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vilayet

{{Short description|First-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire}}

{{For|other administrative divisions in Muslim countries using variants of the word|wilayah}}

File:Législation ottomane ou Recueil des Aristarchi-Bey Grégoire Tome2.pdf ({{langx|fr|loi des vilayets}}; 1867), in Volume II of {{lang|fr|Legislation ottomane}}, published by Gregory Aristarchis and edited by Demetrius Nicolaides]]

A vilayet ({{langx|ota|{{linktext|ولایت|lang=ota}}}}, "province"), also known by various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867,{{cite book | title = Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches | series = Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients | volume = 13 | last = Birken | first = Andreas | language = de | publisher = Reichert | year = 1976 | isbn = 9783920153568 | page = 22}} part of the Tanzimat reform movement initiated by the Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856. The Danube Vilayet had been specially formed in 1864 as an experiment under the leading reformer Midhat Pasha. The Vilayet Law expanded its use, but it was not until 1884 that it was applied to all of the empire's provinces. Writing for the Encyclopaedia Britannica in 1911, Vincent Henry Penalver Caillard claimed that the reform had intended to provide the provinces with greater amounts of local self-government but in fact had the effect of centralizing more power with the sultan and local Muslims at the expense of other communities.

{{anchor|Etymology|Toponymy|Name}}

Names

The Ottoman Turkish vilayet ({{lang|ota|{{linktext|ولایت‎|lang=ota}}}}) was a loanword borrowed from Arabic wilāya ({{lang|ar|{{linktext|وِلَايَة|lang=ar}}}}), an abstract noun formed from the verb waliya ({{lang|ar|{{linktext|وَلِيَ|lang=ar}}}}, "to administer"). In Arabic, it had meant "province", "region", or "administration" as general ideas, but following the Tanzimat reforms the Ottoman term formalized it in reference to specific areas in a defined hierarchy.{{citation |url=http://www.icsresources.org/content/primarysourcedocs/CommitteeReportOnMcMahonHussein.pdf |title=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 |date=2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150621130433/http://www.icsresources.org/content/primarysourcedocs/CommitteeReportOnMcMahonHussein.pdf |archive-date=2015-06-21 }}, Annex A, §10. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151024004146/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/4C4F7515DC39195185256CF7006F878C 2nd Source]. It was borrowed into Albanian {{lang|sq|vilajet}}, Bulgarian vilaet ({{lang|bg|вилает}}),:File:Solun Newspaper 1869-03-28 in Bulgarian.jpg Judaeo-Spanish {{lang|lad|vilayet}}, and French {{lang|fr|vilaïet}} and {{lang|fr|vilayet}}, which was used as a lingua franca among the educated Jews and Christians. It was also translated into Armenian as gawaŕ ({{lang|hy|գաւառ}}), Bulgarian as oblast ({{lang|bg|област}}), Judaeo-Spanish as {{lang|lad|provinsiya}}, and Greek as eparchía ({{lang|el|επαρχία}}) and nomarchía ({{lang|el|νομαρχία}}).{{cite book |last=Strauss |first=Johann |url=https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/menalib/download/pdf/2734659?originalFilename=true |year=2010 |chapter=A Constitution for a Multilingual Empire: Translations of the Kanun-ı Esasi and Other Official Texts into Minority Languages |editor-last=Herzog |editor-first=Christoph |editor2=Malek Sharif |title=The First Ottoman Experiment in Democracy |publisher=Orient-Institut Istanbul |publication-place=Würzburg |pages=21–51 }} ([http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/urn/urn:nbn:de:gbv:3:5-91645 info page on book] at Martin Luther University) // CITED: p. 41-43 (PDF p. 43-45/338).

The early Republic of Turkey continued to use the term vilayet until it renamed them il in the late 1920s.{{when|date=September 2023}}

{{anchor|Administrative division}}

Organization

The Ottoman Empire had already begun to modernize its administration and regularize its eyalets in the 1840s,{{cite book |last= Birken |first= Andreas |title= Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches |pages= 19–20 |language= de |publisher= Reichert |series= Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients |volume= 13 |year= 1976 |isbn= 9783920153568}} but the Vilayet Law extended this throughout the empire, regularizing the following hierarchy of administrative units.{{cite book |last= Krikorian |first= Mesrob K. |title= Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire: 1860-1908 |page= 24 |publisher= Routledge |year= 2018 |isbn= 978-1351031288 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz9ZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT24 |access-date= 11 February 2022}}

