Eyalet

File:Guillaume Sanson, Estats de l'Empire du Grand Seigneur des Turcs en Europe, en Asie, et en Afrique (FL13729673 2516241).jpg

Provinces of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, Asia, and Africa in 1692, divided into beylerbeyliks, protectorates and tributary states. By Guillaume Sanson (1633–1703).

Eyalets (Template:Langx, {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Template:Lit), also known as beylerbeyliks<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> or pashaliks, were the primary administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire.

From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government was loosely structured.<ref name="rm39" /> The empire was at first divided into states called eyalets, presided over by a beylerbey (title equivalent to duke in Turkish and Amir al Umara in Arabic) of three tails (feathers borne on a state officer's ceremonial staff).<ref name="rm39" /> The grand vizier was responsible for nominating all the high officers of state, both in the capital and the states.<ref name="rm39" /> Between 1861 and 1866, these eyalets were abolished, and the territory was divided for administrative purposes into vilayets (provinces).<ref name="rm39">Template:Cite book</ref>

The eyalets were subdivided into districts called livas or sanjaks,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> each of which was under the charge of a pasha of one tail, with the title of mira-lira, or sanjak-bey.<ref name="pires" /> These provinces were usually called pashaliks by Europeans.<ref name="pires">The empires and cities of Asia (1873) by Forbes, A. Gruar. Page 188</ref> The pasha was invested with powers of absolute government within his province, being the chief of both the military and financial departments, as well as police and criminal justice.<ref name="pires" />

File:Cedid Atlas (Middle East) 1803.jpg

The 1803 Cedid Atlas, showing the Middle Eastern eyalets

At official functions, the order of precedence was Egypt, Baghdad, Abyssinia, Buda, Anatolia, "Mera'ish", and the Kapudan Pasha in Asia and Buda, Egypt, Abyssinia, Baghdad, and Rumelia in Europe, with the remainder arranged according to the chronological order of their conquest.<ref>Çelebi, Evliya. Trans. by von Hammer, Joseph. Narrative of travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the seventeenth century, Vol. 1, p. 90 ff. Parbury, Allen, & Co. (London), 1834.</ref>

Names

Template:Multiple imageThe term eyalet is sometimes translated province or governorate. Depending on the rank of the governor, they were also sometimes known as pashaliks (governed by a pasha), beylerbeyliks (governed by a bey or beylerbey), and kapudanliks (governed by a kapudan).

Pashaluk or Pashalik (Template:Langx) is the abstract word derived from pasha, denoting the quality, office or jurisdiction of a pasha or the territory administered by him. In European sources, the word "pashalic" generally referred to the eyalets.<ref name="pires"/>

The term 'eyalet' began to be applied to the largest administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire instead of beglerbegilik from the 1590s onward, and it continued to be used until 1867.<ref name="Somel2010">Template:Cite book</ref>

History

File:Ottoman Empire Detailed.png

Eyalets of the Ottoman Empire in 1593

Murad I instituted the great division of the sultanate into two beylerbeyiliks of Rumelia and Anatolia, in circa 1365.<ref name="Pitcher1972p125">Template:Cite book</ref> With the eastward expansion of Bayezid's realms in the 1390s, a third eyalet, Rûm Eyalet, came into existence, with Amasya its chief town. This became the seat of government of Bayezid's youngest son, Mehmed I, and was to remain a residence of princely governors until the 16th century.<ref name="Imber">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1395, Bayezid I executed the last Shishmanid Tsar of Bulgaria, and annexed his realm to Rumelia Eyalet. In 1461, Mehmed II expelled the last of the Isfendyarid dynasty from Sinop, awarding him lands thus taxation authority near Bursa in exchange for his hereditary territory. The Isfendyarid principality became a district of Anatolia Eyalet.<ref name="Imber" /> In 1468, Karaman Eyalet was established, following the annexation of the formerly independent principality of Karaman; Mehmed II appointed his son Mustafa as governor of the new eyalet, with his seat at Konya.<ref name="Imber" />

The 16th century saw the greatest increase in the number of eyalets, largely through the conquests of Selim I and Süleyman I, which created the need to incorporate the new territory into the structure of the Empire, and partly through the reorganisation of existing territory.<ref name="Imber" /> A list dated 1527 shows eight eyalets, with Egypt, Damascus, Diyarbekir and Kurdistan added to the original four. The last eyalet, however, did not survive as an administrative entity. Süleyman's conquests in eastern Turkey, Iraq and Hungary also resulted in the creation of new eyalets.<ref name="Imber" />

