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A vilayet (, "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, 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 centralized more power with the sultan and local Muslims at the expense of other communities.
The early Turkey continued to use the term vilayet until it renamed them il in the late 1920s.
Each vilayet or province was governed by a vali appointed by the Ottoman 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. Ottoman army was entirely separate, although the vali controlled local police. His council comprised a secretary ( mektupçu), a defterdar ( 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.
==Maps==
Sanjaks
Each vilayet was divided into , , or county known as , 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
Each sanjak was divided into cantons or known as . 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
Each kaza was divided into or communes known as . 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 mukhtar ("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:
Vilayets and independent sanjaks in 1917
Vilayets and independent sanjaks in 1917: A handbook of Asia Minor Published 1919 by Naval staff, Intelligence dept. in London. Page 226
Vilayets
Independent Sanjaks
Vassals and autonomies
Vilayets in 1927
The early Turkish Republic had 63 vilayet in the 1927 Turkish census:
See also
Further reading
External links
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