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Ottoman Syria#1872-1918

{{Short description|Region of Syria under Ottoman rule (1516–1918)}}

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{{Expand Arabic|topic=hist|date=September 2024}}

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox former subdivision

| common_name = Syria

| subdivision = Region

| nation = the Ottoman Empire

| government_type = Monarchy

| capital = Administered from Constantinople

| coordinates = {{Coord|34|N|37|E|display=inline,title}}

| year_start = 1516

| year_end = 1918

| event_start = Battle of Marj Dabiq

| event_end = Sinai and Palestine campaign

| event1 = First Egyptian–Ottoman War

| date_event1 = 1831–1833

| event2 = Second Egyptian–Ottoman War

| date_event2 = 1839–1841

| life_span = 1516–1918

| image_flag = Flag of the Ottoman Empire (1844–1922).svg

| flag_type = Flag of the Ottoman Empire

| flag = Flags of the Ottoman Empire

| image_map = Ottoman Syria.png

| image_map_caption = Ottoman territories which correspond with the Syrian provinces are shown in purple

| p1 = Mamluk Sultanate{{!}}Mamluk Sultanate

| flag_p1 = Mameluke Flag.svg

| s1 = Occupied Enemy Territory Administration{{!}}Occupied Enemy Territory Administration

| flag_s1 = France and United Kingdom flags.svg

}}

Ottoman Syria ({{langx|ar|سوريا العثمانية}}) is a historiographical term used to describe the group of divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of the Levant, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south of the Taurus Mountains.[https://books.google.com/books?id=pP315Mw3S9EC&pg=PA1015 The Middle East and North Africa: 2004, Routledge], page 1015: "Syria"

Ottoman Syria was organized by the Ottomans upon conquest from the Mamluk Sultanate in the early 16th century as a single eyalet (province) of the Damascus Eyalet. In 1534, the Aleppo Eyalet was split into a separate administration. The Tripoli Eyalet was formed out of Damascus province in 1579 and later the Adana Eyalet was split from Aleppo. In 1660, the Eyalet of Safed was established and shortly afterwards renamed the Sidon Eyalet; in 1667, the Mount Lebanon Emirate was given special autonomous status within the Sidon province, but was abolished in 1841 and reconfigured in 1861 as the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate. The Syrian eyalets were later transformed into the Syria Vilayet, the Aleppo Vilayet and the Beirut Vilayet, following the 1864 Tanzimat reforms. Finally, in 1872, the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem was split from the Syria Vilayet into an autonomous administration with a special status.

History

{{For timeline}}{{unreferenced section|date=September 2024}}

File:Illustration from Views in the Ottoman Dominions by Luigi Mayer, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 46.jpg, from Views in the Ottoman Dominions, in Europe, in Asia, and some of the Mediterranean islands (1810) illustrated by Luigi Mayer (1755–1803).]]

File:Illustration from Views in the Ottoman Dominions by Luigi Mayer, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 68.jpg, Ottoman Syria from an 1810 illustration by Luigi Mayer.]]

Before 1516, Syria was part of the Mamluk Empire centered in Lower Egypt.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mamluk-dynasty-Egypt-Syria The Ottoman Sultan Selim I conquered Syria in 1516https://www.romeartlover.it/Damasco4.html after defeating the Mamlukes at the Battle of Marj Dabiq near Aleppo in northern Syria. Selim carried on his victorious campaign against the Mamlukes and conquered Egypt in 1517 following the Battle of Ridanieh, bringing an end to the Mamluk Sultanate.

Administrative divisions

{{See also|Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire}}{{See also|Ottoman–Mamluk War (1485–1491)}}

When he first seized Syria in 1516, Selim I kept the administrative subdivisions of the Mamluk period unchanged. After he came back from Egypt in July 1517, he reorganized Syria into one large province or eyalet named Şam (Arabic/Turkish for "Syria"). The eyalet was subdivided into several districts or sanjaks.

=1549–1663=

In 1549, Syria was reorganized into two eyalets. The northern Sanjak of Aleppo became the center of the new Eyalet of Aleppo. At this time, the two Syrian Eyalets were subdivided as follows:

In 1579, the Eyalet of Tripoli was established under the name of Tripoli of Syria ({{langx|tr|Trablusşam}}; {{langx|ar|طرابلس الشام}}). At this time, the eyalets became as follows:

File:Illustration from Views in the Ottoman Dominions by Luigi Mayer, digitally enhanced by rawpixel-com 57.jpg in Ottoman Syria, from an 1810 illustration by Luigi Mayer.]]

