Eyalets (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, pronounced[ejaːˈlet], lit.'state'), also known as beylerbeyliks[1] 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.[2] The empire was at first divided into states called eyalets, presided over by a beylerbey (title equivalent to duke in Turkish) of three tails (feathers borne on a state officer's ceremonial staff).[2] The grand vizier was responsible for nominating all the high officers of State, both in the capital and the states.[2] Between 1861 and 1866, these eyalets were abolished, and the territory was divided for administrative purposes into vilayets (provinces).[2]
The eyalets were subdivided into districts called livas or sanjaks,[3] each of which was under the charge of a pasha of one tail, with the title of mira-lira, or sanjak-bey.[4] These provinces were usually called pashaliks by Europeans.[4] 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.[4]
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.[5]
^Özbaran, Salih; Lyma, Dom Manuell de (1972). "The Ottoman Turks and the Portuguese in the Persian Gulf, 1534 - 1581". Journal of Asian History. 6 (1): 52, 55. ISSN 0021-910X. JSTOR 41929749.
^ abcdA handbook of Asia Minor. Naval Staff. Intelligence Department. 1919. p. 203.
^Raymond Detrez; Barbara Segaert (2008-01-01). Europe and the historical legacies in the Balkans. Peter Lang. p. 167. ISBN 978-90-5201-374-9. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
^ abcThe empires and cities of Asia (1873) by Forbes, A. Gruar. Page 188
^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.
Eyalets (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, pronounced [ejaːˈlet], lit. 'state'), also known as beylerbeyliks or pashaliks, were the primary administrative divisions...
The Eyalet of Rumeli, or Eyalet of Rumelia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت روم ایلی, Eyālet-i Rūm-ėli), known as the Beylerbeylik of Rumeli until 1591, was a...
as a single eyalet (province) of Damascus Eyalet. In 1534, the Aleppo Eyalet was split into a separate administration. The Tripoli Eyalet was formed out...
The Eyalet of Bosnia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت بوسنه ,Eyālet-i Bōsnâ; Turkish: Bosna Eyaleti; Serbo-Croatian: Bosanski pašaluk), was an eyalet (administrative...
Damascus Eyalet (Arabic: إيالة دمشق; Ottoman Turkish: ایالت شام, romanized: Eyālet-i Šām) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the...
The Eyalet of Herzegovina (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت هرسك; Eyālet-i Hersek, Serbo-Croatian: Hercegovački pašaluk) was an administrative division (eyalet) of...
The Eyalet of Cyprus (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت قبرص, Eyālet-i Ḳıbrıṣ) was an eyalet (province) of the Ottoman Empire made up of the island of Cyprus, which...
Habesh Eyalet (Arabic: إيالة الحبشة; Ottoman Turkish: ایالت حبش, romanized: Eyālet-i Ḥabeş) was an Ottoman eyalet. It was also known as the Eyalet of Jeddah...
Karaman Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت قرهمان, romanized: Eyālet-i Ḳaraman) was one of the subdivisions of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the...
The Ioannina Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت یانیه Eyālet-i Yānyâ) was an administrative territorial entity of the Ottoman Empire located in the territory...
The Eyalet of Ankara or Angora, also known as the Eyalet of Bosok or Bozok (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت آنقره; Eyālet-i Ānḳara) was an eyalet of the Ottoman...
Eyalet of Silistra or Silistria (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت سیلیستره; Eyālet-i Silistre), later known as Özü Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت اوزی; Eyālet-i...
The Eyalet of the Morea (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت موره, romanized: Eyālet-i Mōrâ) was a first-level province (eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire, centred on the...
Trebizond Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت طربزون, romanized: Eyālet-i Ṭrabzōn) or Trabzon Beylerbeyliği was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Established...
Baghdad Eyalet (Arabic: إِيَالَةُ بَغْدَاد, Ottoman Turkish: ایالت بغداد, romanized: Eyālet-i Baġdād) was an Iraqi eyalet of the Ottoman Empire centered...
needed] It was one of the first Ottoman provinces to be reclassified from an eyalet to a vilayet after an administrative reform in 1865, and by 1867 it had...
The eyalet of Aidin, also known as eyalet of Smyrna or Izmir (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت آیدین; Eyālet-i Aydın) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. After...
The Eyalet of Anatolia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت آناطولی, romanized: Eyālet-i Anaṭolı) was one of the two core provinces (Rumelia being the other) in the...
The Eyalet of Childir (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت چلدر, romanized: Eyālet-i Çıldır) or Akhalzik was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire in the Southwestern Caucasus...
Kurdistan Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت کردستان, romanized: Eyâlet-ı Kurdistan) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. It was the first time that the Ottoman...
Kastamonu Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت قسطمونی, romanized: Eyālet-i Qasṭamōnī) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjaks of the Eyalet in the mid-19th...
The Eyalet of the Islands of the White Sea (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت جزایر بحر سفید, Eyālet-i Cezāyir-i Baḥr-i Sefīd, "Eyalet of the Islands of the White...
Mosul Eyalet (Arabic: إيالة الموصل; Ottoman Turkish: ایالت موصل, romanized: Eyālet-i Mūṣul) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in...
The Eyalet of Sidon (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت صیدا, romanized: Eyālet-i Ṣaydā; Arabic: إيالة صيدا) was an eyalet (also known as a beylerbeylik) of the Ottoman...
The Eyalet of Adrianople or Edirne or Çirmen (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت ادرنه; Eyālet-i Edirne) was constituted from parts of the eyalets of Silistra and...
Empire formed in 1660. Varat Eyalet bordered Ottoman Budin Eyalet in the west, Temeşvar Eyalet in the southwest, Egir Eyalet in the northwest, vassal Ottoman...
Tripoli Eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت طرابلس شام, romanized: Eyālet-i Ṭrāblus-ı Şām; Arabic: طرابلس الشام) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. The capital...