The former principality of Dulkadir became the Dulkadir Eyalet at some time after its annexation in 1522. After the Iranian campaign of 1533–6, the new eyalets of Erzurum, Van, Sharazor and Baghdad guarded the frontier with Iran.<ref name="Imber" /> In 1541 came the creation of Budin Eyalet from part of the old Kingdom of Hungary.<ref name="Imber" /> The Eyalet of the Archipelago was created by Süleyman I especially for Hayreddin Barbarossa in 1533, by detaching districts from the shores and islands of the Aegean which had previously been part of the eyalets of Rumelia and Anatolia, and uniting them as an independent eyalet.<ref name="Imber" />

In 1580, Bosnia, previously a district of Rumelia, became an eyalet in its own right, presumably in view of its strategically important position on the border with the Habsburgs. Similar considerations led to the creation of the Kanije Eyalet from the districts adjoining this border fortress, which had fallen to the Ottomans in 1600. In the same period, the annexation of the Rumelian districts on the lower Danube and the Black Sea coast, and their addition to territories between the Danube and the Dniepr along the Black Sea, created the Silistra Eyalet. At the same time, on the south-eastern shore of the Black Sea, Trebizond Eyalet came into being. The purpose of this reorganisation, and especially the creation of the eyalet of Özi was presumably to improve the defences of the Black Sea ports against the Cossacks.<ref name="Imber" />

File:Ottoman Empire (1609).png

Eyalets in 1609

By 1609, according to the list of Ayn Ali, there were 32 eyalets. Some of these, such as Tripoli, Cyprus or Tunis, were the spoils of conquest. Others, however, were the products of administrative division.<ref name=Imber />

In 1795, the government launched a major reorganization of the provincial administration, with a law decreeing that there would be 28 provinces, each to be governed by a vizer. These were Adana, Aleppo, Anatolia, Baghdad, Basra, Bosnia, Childir, Crete, Constantinople, Damascus, Diyarbekir, Egypt, Erzurum, Habesh, Karaman, Kars, Dulkadir, the Archipelago, Morea, Mosul, Rakka, Rumelia, Sayda, Sharazor, Silistra, Sivas, Trebizond, Tripoli, Van. In practice, however, central control remained weak, and beylerbeyis continued to rule some provinces, instead of vizers.<ref name="Hanioglu2010">Template:Cite book</ref>

Government

The beylerbeyliks where the timar system was not applied, such as Abyssinia, Algiers, Egypt, Baghdad, Basra and Lahsa, were more autonomous than the others. Instead of collecting provincial revenues through sipahis, the beylerbey transferred fixed annual sums to Constantinople, known as the salyane.<ref name="Somel2010"/>

By 1500, the four central eyalets of the Empire, Rumelia, Anatolia, Rum and Karaman, were under direct rule. Wallachia, Moldavia and the Khanate of the Crimea, territories which Mehmed II had brought under his suzerainty, remained in the control of native dynasties tributary to the Sultan. So, too, did the Kingdom of Hungary after the battle of Mohács in 1526.<ref name=Imber />

List

From the mid-14th century until the late 16th century, only one new beylerbeylik (Karaman) was established.

Disappeared before 1609

The eyalets that existed before 1609 but disappeared include the following:<ref name="Pitcher1972p128-29">Template:Cite book</ref>

Province Name	Ottoman Turkish Name and Transliteration (Modern Turkish)	Existed for
Abkhazia	Abhazya	? years (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	? years (1603–?)	either split from or coextensive with Samtskhe
Dagestan	Dağıstan	? years (1578–?)	also called Demirkapı – assigned a serdar [chief] rather than a beylerbeyi
Dmanisi	Tumanis	? years (1584–?)
Ganja	Gence	{{#EXPR:1604-1588}} years (1588–1604)
Gori	Gori	? years (1588–?)	probably replaced Tiflis after 1586
Győr	Yanık	0{{#EXPR:1598-1594}} years (1594–1598)
Ibrim	Ìbrīm	01 year (1584-1585)	temporary promotion of the sanjak of Ibrim<ref>V. L. Menage (1988): "The Ottomans and Nubia in the sixteenth century". Annales Islamologiques 24. pp.152-153.</ref>
Kakheti	Kaheti	? years (1578–?)	Kakhetian king was appointed hereditary bey
Lazistan	Lazistān	? years (1574–?)
Lorri	Lori	? years (1584–?)
Nakhichevan	Nahçivan	01 year (1603 only)	possibly never separate from Yerevan<ref name="Pitcher1972p128-29"/>
Poti	Faş	? years (1579–?)	may have also been another name for Trabzon
Sanaa	San'a	0{{#EXPR:1569-1567}} years (1567–1569)	temporary division of Yemen
Shemakha	Şamahı	01 year (1583 only)	may have also been another name for Shervan
Szigetvár	Zigetvar	0{{#EXPR:1600-1596}} years (1596–1600)	later transferred to Kanizsa
Shervan	Şirvan	{{#EXPR:1604-1578}} years (1578–1604)	overseen by a serdar [chief] rather than a beylerbeyi
Tabriz	Tebriz	{{#EXPR:1603-1585}} years (1585–1603)
Tiflis	Tiflis	0{{#EXPR:1586-1578}} years (1578–1586)	probably replaced by Gori after 1586
Wallachia	Eflak	2 months (September–October 1595)	the rest of the time Wallachia was a separate autonomous principality
Yerevan	Erivan	{{#EXPR:1604-1583}} years (1583–1604)	sometimes also included Van
Zabid	Zebit	0{{#EXPR:1569-1567}} years (1567–1569)	temporary division of Yemen