The Eyalet of Aleppo included the Sanjaks of Aleppo, Adana, Marash, Aintab, and Urfa.

The Eyalet of Tripoli included the Sanjaks of Tripoli, Latakia, Hama and Homs.

The Eyalet of Damascus included the Sanjaks of Damascus, Beirut, Sidon (Sidon-Beirut), Acre, Safad, Nablus, Jerusalem, Gaza, Hauran and Ma'an.

In 1660, the Eyalet of Safad was established. It was later renamed the Eyalet of Sidon, and later, the Eyalet of Beirut.

=1831–1841=

Image:1851 Henry Warren Map of Syria.jpgs of Aleppo, Damascus, Tripoli, Acre and Gaza.]]

In 1833, the Syrian provinces were ceded to Muhammed Ali of Egypt in the Convention of Kutahya. The firman stated that

"The governments of Candia and Egypt are continued to Mahomet Ali. And in reference to his special claim, I have granted him the provinces of Damascus, Tripoli-in-Syria, Sidon, Saphet, Aleppo, the districts of Jerusalem and Nablous, with the conduct of pilgrims and the commandment of the Tcherde (the yearly offering to the tomb of the Prophet). His son, Ibrahim Pacha, has again the title of Sheikh and Harem of Mekka, and the district of Jedda; and farther, I have acquiesced in his request to have the district of Adana ruled by the Treasury of Taurus, with the title of Mohassil."The Syrian Question, 1841

In this period, the Sublime Porte's firmans (decrees) of 1839 and, more decisively, of 1856 – equalizing the status of Muslim and non-Muslim subjects – produced a dramatic alienation of Muslims from Christians. In the words of one writer, "The former resented the implied loss of superiority and recurrently assaulted and massacred Christian communities – in Aleppo in 1850, in Nablus in 1856, and in Damascus and Lebanon in 1860. Among the long-term consequences of these bitter internecine conflicts were the emergence of a Christian-dominated Lebanon in the 1920s – 40s and the deep fissure between Christian and Muslim Palestinian Arabs as they confronted the Zionist influx after World War I."{{Cite web|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/m/morris-victims.html|title=Righteous Victims|website=archive.nytimes.com}}

=1861=

Following the massacre of thousands of Christian civilians during the 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus, and under growing European pressure, mainly from France, an Ottoman edict issued in 1861 transformed the "Double Kaymakamate", the former regime based on religious rule that led to civil war, into the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, governed by a mutasarrıf who, according to law, had to be a non-Lebanese Christian.

=1864=

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 vali (governor) still appointed by the Sublime Porte but with new provincial assemblies participating in administration.

File:Ottoman Empire Administrative Divisions.png

=1872–1918=

In 1872 Jerusalem and the surrounding towns became the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem, gaining a special administrative status.

From 1872 until World War I subdivisions of Ottoman Syria were:

The sanjak Zor and the major part of the vilayet Aleppo may or may not be included in Ottoman Syria. The Geographical Dictionary of the World, published in 1906, describes Syria as:

"a country in the [south-west] part of Asia, forming part of the Turkish Empire. It extends eastward from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Euphrates and the Syrian Desert (the prolongation northward of the Arabian Desert), and southward from the Alma-Dagh (ancient Amanus), one of the ranges of the Taurus, to the frontiers of Egypt (Isthmus of Suez) It lies between the parallels of 31° and 37° [north latitude]. It comprises the vilayet of Syria (Suria), or of Damascus, the vilayet of Beirut, the [south-west] part of the vilayet of Aleppo, and the mutessarrifliks of Jerusalem and the Lebanon.

Palestine is included in [the country] Syria, comprising the mutessarriflik of Jerusalem and part of the vilayets of Beirut and Syria.

The designation Syria is sometimes used in wider sense so as to include the whole of the vilayet of Aleppo and the Zor Sanjak, a large part of Mesopotamia being thus added."[https://books.google.com/books?id=cVQDZFM1T2IC&pg=PA1796 Geographical Dictionary of the World in the early 20th Century]. Logos Press, New Delhi, 1906. {{ISBN|978-81-7268-012-1}}

About Syria in 1915, a British report says:

