Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire

{{Short description|none}} thumb|Vilayets and Sanjaks of the Ottoman Empire in 1875

The '''administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire''' were administrative divisions of the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire. Outside this system were various types of vassal and tributary states.

The Ottoman Empire was first subdivided into provinces, in the sense of fixed territorial units with governors appointed by the sultan, in the late 14th century.<ref name=Imber>{{cite web|last=Imber |first=Colin |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power |url=http://www.fatih.edu.tr/~ayasar/HIST236/Colin%20_Imber.pdf |year=2002 |pages=177–200 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726115700/http://www.fatih.edu.tr/~ayasar/HIST236/Colin%20_Imber.pdf |archive-date=July 26, 2014 }}</ref> The beylerbey, or governor, of each province was appointed by the central government.<ref name="grain" /> ''Sanjaks'' (banners) were governed by sanjak-beys, selected from the high military ranks by the central government.<ref name="grain"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=E. Streusand |first=Douglas |title=Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals |publisher=Westview Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8133-1359-7 |location=Central Avenue, Boulder, CO |pages=98 |chapter=3: The Ottoman Empire}}</ref> Beylerbeyis had authority over all the sancakbeyis in a region.<ref name="grain"/> Kaza was a subdivision of sancak and referred to the basic administrative district, governed by a kadi.<ref name="grain">{{cite web |url-status=dead |url=http://www.econ.yale.edu/seminars/echist/eh10/agir-101108.pdf |title=Sacred Obligations, Precious Interests: Ottoman Grain Administration in Comparative Perspective |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325110249/http://www.econ.yale.edu/seminars/echist/eh10/agir-101108.pdf |archive-date=March 25, 2012 |page=12 |first1=Seven |last1=Ağır |date=November 2010 |website=Department of Economics - Yale University }}</ref>

It is considered extremely difficult to define the number and exact borders of Ottoman provinces and domains, as their borders were changed constantly.<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter F. Sugar|title=Southeastern Europe Under Ottoman Rule: 1354 - 1804|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOln4TGdDHYC&pg=PA41|access-date=2013-06-01|year=1977|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-80363-0|page=41}}</ref> Until the Tanzimat period from 1839 to 1876, the borders of administrative units fluctuated, reflecting the changing strategies of the Ottomans, the emergence of new threats in the region, and the rise of powerful ayans.<ref name="otm-enc">{{cite book|author1=Gábor Ágoston|author2=Bruce Alan Masters|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA100|access-date=2013-06-01|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-1025-7|page=100}}</ref> All the subdivisions were very unequal in regard of area and population, and the presence of numerous nomadic tribes contributed to the extreme variability of the population figures.<ref name="bo-1815">[https://archive.org/stream/systemofuniversa02balbiala#page/646/mode/1up System of universal geography founded on the works of Malte-Brun and Balbi]</ref>

==Types== ===Main administrative units=== {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Division ! Level ! Head ! Notes |- | beylerbeylik, eyalet (province) | 1st | beylerbey, vali | The beylerbeylik was renamed eyalet in 1590 and was replaced by vilayet with the Vilayet Law (1864–1867). |- | vilayet (province) | 1st | vali | Term derived from Arabic wilāyah, established with the Vilayet Law (1864–1867), replaced the eyalets. |- | sanjak, liwa, mutasarrifate (region, provincial subdivision, county, banner) | 2nd | sanjakbey, vizier, mutesarrif | Traditional subdivision of beylerbeylik/eyalet/vilayet, but in war-time and the last decades there were independent sanjaks. |- | kaza (district) | 3rd | kadi (until 1839), kaymakam | Traditional subdivision of ''sanjak''. Originally equivalent to judicial district known as kadiluk. |- | nahiye (subdistrict, commune) | 4th | mütesellim (until 1842) | Term derived from Arabic nāḥiyah. Traditional subdivision of ''kaza''. |}

Provinces (eyalets or sanjaks) under the administration of a pasha were also called "pashaliks". The judicial area of responsibility of the ''kadi'' were known as ''kadiluk''.<ref name="bosnia">{{cite book|last=Malcolm|first=Noel|title=Bosnia: A Short History|year=1994|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=0-330-41244-2|pages=50}}</ref>

===Land tenure=== Feudal land tenure lands (or fiefs) in the Timar-system were known as ''timar'', ''ziamet'', ''hass''. Based on status of the land holder, the fiefs were also known as ''sipahilık'' ("of the sipahi"), ''agaluk'' ({{lang|tr|ağalık}}, "of the agha"), etc.

