Eyalet

Common card · No. 228577

The eyalet (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت, pronounced [ejaːˈlet], lit. 'province'), also known as beylerbeylik or pashalik, was the primary administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. From 1453 to the beginning of the nineteenth century the Ottoman local government was loosely structured. The empire was at first divided into states called eyalets, presided over by a beylerbey (title equivalent to duke in English and Amir al Umara in Arabic) of three tails (feathers borne on a state officer's ceremonial staff). The grand vizier was responsible for nominating all the high officers of state, both in the capital and the states. Between 1861 and 1866, these eyalets were abolished, and the territory was divided for administrative purposes into vilayets (provinces). 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. These provinces were usually called pashaliks by Europeans. The...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Guillaume Sanson, Public domain