Editing Ottoman Empire (section)

== Administrative divisions ==
{{Main|Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire}}
[[File:Ottoman Empire Administrative Divisions.png|thumb|Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1899 (year 1317 Hijri)]]

The Ottoman Empire was first subdivided into provinces, in the sense of fixed territorial units with governors appointed by the sultan, in the late 14th century.<ref name="Imber">{{Cite web |last=Imber |first=Colin |date=2002 |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power |url=http://www.fatih.edu.tr/~ayasar/HIST236/Colin%20_Imber.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726115700/http://www.fatih.edu.tr/~ayasar/HIST236/Colin%20_Imber.pdf |archive-date=26 July 2014 |pages=177–200}}</ref>

The [[eyalet]] (also ''pashalik'' or ''beylerbeylik'') was the territory of office of a [[beylerbey]] ("lord of lords" or governor), and was further subdivided into [[Sanjak]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Raymond Detrez |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htMUx8qlWCMC&pg=PA167 |title=Europe and the historical legacies in the Balkans |last2=Barbara Segaert |publisher=Peter Lang |date=2008 |isbn=978-90-5201-374-9 |page=167 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114151700/https://books.google.com/books?id=htMUx8qlWCMC&pg=PA167 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The [[vilayets]] were introduced with the promulgation of the "Vilayet Law" ({{Lang|tr|Teskil-i Vilayet Nizamnamesi}})<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Naim Kapucu |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWceNjwTggUC |title=Turkish Public Administration: From Tradition to the Modern Age |last2=Hamit Palabiyik |publisher=USAK Books |date=2008 |isbn=978-605-4030-01-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_DWceNjwTggUC/page/n153 164] |access-date=1 June 2013}}</ref> in 1864, as part of the Tanzimat reforms.<ref name="trt">{{Cite book |last=Maḥmūd Yazbak |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPseCvbPsKsC&pg=PA28 |title=Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period 1864–1914: A Muslim Town in Transition |publisher=BRILL |date=1998 |isbn=978-90-04-11051-9 |page=28 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114151700/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Haifa_in_the_Late_Ottoman_Period_1864_19/DPseCvbPsKsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA28&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref> Unlike the previous eyalet system, the 1864 law established a hierarchy of administrative units: the vilayet, [[liva (sanjak)|liva]]/[[sanjak]]/[[mutasarrifate]], [[kaza]] and [[Town council|village council]], to which the 1871 Vilayet Law added the [[nahiye]].<ref name="jpn">{{Cite book |last1=Mundy |first1=Martha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=thUKJ53-yyQC&pg=PA50 |title=Governing Property, Making the Modern State: Law, Administration and Production in Ottoman Syria |last2=Smith |first2=Richard Saumarez |publisher=I.B.Tauris |date=2007 |isbn=978-1-84511-291-2 |page=50 |access-date=20 June 2015 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114151700/https://books.google.com/books?id=thUKJ53-yyQC&pg=PA50 |url-status=live }}</ref>