The ''yurtluk'' was a military district, known as ''ocaklik'' when becoming family property (hereditary), that the Ottoman Empire assigned to Kurdish beys.<ref>{{cite book|last=Koç|first=Gülseren Duman|title=Governing the Frontiers in the Ottoman Empire: Notables, Tribes and Peasants of Muş (1820s-1880s)|publisher=BRILL|date=2023-11-20|isbn=978-90-04-68304-4|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Governing_the_Frontiers_in_the_Ottoman_E/6NP7EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&pg=PA34|pp=34-}}</ref>

==Initial organization (pre-1362)== {{State organisation of Ottoman Empire}} The initial organization dates back to the Ottoman beginnings as a Seljuk vassal state (''Uç Beyligi'') 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 ''sanjakbeys'', 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 ''beylerbey'' ("bey of beys") or governor-general was appointed to oversee Rumelia, the European part of the empire. At the end of the 14th century, a ''beylerbeylik'' was also established for Anatolia, with his capital at Kütahya.<ref name="otm-hist1">{{cite book|author=Stanford J. Shaw|title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Volume 1, Empire of the Gazis: The Rise and Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1280-1808|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xd422lS6ezgC&pg=PA121|access-date=1 June 2013|date=29 October 1976|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29163-7|page=121}}</ref> He was always considered inferior in rank to the ''beylerbey'' of Rumelia, since large areas nominally under his control were given to the ruler's sons.<ref name="otm-hist1"/>

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 ''beylerbey''. In addition to their duties as governors-general, ''beylerbeys'' were the commanders of all troops in their province.

Following the conquests between 1362 and 1400 of Murad I and his son Bayezid I, a need arose for the formal organisation of Ottoman territory.

==Administrative hierarchy== ===First-level divisions=== 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.

====Eyalets (1362–1864)==== {{main|Eyalet}} thumb|Eyalets in 1609 thumb|Eyalets in 1795 An ''eyalet'' (also ''pashalik'' or ''beylerbeylik'') was the territory of office of a ''beylerbey'', and was further subdivided in ''sanjaks''.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Raymond Detrez|author2=Barbara Segaert|title=Europe and the historical legacies in the Balkans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htMUx8qlWCMC&pg=PA167|access-date=2013-06-01|date=2008-01-01|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-90-5201-374-9|page=167}}</ref> Toward the end of the 16th century, the ''beylerbeyliks'' began to be known as ''eyalets''.<ref name="Somel2010">{{cite book|author=Selcuk Aksin Somel|title=The A to Z of the Ottoman Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UU8iCY0OZmcC&pg=PA41|access-date=2013-06-02|date=2010-03-23|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-1-4617-3176-4|page=41}}</ref> The ''beylerbeyliks'' where the ''timar'' system was not applied, such as Habesh, Algers, Egypt, Baghdad, Basra and Lahsa, were more autonomous than the others. Instead of collecting provincial revenues through the timariot ''sipahis'', the ''beylerbey'' transferred fixed annual sums to Istanbul, known as the ''salyane''.<ref name="Somel2010"/>

====Vilayets (1864–1922)==== {{Main|Vilayet}} thumb|Vilayets in 1905 thumb|Table of Ottoman Administrative Divisions in 1905 (table published in 1908)

The Vilayets were introduced with the promulgation of the "Vilayet Law" ({{langx|tr|Teskil-i Vilayet Nizamnamesi}})<ref>{{cite book|author1=Naim Kapucu|author2=Hamit Palabiyik|title=Turkish Public Administration: From Tradition to the Modern Age|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWceNjwTggUC|access-date=2013-06-01|year=2008|publisher=USAK Books|isbn=978-605-4030-01-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWceNjwTggUC/page/n153 164]}}</ref> in 1864, as part of the administrative reforms of the Tanzimat period that were being enacted throughout the empire.<ref name="trt">{{cite book|author=Ma?mud Yazbak|title=Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period 1864-1914: A Muslim Town in Transition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPseCvbPsKsC&pg=PA28|access-date=2013-06-01|year=1998|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-11051-9|page=28}}</ref><ref name="Masters2013">[https://books.google.com/books?id=4x09OvMBMmgC&pg=PA177 ''The Arabs of the Ottoman Empire, 1516-1918: A Social and Cultural History''], p. 177. Bruce Masters, Cambridge University Press, 2013. {{ISBN|9781107033634}}</ref>