"The term Syria in those days was generally used to denote the whole of geographical and historic Syria, that is to say the whole of the country lying between the Taurus Mountains and the Sinai Peninsula, which was made up of part of the Vilayet of Aleppo, the Vilayet of Bairut, the Vilayet of Syria, the Sanjaq of the Lebanon, and the Sanjaq of Jerusalem. It included that part of the country which was afterwards detached from it to form the mandated territory of Palestine."[http://www.icsresources.org/content/primarysourcedocs/CommitteeReportOnMcMahonHussein.pdf Report of a Committee set up to consider certain correspondence between Sir Henry McMahon (his majesty's high commissioner in egypt) and the Sharif of Mecca in 1915 and 1916] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621130433/http://www.icsresources.org/content/primarysourcedocs/CommitteeReportOnMcMahonHussein.pdf |date=21 June 2015 }}, ANNEX A, para. 3. British Secretary of State for the Colonies, 16 maart 1939 (doc.nr. Cmd. 5974). [https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4C4F7515DC39195185256CF7006F878C unispal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151024004146/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4C4F7515DC39195185256CF7006F878C |date=24 October 2015 }}

File:Ottoman levant.png|"Independent" Sanjak of Jerusalem shown within Ottoman administrative divisions in the Eastern Mediterranean coast after the reorganisation of 1887–88

File:Ottoman Syria 1900.svg|Ottoman Syria until World War I. Present borders in grey.

Contemporary maps, showing Eyalets (pre-Tanzimat reforms)

{{Gallery

|title=Maps of Contemporary Ottoman Syria showing Eyalets (pre 1864 Vilayet Law)

|File:Ottoman Empire 1696 by Jaillot.jpg|1696 (Jaillot), showing Eyalets

|File:1701 Guillaume Delisle map of the Ottoman and Persian Empires.jpg|1707

|File:1730 Seutter Map of Turkey (Ottoman Empire), Persia and Arabia - Geographicus - MagniTurcarum-seutter-1740.jpg|1740 (Seutter), showing Eyalets

|File:Karte von Phoenicien und Damask.jpg|1787 map

|File:Cedid Atlas (Syria) 1803.jpg|1803, from Cedid Atlas

|File:Karte von Syrien. den Manen Jacotin's und Burckhardt's gewidmet. von H. Berghaus.jpg|1835 map by Heinrich Berghaus

|File:Sidney Hall 1830 map of Palestine showing Ottoman divisions.jpg|1830 map by Sidney Hall

|File:Heinrich Kiepert 1841 map of Palestine (combined).jpg|1841 Kiepert map of Palestine showing Ottoman subdivisions

|File:Syr.jpg|1842, showing "Pashalics"

|File:Martin, R.M.; Tallis, J. & F. Turkey in Asia. 1851.jpg|1851

}}

Contemporary maps, showing Vilayets (post-Tanzimat reforms)

{{Gallery

|title=Maps of Contemporary Ottoman Syria showing Vilayets (post-Tanzimat reforms)

|File:1855 Colton Map of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria - Geographicus - TurkeyIraq-colton-1855.jpg|1855, showing sanjaks

|File:Garnier, F. A., Turquie, Syrie, Liban, Caucase. 1862.jpg|1862

|File:1873 Stieler Map of Asia Minor, Syria and Israel - Palestine (modern Turkey) - Geographicus - Klein-AsienSyrien-stieler-1873.jpg|1873

|File:Ottoman Asia (partial, 1893).jpg|1893

|File:CUINET(1896) LA SYRIE.jpg|1896

|File:Rand, McNally & Co.'s new 14 x 21 map of Turkey in Asia, Asia Minor. Copyright 1895, by Rand, McNally & Co. (Chicago, 1897).jpg|1897

|File:Ottoman Middle East in 1900, Edward Stanford.jpg|1900 (Stanford), showing Vilayets

|File:Turkey in Asia, 1903.jpg|1909

|File:W. & A.K. Johnston. Asia Minor. 1911.jpg|1911

|File:Ottoman ethnographic map of the Levant 1915.jpg|1915 ethnographic map

|File:1918-21 Ottoman Kharīṭat Filasṭīn (فلسطين خريطة) Map of Palestine (the last known Ottoman map of Palestine).jpg|1918, the last official Ottoman map of Palestine

}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Sources

  • Bayyat, Fadil, The Ottoman State in the Arab Scope (in Arabic; 2007)
  • Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5LkWAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA648 Travels in Syria and the Holy Land], Appendix II: On the Political Divisions of Syria

External links

{{commons category|Ottoman Syria}}

  • [http://www.ottomanhistorypodcast.com/2011/09/state-and-society-in-ottoman-syria.html Ottoman History Podcast: History of Ottoman Syria]

{{Provinces of the Ottoman Empire}}

{{Syria topics}}

{{Israel topics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syria, Ottoman}}

Ottoman Syria