Damascus Eyalet

Administrative division of the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1865

Damascus Eyalet

Arabic: إيالة الشام
Ottoman Turkish: ایالت شام

Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire
1516–1865

Flag

The Damascus Eyalet in 1795
Capital| Damascus[1]
History|

• Battle of Marj Dabiq

| 1516

• Disestablished

| 1865

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | Mamluk Sultanate

|

| Syria Vilayet |

|

Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem |
Today part of| Palestine
Israel
Jordan
Syria

Damascus Eyalet (Arabic: إيالة دمشق; Ottoman Turkish: ایالت شام, romanized: Eyālet-i Šām)[2] was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was 51,900 square kilometres (20,020 sq mi).[3] It became an eyalet after the Ottomans took it from the Mamluks following the 1516–1517 Ottoman–Mamluk War.[4] Janbirdi al-Ghazali, a Mamluk traitor, was made the first beylerbey of Damascus.[5] The Damascus Eyalet was one of the first Ottoman provinces to become a vilayet after an administrative reform in 1865, and by 1867 it had been reformed into the Syria Vilayet.[6]

## Territorial jurisdiction

[edit]

The Ottoman Empire conquered Syria from the Mamluks following the Battle of Marj Dabiq in August 1516 and the subsequent pledges of allegiance paid to the Ottoman sultan, Selim I, in Damascus by delegations of notables from throughout Syria.[7] The Ottomans established Damascus as the center of an eyalet (Ottoman province) whose territories consisted of the mamlakat (Mamluk provinces) of Damascus, Hama, Tripoli, Safad and Karak.[8] The mamlaka of Aleppo, which covered much of northern Syria, became the Aleppo Eyalet.[8] For a few months in 1521, Tripoli and its district were separated from Damascus Eyalet, but after 1579, the Tripoli Eyalet permanently became its own province.[8]

At the close of the 16th century, the Damascus Eyalet was administratively divided into the sanjaks (districts) of Tadmur, Safad, Lajjun, Ajlun, Nablus, Jerusalem,[dubious - discuss] Gaza and Karak, in addition to the city of Damascus and its district.[9] There was also the sanjak of Sidon-Beirut, though throughout the late 16th century, it frequently switched hands between the eyalets of Damascus and Tripoli.[10] Briefly in 1614, and then permanently after 1660, the Sidon-Beirut and Safad sanjaks were separated from Damascus to form the Sidon Eyalet.[8] These administrative divisions largely held place with relatively minor changes until the mid-19th century.[11]

## Governors

[edit]

Main article: List of rulers of Damascus § Ottoman walis

## Administrative divisions

[edit]

Palestine with the Hauran and the adjacent districts, William Hughes 1843

Sanjaks of Damascus Eyalet in the 17th century:[12]

* Khass sanjaks (i.e. yielded a land revenue):

1. Sanjak of Damascus
2. Sanjak of Jerusalem
3. Sanjak of Gaza
4. Sanjak of Karak
5. Sanjak of Safad
6. Sanjak of Nablus
7. Sanjak of Ajlun
8. Sanjak of Lajjun
9. Sanjak of Beqaa

* Salyane sanjaks (i.e. had an annual allowance from government):

1. Sanjak of Tadmur
2. Sanjak of Sidon
3. Sanjak of Beirut

Sanjaks between 1700 and 1740[13]

1. Sanjak of Damascus
2. Sanjak of the Mîr-Haclık (managed the muslim pilgrimage)
3. Sanjak of Karak
4. Sanjak of Jerusalem
5. Sanjak of Gaza
6. Sanjak of Lajjun
7. Sanjak of Baalbek

## See also

[edit]

* Ottoman Syria
* Abu al-Mawahib al-Hanbali

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Commercial statistics: A digest of the productive resources, commercial... By John Macgregor, p. 12, at Google Books
2. ^ "Some Provinces of the Ottoman Empire". Geonames.de. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 February 2013.
3. ^ The Popular encyclopedia: or, conversations lexicon, Volume 6 , p. 698, at Google Books
4. ^ Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, p. 169, at Google Books By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters
5. ^ D. E. Pitcher (1972). An Historical Geography of the Ottoman Empire: From Earliest Times to the End of the Sixteenth Century. Brill Archive. p. 105. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
6. ^ Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique. J. Perthes. 1867. pp. 827–829. Retrieved 2013-06-01.
7. ^ Ze'evi, pp. 1–2.
8. ^ a b c d Abu-Husayn, p. 11.
9. ^ Bakhit 1982, p. 91.
10. ^ Abu-Husayn, pp. 11–12.
11. ^ Salibi, pp. 63–64.
12. ^ Narrative of travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the ..., Volume 1, p. 90, at Google Books By Evliya Çelebi, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall
13. ^ Kılıç, Orhan (1997). 18\. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında Osmanlı Devleti'nin İdari Taksimatı-Eyalet ve Sancak Tevcihatı / In the First half of the 18th Century Administrative Divisions of the Ottoman Empire-Shire and Sanjak Assignments (in Turkish). Elazığ: Şark Pazarlama. p. 57\. ISBN 9759630907.