Each vilayet or province was governed by a vali appointed by the sultan. Acting as the sultan's representative, he was notionally the supreme head of administration in his province,Birken (1976), p. 2324. subject to various caveats. Military administration was entirely separate, although the vali controlled local police. His council comprised a secretary (mektupçu), a comptroller (defterdar), a chief justice (müfettiş-i hükkâm-ı şeriyye), and directors of foreign affairs, public works, and agriculture and commerce, each nominated by the respective ministers in Istanbul. The defterdar in particular answered directly to the finance minister rather than the vali. A separate vilayet council was composed of four elected members, comprising two Muslims and two non-Muslims.

If the vali fell ill or was absent from the capital, he was variously replaced by the governor of the chief sanjak (merkez sancak) near the capital, the muavin, and the defterdar. A similar structure was replicated in the lower hierarchical levels, with executive and advisory councils drawn from the local administrators and—following long-established practice—the heads of the millets, the various local religious communities.

=Sanjaks=

{{main|Sanjak}}

Each vilayet was divided into arrondissements,{{EB1911|inline=1 |first=Vincent Henry Penalver |last=Caillard |wstitle=Turkey|volume=27|page=428}} subprovinces, or counties known as sanjaks, livas, or mutasarrifliks. Each sanjak or liva was administered by a sanjakbey or mutasarrif personally appointed by the sultan and a council (idare meclisi) composed of a secretary (tahrirat müdürü), comptroller (muhasebeci), deputy judge (naib), and representatives of the public works board (nafia) and the educational system (maarif).

=Kazas=

{{main|Kaza}}

Each sanjak was divided into cantons or districts known as kazas. Each kaza was under a kaymakam and a council composed of a secretary (tahrirat kâtibi), comptroller (mal müdürü), deputy judge, and representatives of the public works board.

=Nahiyes=

{{main|Nahiye}}

Each kaza was divided into parishes or communes known as nahiyes. Each nahiye was under a müdir appointed by the vali but answerable to the regional kaymakam. He was responsible for local tax collection, court sentences, and maintaining the peace.

=Kariyes=

Each nahiye was divided into wards and villages (kariye). Each kariye was under a muhtar ("headman") chosen by its inhabitants and confirmed by the regional kaymakam. He was assisted in his duties by a local "council of elders" (ihtiyar meclisi).

List

=Vilayets, sanjaks and autonomies, c. 1876=

Vilayets, sanjaks and autonomies, circa 1876:{{cite book|last=Abel Pavet de Courteille|author-link=Abel Pavet de Courteille|title=État présent de l'empire ottoman|year=1876|publisher=J. Dumaine|pages=91–96|url=https://archive.org/stream/tatprsentdelemp00courgoog#page/n104/mode/2up|language=fr}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

{{div col end}}

=Vilayets and independent sanjaks in 1917=

Vilayets and independent sanjaks in 1917:[https://archive.org/stream/handbookofasiami01greauoft#page/226 A handbook of Asia Minor] Published 1919 by Naval staff, Intelligence dept. in London. Page 226

Vilayets

|Independent Sanjaks

=Vassals and autonomies=

{{div col}}

  • Eastern Rumelia (Rumeli-i Şarkî): autonomous province (Vilayet in Turkish) (1878–1885); unified with Bulgaria in 1885
  • Sanjak of Benghazi (Bingazi Sancağı): autonomous sanjak. Formerly in the vilayet of Tripoli, but after 1875 dependent directly on the ministry of the interior at Constantinople.{{EB1911 |inline=1 |first=David George |last=Hogarth |wstitle=Bengazi |volume=3 |page=736}}
  • Sanjak of Biga (Biga Sancağı) (also called Kale-i Sultaniye) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
  • Sanjak of Çatalca (Çatalca Sancağı) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
  • Cyprus (Kıbrıs) (island with special status) (Kıbrıs Adası)
  • Khedivate of Egypt (Mısır) (autonomous khedivate, not a vilayet) (Mısır Hidivliği)
  • Sanjak of Izmit (İzmid Sancağı) (autonomous sanjak, not a vilayet)
  • Mutasarrifyya/Sanjak of Jerusalem (Kudüs-i Şerif Mutasarrıflığı): independent and directly linked to the Minister of the Interior in view of its importance to the three major monotheistic religions.[https://archive.org/stream/PalestineAModernHistory/PMH Palestine; A Modern History (1978)] by Adulwahab Al Kayyali. Page 1
  • Sharifate of Mecca (Mekke Şerifliği) (autonomous sharifate, not a vilayet)
  • Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (Cebel-i Lübnan Mutasarrıflığı): sanjak or mutessariflik, dependent directly on the Porte.{{EB1911|inline=1|first=Albert |last=Socin |first2=David George |last2=Hogarth |wstitle=Lebanon|volume=16|page=348}}
  • Principality of Samos (Sisam Beyliği) (island with special status)
  • Tunis Eyalet (Tunus Eyaleti) (autonomous eyalet, ruled by hereditary beys)