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)	Existed for
Habesh	Habeş	{{#EXPR:1867-1554}} years (1554–1867)	Included areas on both sides of the Red Sea. Also called "Mecca and Medina"
Adana	lang}} Ażana (Adana)	{{#EXPR:1865-1608}} years (1608–1865)
Archipelago	lang}} Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefid	{{#EXPR:1864-1535}} years (1535–1864)	Domain of the Kapudan Pasha (Lord Admiral); Also called Denizi or Denizli, later Vilayet of the Archipelago
Aleppo	lang}} Ḥaleb (Halep)	{{#EXPR:1864-1534}} years (1534–1864)
Algiers	lang}} Cezâyîr-i Ġarb (Cezayir Garp, Cezayir)	{{#EXPR:1830-1517}} years (1517–1830)
Anatolia	Anadolu	{{#EXPR:1841-1393}} years (1393–1841)	Second Eyalet
Baghdad	lang}} Baġdâd (Bağdat)	{{#EXPR:1861-1535}} years (1535–1861)	Until the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), Ottoman rule was not consolidated.
Basra	lang}} Baṣra (Basra)	{{#EXPR:1862-1538}} years (1538–1862)
Bosnia	Bosna	{{#EXPR:1864-1580}} years (1580–1864)
Budin	Budin	{{#EXPR:1686-1541}} years (1541–1686)
Kıbrıs	lang}} Ḳıbrıṣ (Kıbrıs)	0{{#EXPR:(1660-1571)+(1748-1745)}} years (1571–1660; 1745–1748)
Diyarbekir	lang}} Diyârbekir (Diyarbakır)	305 years (1541–1846)
Eger	lang}} Egir (Eğri)	0{{#EXPR:1661-1596}} years (1596–1661)
Egypt	lang}} Mıṣır (Mısır)	{{#EXPR:1867-1517}} years (1517–1867)
Erzurum	Erzurum	{{#EXPR:1867-1533}} years (1533–1867)	Until the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), Ottoman rule was not consolidated.
Al-Hasa	Lahsa	{{#EXPR:1670-1560}} years (1560–1670)	Seldom directly ruled
Kefe (Theodosia)	lang}} Kefe	{{#EXPR:1774-1568}} years (1568–1774)
Kanizsa	Kanije	0{{#EXPR:1686-1600}} years (1600–1686)
Karaman	Karaman	{{#EXPR:1864-1483}} years (1483–1864)
Kars	Kars	{{#EXPR:1875-1580}} years (1580–1875)	Until the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), Ottoman rule was not consolidated. Bounded to Erzurum Eyalet in 1875.
Dulkadir	Maraş, Dulkadır	{{#EXPR:1864-1522}} years (1522–1864)
Mosul	Musul	{{#EXPR:1864-1535}} years (1535–1864)	Until the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), Ottoman rule was not consolidated.
Ar-Raqqah	Rakka	{{#EXPR:1864-1586}} years (1586–1864)
Rumelia	Rumeli	{{#EXPR:1867-1365}} years (1365–1867)	First Eyalet
Childir	Çıldır	{{#EXPR:1845-1578}} years (1578–1845)	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.
Shahrizor	Şehrizor	{{#EXPR:1686-1554}} years (1554–1686)	Also Shahrizor, Sheherizul, or Kirkuk. In 1830, this eyalet bounded to Mosul province as Kirkuk sanjak.
Silistria	Silistre	{{#EXPR:1864-1593}} years (1593–1864)	Later sometimes called Ochakiv (Özi); First beylerbeyi was the Crimean khan
Sivas	Sivas	{{#EXPR:1864-1398}} years (1398–1864)
Syria	lang}} Şam	{{#EXPR:1865-1517}} years (1517–1865)
Temeşvar	Tımışvar (Temeşvar)	{{#EXPR:1716-1552}} years (1552–1716)
Trebizond, Lazistan	Trabzon	{{#EXPR:1864-1461}} years (1461–1864)
Tripoli (Tripoli-in-the-East)	lang}} Trablus-ı Şam (Trablusşam)	{{#EXPR:1864-1579}} years (1579–1864)
Tripolitania (Tripoli-in-the-West)	lang}} Trablus-ı Garb (Trablusgarp)	{{#EXPR:1864-1551}} years (1551–1864)
Tunis	Tunus	{{#EXPR:1864-1524}} years (1524–1864)
Van	lang}} Van	{{#EXPR:1864-1548}} years (1548–1864)	Until the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), Ottoman rule was not consolidated.
Yemen	lang}} Yemen	{{#EXPR:(1636-1517)+(1872-1849)}} years (1517–1636; 1849–1872)