## Bibliography

[edit]

* Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim (2004). The View from Istanbul: Ottoman Lebanon and the Druze Emirate. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9781860648564.
* Bakhit, Muhammad Adnan (1982). The Ottoman Province of Damascus in the Sixteenth Century. Librairie du Liban. ISBN 9780866853224.
* Salibi, Kamal S. (1988). A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520071964.
* Ze'evi, Dror (1996). An Ottoman Century: The District of Jerusalem in the 1600s. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 0-7914-2915-6.

* v
* t
* e

Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire

c. 1365 – 1867 (eyalets)

| Africa|

* Algiers
* Egypt
* Muhammad Ali dynasty
* Habesh
* Tripolitania
* Tunis

|

Anatolia|

* Adana
* Aidin
* Anatolia
* Ankara
* Childir
* Diyarbekir
* Dulkadir
* Erzurum
* Hüdavendigâr
* Karaman
* Kars
* Kastamonu
* Kurdistan
* Rum
* Trebizond
* Van

Europe|

* Adrianople
* Archipelago
* Bosnia
* Budin
* Crete
* Egir
* Herzegovina
* Kanije
* Kefe
* Morea
* Niš
* Podolia
* Rumelia
* Salonica
* Silistra
* Temeşvar
* Uyvar
* Varat
* Widdin
* Yanina

Levant|

* Aleppo
* Cyprus
* Damascus
* Jerusalem
* Sidon
* Mount Lebanon
* Tripoli

Arabia|

* Yemen
* Lahsa

Mesopotamia|

* Baghdad (Mamluk of Iraq)
* Mosul
* Basra
* Rakka
* Shahrizor

1867–1922 (vilayets and mutasarrıfates)

| Africa|

* Tripolitania

|

Anatolia|

* Adana
* Aidin
* Angora (Ankara)
* Archipelago
* Bitlis
* Constantinople (Istanbul)
* Diyarbekir
* Erzurum
* Hüdavendigâr
* Kastamonu
* Konya
* Mamuret-ul-Aziz
* Sivas
* Trebizond (Trabzon)
* Van

Europe|

* Adrianople (Edirne)
* Bosnia
* Constantinople
* Crete
* Danube
* Janina
* Kosovo
* Manastir
* Salonica
* Scutari

Levant|

* Aleppo
* Beirut
* Mount Lebanon
* Syria
* Jerusalem

Arabia|

* Hejaz
* Yemen

Mesopotamia|

* Baghdad
* Mosul
* Basra

Vassals and autonomies

| Vassals|

* Cossack Hetmanate
* Ottoman Ukraine
* Crimean Khanate
* Khanate of Kazan
* Principality of Moldavia
* Sharifate of Mecca
* Republic of Ragusa
* Serbian Despotate
* Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1672–1676)
* Duchy of Syrmia
* Principality of Transylvania
* Principality of Wallachia
* Principality of Romania
* Principality of Serbia
* Principality of Bulgaria
* Kingdom of Imereti
* Septinsular Republic

|

Autonomies|

* Cretan State
* Khedivate of Egypt
* Kurdish emirates
* Mamluk of Iraq
* Eastern Rumelia
* Principality of Samos

* v
* t
* e

Damascus

Historic and
other landmarks|

* Al-Azem Palace
* Khan As'ad Pasha
* Straight Street
* Mausoleum of Saladin
* Umayyad Mosque
* Citadel of Damascus
* Grand Serail of Damascus
* Khadra Palace
* Nur al-Din Bimaristan
* Maktab Anbar
* Muhajreen Palace
* Hejaz Train Station
* Statue of Saladin
* Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
* Temple of Jupiter
* Tishreen Palace
* Al-Shaab Palace
* October War Panorama

