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Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire |
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State organisation of the Ottoman Empire |
|---|---|
| House of Osman (Ottoman Dynasty) | |
| Grand Vizier (1320–1922) | |
| Dīvān (1586?–1908) | |
| Imperial Government (1908–1920) | |
| See also |
Subdivisions – Vassal & tributary states |
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.
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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.
From the mid-14th century until the late 16th century, only one new beylerbeylik (Karaman) was established.
The eyalets that existed before 1609 but disappeared and eyalets created after 1609.
Conquests of Selim I and Suleyman I in the 17th 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-1500s | Greece | Domain of the Kapudan Pasha (Lord Admiral); Also called Denizi, 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, Turkey | 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 1500s | Iraq | |
| Ar-Raqqah | Rakka | c. late 1500s | 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-1500s | 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 1500s | Turkey | |
| Syria | Şam | 1516-17 | Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestinian Authority, Jordan, part of present Turkey and part of present Iraq. | |
| Timişoara | Tımışvar | 1552 | Romania, Serbia, Hungary | Also called Temesvar Province |
| Trabzon,Lazistan | Trabzon | c. late 1500s | 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:
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (June 2008) |
The provinces were divided into sanjaks (also called livas) governed by sanjakbeys and were further subdivided into timars (fiefs held by timariots) and zeamets (also ziam; larger timars). Some, 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.
As the Ottoman Empire began to decline, the administrative structure came under pressure. After 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. As part of the Tanzimat reforms, an Ottoman law passed in 1864 provided for a standard provincial administration throughout the empire with the eyalets becoming smaller vilayets 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.
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After 1885, with the governing reforms of Tanzimat, 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 in 1915 was as follows;
Also the
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