Vilayet


A vilayet was a first-order administrative division, or province of the later Ottoman Empire, introduced with the promulgation of the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867. The reform was part of the ongoing administrative reforms that were being enacted throughout the empire, and enshrined in the Imperial Edict of 1856. The reform was at first implemented experimentally in the Danube Vilayet, specially formed in 1864 and headed by the leading reformist Midhat Pasha. The reform was gradually implemented, and not until 1884 was it applied to the entirety of the Empire's provinces.

Etymology

The term vilayet is derived from the Arabic word wilayah or wilaya. While in Arabic, the word wilaya is used to denote a province or region or district without any specific administrative connotation, the Ottomans used it to denote a specific administrative division.

Administrative division

The Ottoman Empire had already begun to modernize its administration and regularize its provinces in the 1840s, but the Vilayet Law extended this to the entire Ottoman territory, with a regularized hierarchy of administrative units: the vilayet, headed by a vali, was subdivided into sub-provinces under a mütesarrif, further into districts under a kaimakam, and into communes under a müdir.
The vali was the representative of the Sultan in the vilayet and hence the supreme head of the administration. He was assisted by secretaries in charge of finances, correspondence and archives, dealings with foreigners, public works, agriculture and commerce, nominated by the respective ministers. Along with the chief justice, these officials formed the vilayet's executive council. In addition, there was an elected provincial council of four members, two Muslims and two non-Muslims. The governor of the chief sanjak, where the vilayet's capital was located, deputized for the vali in the latter's absence. 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 various local religious communities.

Map

Vilayets of the Ottoman Empire circa 1900:

List

Vilayets, sanjaks and autonomies, c. 1876

Vilayets, sanjaks and autonomies, circa 1876:
Vilayets and independent sanjaks in 1917:

Vassals and autonomies

Maps