Madrasas and takiyyas|

* Al-Adiliyah Madrasa
* Al-Shamiyah al-Kubra Madrasa
* Al-Fathiyah Madrasa
* Al-Mujahidiyah Madrasa
* Al-Qilijiyah Madrasa
* Al-Rukniyah Madrasa
* Al-Sahiba Madrasa
* Salimiyya Madrasa
* Al-Sibaiyah Madrasa
* Al-Zahiriyah Library
* Nur al-Din Madrasa
* Salimiyya Takiyya
* Sulaymaniyya Takiyya

Mosques|

* Aqsab
* Darwish Pasha
* Hanabila
* Ibn 'Arabi Mosque (Salimiyya Mosque)
* Murad Pasha
* Nabi Habeel
* Sayyidah Ruqayyah
* Sinan Pasha
* Sulaymaniyya Takiyya Mosque
* Umayyad
* Yalbugha

Churches|

| Catholic|

* Chapel of Saint Ananias
* Chapel of Saint Paul
* Cathedral of Our Lady of the Dormition
* Syriac Catholic Cathedral of Saint Paul

|

Eastern Orthodox|

* Mariamite Cathedral

Oriental Orthodox|

* Syriac Cathedral of Saint George

Synagogues|

* Elfrange Synagogue
* Jobar Synagogue
* Menarsha Synagogue
* Racqy Synagogue

Historic gates|

* Bab al-Faradis
* Bab al-Jabiyah
* Bab al-Saghir
* Bab al-Salam
* Bab Kisan
* Bab Sharqi
* Bab Tuma

Souqs and caravanserais|

* Jaqmaq Caravansarai
* As'ad Pasha Caravansarai
* Sulayman Pasha Caravansarai
* Al-Harir Caravansarai
* Midhat Pasha Souq
* Al-Hamidiyah Souq
* Al-Buzuriyah Souq

Culture and
education|

* National Museum of Damascus
* Al-Assad National Library
* Damascus Opera House
* Damascus University
* National University Hospital
* Syrian Virtual University
* International University for Science and Technology
* Syrian Private University
* Arab International University
* Higher Institute for Applied Science and Technology
* Higher Institute of Music in Damascus
* Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts
* National Institute of Public Administration
* Damascus Community School
* Lycée Charles de Gaulle
* Shami Hospital

Entertainment|

* Bakdash (ice cream parlor)
* Bawabet Dimashq
* Havana Cafe
* Beit al-Mamlouka Hotel
* Blue Tower Hotel
* Four Seasons Hotel Damascus

Streets and squares|

* Baghdad Street
* Marjeh Square
* Rawda Square
* Sabaa Bahrat Square
* Umayyad Square
* Yusuf al-Azma Square

Nature|

* Barada River
* Pharpar River
* Mount Qasioun
* Salera Hill
* Ghouta

Sport|

| Venues|

* Abbasiyyin Stadium
* Al-Fayhaa Sports Complex
* Al-Fayhaa Stadium
* Al-Jalaa Stadium
* Tishreen Stadium
* Al-Muhafaza Stadium
* Al-Fayhaa Sports Arena

|

Clubs|

* Al-Jaish SC
* Al-Majd SC
* Al-Muhafaza SC
* Al-Nidal SC
* Al-Shorta SC
* Al-Wahda SC
* Barada SC

Municipal districts|

* Old Damascus
* Sarouja
* Qanawat
* Jobar
* Al-Midan
* Al-Shaghour
* Qadam
* Kafr Sousa
* Mezzeh
* Dummar
* Barzeh
* Qaboun
* Rukn al-Din
* Al-Salihiyah
* Muhajreen
* Yarmouk

Timeline
(List of rulers)|

* Aram
* Siege (634)
* Jund Dimashq
* Burid dynasty
* Siege (1148)
* Eyalet
* Affair
* Protocol
* State
* Battle (1941)
* International Airport
* 1976 Pan Arab Games
* World Military Cup 1977
* International Film Festival
* 1981 Azbakiyah bombing
* 1986 bombings
* 1992 Pan Arab Games
* Spring
* 2002 West Asian Football Federation Championship
* 2004 WABA Champions Cup
* Declaration
* 2008 Arab Capital of Culture
* 2008 Arab League summit
* 2008 car bombing
* 2011 bombings
* 2011–2012 clashes
* January 2012 al-Midan bombing
* March 2012 bombings
* April 2012 bombings
* May 2012 bombings
* Battle (2012)
* July 2012 bombing
* 2017 bombings
* 2024 Fall

* Category

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