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.)

Established 1609–1683

Province Name	Ottoman Turkish Name and Transliteration (Modern Turkish)	Existed for
Crete	Girid	{{#EXPR:1867-1669}} years (1669–1867)
Morea	Mora	{{#EXPR:(1687-1620)+(1829-1715)}} years (1620–1687) and (1715–1829)	originally part of Aegean Archipelago Province
Podolia	Podolya	{{#EXPR:1699-1672}} years (1672–1699)	overseen by several serdars (marshals) rather than by beylerbeyi (governors)
Sidon	Sayda	{{#EXPR:1841-1660}} years (1660–1841)
Uyvar	Uyvar	{{#EXPR:1685-1663}} years (1663–1685)
Varad	Varad	{{#EXPR:1692-1661}} years (1661–1692)

Established 1826–1864

Province Name	Ottoman Turkish Name and Transliteration (Modern Turkish)	Existed for
Adrianople	Edirne	{{#EXPR:1864-1826}} years (1826–1864)
Monastir	Manastır	{{#EXPR:1864-1826}} years (1826–1864)
Salonica	Selanik	{{#EXPR:1864-1826}} years (1826–1864)
Aidin	Aydın	{{#EXPR:1864-1826}} years (1826–1864)
Ankara	Ankara	{{#EXPR:1864-1827}} years (1827–1864)
Kastamonu	Kastamonu	{{#EXPR:1864-1827}} years (1827–1864)
Herzegovina	Hersek	{{#EXPR:1851-1833}} years (1833–1851)
Hüdavendigâr	Hüdavendigâr	{{#EXPR:1867-1841}} years (1841–1867)
Karasi	Karesi	0{{#EXPR:1847-1845}} years (1845–1847)
Niš	Niş	{{#EXPR:1864-1846}} years (1846–1864)
Kurdistan	Kurdistan	21 years (1846–1867)<ref name=":022">Template:Cite book</ref>
Vidin	Vidin	{{#EXPR:1864-1846}} years (1846–1864)

Maps

• Das osmannische Reich und dessen Schutz-Staaten, nach seiner grossten Ausdehnung im XVIIten Jahrhundert.jpg

  Eyalets in the 17th century

• 1855 Colton Map of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria - Geographicus - TurkeyIraq-colton-1855.jpg

  1855 map of Turkey in Asia by Joseph Hutchins Colton

• Europaeische Turkey und Griechenland. Zum Atlas v. J.M. Ziegler. Topogr. Anstalt v. Joh. Wurster u. Comp. in Winterthur. (1864).jpg

  Map of European Turkey by Carl Ritter, published in 1864

Modern usage of the term

Turkish Language Association defines the word eyalet as "an administrative division having some kind of administrative independence" and in modern Turkish, the word eyalet is used widely in the context of federalism, corresponding to the English word state. While the word eyalet is out of use in Turkish public administration, replaced long ago by ils under a unitary structure, top-level administrative subdivisions of numerous federal states are called "eyalet" in Turkish, such as the states of Australia, Austria, Brazil, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico and the United States, sometimes along with the provinces of Argentina, Canada and Pakistan, deferent to the modern definition of the word. Albeit China and Iran are legally unitary states, these countries' provinces may also occasionally be referred to as eyalet in Turkish.

See also

• Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire

Further reading

• Template:Imber-The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650
• 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)

External links

• Template:Cite book Contains a list of eyalets, or 'beglerbei'.
• Template:Cite book Includes a list of provinces or 'beierbei'.
• Template:Cite book With a list of 'beglerbegatus'.
• Template:Cite book With a list of 'beglerbeg' and 'sangiacks'.
• Template:Cite book With a list of 'beglerbeglics'.
• Template:Cite book Includes a list of beglerbegliks and sanjaks.
• Template:Cite book With a list of Eyalets and livas.
• Template:Cite book The appendix includes a list of 'government-generals', sanjaks, and their governors.