vilayets

Vilayets were the first-level administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire from the mid-19th century reforms until its dissolution. The term comes from the Arabic vilāya, meaning province or governance. The system arose during the Tanzimat era and was formalized by the Vilayet Law of 1864, reorganizing the older eyalets and sanjaks into more centralized, uniform provinces.

Each vilayet was governed by a vali (governor) appointed by the Porte, with a degree of local administration aligned to central policy. The vilayet was subdivided into sanjaks, each typically led by a sanjak-bey, though some frontier or sensitive areas were governed by mutasarrıfs with broader authority. Sanjaks were further divided into kazas and villages or nahiyes, forming a hierarchical structure for taxation, justice, and public works.

The reform aimed to strengthen centralized control, standardize administration, and facilitate revenue collection and modernization across culturally diverse territories. In practice, local elites and military authorities often retained influence, particularly in border regions or during periods of instability.

The vilayet system spanned the empire’s European, Asian, and African possessions and influenced governance in successor states after World War I. In the Turkish Republic, the term vilayet gradually gave way to iller (provinces) as the country adopted a new administrative nomenclature, though the historical concept remains relevant in studies of late Ottoman governance and in legal-historical contexts.