Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire

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. The beylerbey, or governor, of each province was appointed by the central government. Beylerbeyis had authority over all the sancakbeyis in a region.

It is considered extremely difficult to define the number and exact borders of Ottoman provinces and domains, as their borders were changed constantly. 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. 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.

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.

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 (, "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.

Initial organization (pre-1362)

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. 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. Toward the end of the 16th century, the beylerbeyliks began to be known as eyalets. 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. in 1864, as part of the administrative reforms of the Tanzimat period that were being enacted throughout the empire.

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. The 1864 law also specified the responsibilities of the governor (wali) of the vilayet and their councils. Midhat Pasha and Cevdet Pasha were particularly successful in applying the new law in the Vilayets of Danube and Aleppo, respectively.

Second-level divisions (sanjaks)

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) 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).

References

External links

Map of Europe in year 1500 with the subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire
WorldStatesmen Turkey; see also other present-day countries