Danube vilayet

Common card · No. 474214

The Vilayet of the Danube or Danubian Vilayet (Ottoman Turkish: ولايت طونه, romanized: Vilâyet-i Tuna; Bulgarian: Дунавска област, Dunavska(ta) oblast, more commonly Дунавски вилает, Danube Vilayet) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire from 1864 to 1878. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of 34,120 square miles (88,400 km2). The vilayet was created by merging the Eyalets of Niš, Vidin and Silistra (in its post-1826 borders, after losing all kazas south of the Balkan mountains that were spun off into the Edirne Vilayet). The Danube Vilayet was meant to become a model province, showcasing all the progress achieved by the Porte through the modernising Tanzimat reforms. Other vilayets modelled on the vilayet of the Danube were ultimately established throughout the empire by 1876, with the exception of the Arabian Peninsula and the by then semi-independent Egypt. Rusçuk, today Ruse in Bulgaria, was chosen as the capital of the vilayet due...

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