Eyalet

thumb|400x400px|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 (, , ), also known as beylerbeyliks 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.

The eyalets were subdivided into districts called livas or sanjaks, each of which was under the charge of a pasha of one tail, with the title of mira-lira, or sanjak-bey. 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.

Names

The 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 () 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.

History

Murad I instituted the great division of the sultanate into two beylerbeyiliks of Rumelia and Anatolia, in circa 1365. 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.

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.

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.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

!width="20%"|Province Name

!width="20%"|Ottoman Turkish Name and Transliteration (Modern Turkish)

!width="15%"| Existed for

!width="45%"|

|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 || years (1588–1604) ||

| Gori || Gori || ? years (1588–?) || probably replaced Tiflis after 1586

|Győr || Yanık || 0 years (1594–1598) ||

|Ibrim || Ìbrīm || 01 year (1584-1585) || temporary promotion of the sanjak of Ibrim

|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

| Vidin || Vidin || years (1846–1864) ||

Maps

File:Das osmannische Reich und dessen Schutz-Staaten, nach seiner grossten Ausdehnung im XVIIten Jahrhundert.jpg|Eyalets in the 17th century

File:1855 Colton Map of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria - Geographicus - TurkeyIraq-colton-1855.jpg|1855 map of Turkey in Asia by Joseph Hutchins Colton

File: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

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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.

References

External links

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