Unlike the previous eyalet system, the 1864 law established a hierarchy of administrative units: the vilayet, liva/sanjak (cf. Liwa (Arabic)), kaza and village council, to which the 1871 Vilayet Law added the nahiye.<ref name="jpn">{{cite book|author1=Martha Mundy|author2=Richard Saumarez Smith|title=Governing Property, Making the Modern State: Law, Administration and Production in Ottoman Syria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thUKJ53-yyQC&pg=PA50|access-date=2013-06-01|date=2007-03-15|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-291-2|page=50}}</ref> The 1864 law also specified the responsibilities of the governor (wali) of the vilayet and their councils.<ref name="jpn"/> At the same time, the law left to the governors vast scope for independent action as well as responsibility, as part of a system intended to achieve a large degree of efficiency in ruling the provinces.<ref name="trt"/>

The new provincial system could not be introduced in provinces at the same time, due to both insufficient funds and a lack of experience in administering the new law. Therefore, the new Danube Vilayet, composed of the former eyalets of Silistria, Vidin, and Nis, was selected to be the pilot project.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p90">{{cite book|author1=Stanford Jay Shaw|author2=Ezel Kural Shaw|title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIET_7ji7YAC&pg=PA90|access-date=2013-06-04|volume=2|year=1977|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29166-8|page=90}}</ref> Midhat Pasha and Cevdet Pasha were particularly successful in applying the new law in the Vilayets of Danube and Aleppo, respectively.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p90"/>

By 1865 the four vilayets of Danube, Aleppo, Erzurum and Bosnia were fully organized and in operation. Damascus, Tripolitania, and Edirne followed the next year.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p90"/> In 1867, 13 new vilayets were organized, including Bursa, Izmir, Trabzon, Salonica, Prizren, and Iskodra, with an autonomous Crete being organized as a vilayet by Ali Pasha in 1871.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p90"/> By the end of 1876 the new provincial system was in operation all over the empire, with the sole exception of the Arabian Peninsula and autonomous provinces like Egypt.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p90"/>

Mahmud Nedim Pasha reduced the size of some of the larger provinces, thus taking Sofia from the Danube Vilayet, Sebinkarahisar from Trabzon, and Maras from Adana and making them into separate provinces, and also taking Herzegovina from Bosnia and joining it with Novipazar in a new province.<ref name="ShawShaw1977p154">{{cite book|author1=Stanford Jay Shaw|author2=Ezel Kural Shaw|title=History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIET_7ji7YAC&pg=PA154|access-date=2013-06-04|year=1977|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-29166-8|page=154}}</ref>

===Second-level divisions (sanjaks)=== {{main|Sanjak}} The provinces (eyalets, later vilayets) were divided into sanjaks (also called ''livas'') governed by sanjakbeys (also called ''Mutesarrifs'') and were further subdivided into ''timars'' (fiefs held by ''timariots''), kadiluks (the area of responsibility of a judge, or Kadi)<ref name="bosnia"/> and {{lang|tr|zeamets}} (also {{lang|tr|ziam}}; larger timars).

===Third-level divisions=== {{main|Kaza}} Sanjaks were divided into kazas, along with other divisions. The position of kazas in the administrative hierarchy was clarified after 1839.

==Governors==

===Beylerbey=== {{main|Beylerbey}} thumb|A detailed map showing the Ottoman Empire and its dependencies, including its administrative divisions (vilayets, sanjaks, kazas), in 1899. The Turkish word for governor-general is Beylerbey, meaning 'lord of lords'. In times of war, they would assemble under his standard and fight as a unit in the sultan's army. However, as a territorial governor, the Beylerbey now had wider responsibilities. He played the major role in allocating fiefs in his eyalet, and had a responsibility for maintaining order and dispensing justice. His household, like the sultan's in the capital, was the political centre of the eyalet.<ref name=Imber /> By the mid-16th century, apart from the principalities north of the Danube, all eyalets came under the direct rule of the sultan. The Beylerbeys were all his appointees, and he could remove or transfer them at will. Their term of office was limited: governorships were not hereditary, and no one could serve for life.<ref name=Imber />