{{div col end}}

=Vilayets in 1927=

The early Turkish Republic had 63 vilayet in the 1927 Turkish census:

{{Div col|colwidth=15em|content=# Ankara vilayet

  1. Istanbul vilayet
  2. Artvin vilayet
  3. Edirne vilayet
  4. Ertuğrul (Bilecik) vilayet
  5. Erzurum vilayet
  6. Ordu vilayet
  7. Erzincan vilayet
  8. Izmir vilayet
  9. Eskişehir vilayet
  10. Adana vilayet
  11. Afyonkarahisar vilayet
  12. Aksaray vilayet
  13. Elaziz vilayet
  14. Amasya vilayet
  15. Antalya vilayet
  16. Urfa vilayet
  17. Aydın vilayet
  18. Içel vilayet
  19. Bayezid vilayet
  20. Bitlis vilayet
  21. Bursa vilayet
  22. Bozok vilayet
  23. Bolu vilayet
  24. Burdur vilayet
  25. Tekirdağ vilayet
  26. Tokat vilayet
  27. Canik vilayet
  28. Cebel-i Bereket vilayet
  29. Çankırı vilayet
  30. Çanakkale vilayet
  31. Çorum vilayet
  32. Hakkâri vilayet
  33. Hamîdâbâd vilayet
  34. Denizli vilayet
  35. Diyarbekir vilayet
  36. Rize vilayet
  37. Zonguldak vilayet
  38. Siirt vilayet
  39. Sinop vilayet
  40. Sivas vilayet
  41. Saruhan vilayet
  42. Trabzon vilayet
  43. Gazi Ayıntab (Gaziantep) vilayet
  44. Kars vilayet
  45. Kırklareli vilayet
  46. Karahisâr-ı Şarkî (Şebinkarahisar) vilayet
  47. Karesi (Balıkesir) vilayet
  48. Kastamonu vilayet
  49. Kırşehir vilayet
  50. Kayseri vilayet
  51. Kocaeli vilayet
  52. Konya vilayet
  53. Kütahya vilayet
  54. Gümüşhane vilayet
  55. Giresun vilayet
  56. Mardin vilayet
  57. Mersin vilayet
  58. Maraş vilayet
  59. Menteşe (Muğla) vilayet
  60. Malatya vilayet
  61. Niğde vilayet
  62. Van vilayet}}

Maps

File:Turkey in Europe and Greece.jpg|Vilayets of Europe in 1870

File:Gray's New Map of the Countries Surrounding the Black Sea Comprising European Turkey, Southern Russia, Asia Minor, Etc. (inset) The Bosphorus and Vicinity. Copyright, 1877, by O.W. Gray & Son.jpg|Vilayets in 1877

File:Turkey in Europe. (with) The Bosporus & Constantinople. (with) Crete or Candia. By Keith Johnston, F.R.S.E. Keith Johnston's General Atlas. Engraved, Printed, and Published by W. & A.K. Johnston, Edinburgh & London.jpg|Vilayets of Europe in 1893

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|Vilayets of Asia in 1897

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

File:Turkey in Europe and the Balkans, 1910.jpg|Vilayets of Europe in 1910

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

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{cite book|title=Sur la nouvelle division de l'Empire en gouvernements généraux formés sous le nom de Vilayets|author=Sublime Porte|author-link=Sublime Porte|place=Constantinople|date=1867}} - About the Law of the Vilayets

External links

{{Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Arabic words and phrases

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Category:Subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire

Category:Former types of subdivisions of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Category:Types of administrative division