Provinces of the Ottoman Empire

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At the height of it's power, in 1831 the Ottoman Empire had 29 provinces. These were known as beylerbeyliks eyalets or vilayets. As time progressed these numbers would fluctuate with the number varying from thirty-six to only a somewhat over twenty, until many of the provinces were lost after WWI.

The vialyets were divided into smaller divisions known as a sanjak. The would be a variable number of sanjaks per vilayet. The Sanjaks were themselves divided into a number of kaza.

Some sanjaks, such as the Sanjak of Jerusalem were not part of a vilayet. Afte 1861 there also existed the autonomous Province of Lebanon, which had been creted as a homeland for the Maronite Christians under European pressure.

1831 Arrangement

As well as the provinces there were three tributary principalities and Transsylvania, a kingdom sworn allegiance to the Porte.

Rumili (Rumelia)
Anadolu (Anatolia)
Rüm
Karaman
Egypt (Egypt)
Syria (Syria)
Diyarbekir
Kurdistan (Kurdistan)
Dulgadir
The Aegean Islands (Aegean Sea)

Erzerum
Van
Shehrizor
Baghdad (Baghdad)
Buda (Buda)
Bosnia (Bosnia)
Kanizsa
Özi (Ochakov)
Trebizond (Trabzon)
Tripoli (Tripoli)
Cyprus (Cyprus)
Tunis (Tunis)

Morea (Morea)
Algiers (Algiers)
Al-Hasa
Aleppo (Aleppo)
Mosul (Mosul)
Basra (Basra)
Hejaz (Hejaz)
Wallachia (tributary principality)
Moldavia (tributary principality)
Khanate of the Crimea (Crimea) (tributary principality)
Transylvania (allegiance kingdom)

The Provinces of Rumili and Anadolu were under the direct rule of the sultan in Istanbul. The other 27 provinces were controlled by governor-generals (beylerbeyis). See the article on State Organisation of the Ottoman Empire for further information on the structure of power in the provinces.