The office of Beylerbey was the most prestigious and the most profitable in the provincial government, and it was from among the Beylerbeys that the sultan almost always chose his viziers. There was also, it appears, a hierarchy among the governors themselves. The senior was the Beylerbey of Rumelia who, from 1536, had the right to sit on the Imperial Council. Precedence among the remainder, according to Ayn Ali in 1609, followed the order in which the eyalets were conquered, although he does not make it clear whether this ranking had anything other than a ceremonial significance. However, before 1650, there was another development. During this period, the practice began of appointing some Beylerbeys with the rank of vizier. A vizieral governor, according to the chancellor Abdurrahman Pasha in 1676, had command over the governors of adjoining eyalets who 'should have recourse to him and obey his command'. Furthermore, 'when Beylerbeys with Vizierates are dismissed from their eyalet, they listen to lawsuits and continue to exercise Vizieral command until they reach Istanbul'.<ref name=Imber />

===Sanjak-bey=== {{main|Sanjak-bey}} thumb|right|400px|Major R Huber's 1899 map of the Ottoman Empire, showing detailed subdivisions (vilayets, sanjaks and kazas) The office of Sanjak-bey resembled that of Beylerbey on a more modest scale. Like the Beylerbey, the Sanjak-bey drew his income from a prebend, which consisted usually of revenues from the towns, quays and ports within the boundary of his sanjak.<ref name=Imber />

Like the Beylerbey, the Sanjak-bey was also a military commander. The term sanjak means 'flag' or 'standard' and, in times of war, the cavalrymen holding fiefs in his sanjak, gathered under his banner. The troops of each sanjak, under the command of their governor, would then assemble as an army and fight under the banner of the Beylerbey of the eyalet. In this way, the structure of command on the battlefield resembled the hierarchy of provincial government. Within his own sanjak, a governor was responsible above all for maintaining order and, with the cooperation of the fief holders, arresting and punishing wrongdoers. For this, he usually received half of the fines imposed on miscreants, with the fief holder on whose lands the misdeed took place, receiving the other half. Sanjak governors also had other duties, for example, the pursuit of bandits, the investigation of heretics, the provision of supplies for the army, or the despatch of materials for shipbuilding, as the sultan commanded.<ref name=Imber />

Sanjak governors also served as military commanders of all of the timariot and {{lang|tr|italic=no|zeamet}}-holding cavalrymen in their sanjak.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} 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.<ref name="bosnia"/> The term Arpalik ({{langx|tr|Arpalik}}), or Arpaluk, refers to large estate (i.e. sanjak) entrusted to some holder of senior position, or to some margrave, as temporary arrangement before they were appointed to some appropriate position.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ze'evi |first=Dror |title= An Ottoman century : the district of Jerusalem in the 1600s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhx_v8m6uPoC&q=arpalik&pg=PA121 |access-date= 29 December 2011 |year= 1996 |publisher=State University of New York Press |location=Albany |isbn=978-0-585-04345-6 |oclc= 42854785 |page=121}}</ref> The barleycorn was known as ''arpa'' in Turkish, and the feudal system in Ottoman Empire employed the term Arpalik, or "barley-money", to refer to a second allowance made to officials to offset the costs of fodder for their horses (for covering the expenses of keeping a small unit of cavalry).<ref>{{cite book|last=Houtsma M Th|author2=Arnold TW|author3=Wensinck AJ|title=E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936|publisher=Brill|year=1993|page=460|isbn=90-04-09796-1}}</ref>

==See also== * Administrative divisions of Turkey * Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |first=Colin |last=Imber |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002}} * {{cite book |first=Halil |last=Inalcik |title=The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 |translator-first1=Norman |translator-last1=Itzkowitz |translator-first2=Colin |translator-last2=Imber |location=London |publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson |year=1973}} * {{cite book |first=Paul Robert |last=Magocsi |title=Historical Atlas of Central Europe |edition=2nd |location=Seattle, WA |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2002}} * {{cite book |title=Nouveau Larousse illustré |language=fr}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2024}} undated (early 20th century), passim (in French) * {{cite book |first=Donald Edgar |last=Pitcher |title=An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire |location=Leiden |publisher=E. J. Brill |year=1972}} * {{cite book |title=Westermann Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte |language=de}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2024}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} * [http://www.euratlas.net/history/europe/1500/1500_Southeast.html Map of Europe in year 1500 with the subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire] * [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Turkey.html WorldStatesmen Turkey; see also other present-day countries]

{{Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire}} {{Organisation of the Ottoman Empire}} {{History of Ottoman}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire}} Category:Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire Category:Geography of the Ottoman Empire Category:Government of the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Ottoman Ottoman