Syria vilayet

History

In 1864, the Vilayet Law was promulgated. The new provincial law was implemented in Damascus in 1865, and the reformed province was named Suriyya/Suriye, reflecting a growing historical consciousness among the local intellectuals. Jerusalem was separated from the rest of the province, and made into an independent sanjak of Jerusalem that reported directly to Istanbul, rather than Damascus. Mount Lebanon had been similarly made into a self-governing mutesarrifate in 1864.

In 1872, a new administrative region was created, with its center in Ma'an, but the costs for the new administrative unit far outweighed the revenues, and it was closed the following year. In 1884, the governor of Damascus made a proposal to establish a new vilayet of southern Syria, though nothing came out of this.

In 1888, a vilayet of Beirut was formed from the coastal areas of the vilayet of Syria. In May 1892, another proposal was made for a regional government centered in Ma'an, which was approved in August. In mid-1895, the centre of this mutasarrifiyya was moved to Karak (Mutasarrifate of Karak), marking the southernmost extent of Ottoman rule in the vilayet of Syria.

As of 1897, the Vilayet Syria was divided into four sanjaks: Damascus, Hama, Hauran and Karak. The Vilayet's capital was Damascus.

File:Ottoman levant.png|Map of Ottoman Levant showing the Beirut Vilayet and its Sanjaks and the Syria Vilayet and its Sanjaks. File:Ottoman Asia (partial, 1893).jpg|1893 map of administrative divisions of Ottoman Asia File:Ottoman Empire Administrative Divisions.png|A map showing the administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire in 1317 Hijri, 1899 Gregorian, Including the Beirut Vilayet and its Sanjaks and the Syria/Damascus Vilayet and its Sanjaks.

References

References

1. Mutlu, Servet. "Late Ottoman population and its ethnic distribution".
2. {{Cite EB1911
3. [http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003514336 ''Salname-yi Vilâyet-i Suriye''] ("Yearbook yof the Vilayet of Syria"), Syria vilâyet matbaası, Suriye [Syria], 1300 [1882]. in the website of Hathi Trust Digital Library.
4. 8172680120
5. [https://archive.org/stream/asiakeane00kean#page/460/mode/1up Asia] by [[A. H. Keane]], page 460
6. 978-1-107-03363-4
7. Rogan, Eugene L.. (2002-04-11). "Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921". Cambridge University Press.
8. Fawaz, Leila Tarazi. (January 1994). "An Occasion for War: Civil Conflict in Lebanon and Damascus in 1860". University of California Press.
9. 9789004097964