaks of Ankara, Kırşehir, Yozgat, Kayseri |
| | | |
| Adana Vilayet | sanjaks of Icel (Mersin), Adana, Kozan, Osmaniye |
| | | |
| Sivas Vilayet | sanjaks of Sivas, Tokat, Amasya, Şebinkarahisar |
| | | |
| Trabzon Vilayet | sanjaks of Samsun, Trabzon, Gümüşhane, Lazistan |
| | | |
| link | Erzurum Vilayet |
|
| | | |
| Bitlis Vilayet | sanjaks of Muş, Genç, Siirt |
| | | |
| link | Van Vilayet | sanjaks of Van, Hakkari |
| | | |
| link | Mamure-ul-Azil Vilayet | sanjak of Diyarbakır and the mutersaflik of Zor |
| | | |
| Ottoman Iraq | link | Mosul Province | (from 1879) sanjaks of Mosul, Sehrizor (Kirkuk), Suleymaniyeh | | | |
|
| Baghdad Province | (Bağdad [Bağdat]) | | | |
|
| Basra Province | (Basra) | | | |
|
| Ottoman Syria | link | Aleppo Province | (Haleb [Halep]) | | | |
|
| Deir ez-Zor Province | (Deyr-i Zor) | | | |
|
| Beirut Province | (Beyrut) | | | |
|
| Syria Province | (Şam) (Also called Damascus) | | | |
|
[edit] See also
[edit] References and further reading
- Colin Imber. The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power. (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.)
- Halil Inalcik. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600. Trans. Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1973.)
- Paul Robert Magocsi. Historical Atlas of Central Europe. (2nd ed.) Seattle, WA, USA: Univ. of Washington Press, 2002)
- Nouveau Larousse illustré, undated (early 20th century), passim (in French)
- Donald Edgar Pitcher. An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire. (Leiden, Netherlands: E.J.Brill,1972.) (Includes 36 color maps)
- Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German) (includes maps)
- Map of Europe in year 1500 with the subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
- WorldStatesmen Turkey; see also other present-day countries
- ^ a b Malcolm, Noel (1994). Bosnia: A Short History. Macmillan. pp. 50. ISBN 0330412442.
| [show] Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire |
|
Eyalet subdivisions
(1363–1864) | |  |
|
Vilayet subdivisions
(1864–1922) | |
|
| Vassals and autonomies | |
|
