The Eyalet of Anatolia (Ottoman Turkish: ایالت آناطولی, romanized: Eyālet-i Anaṭolı)[1] was one of the two core provinces (Rumelia being the other) in the early years of the Ottoman Empire. It was established in 1393.[2] Its capital was first Ankara in central Anatolia, but then moved to Kütahya in western Anatolia. Its reported area in the 19th century was 65,804 square miles (170,430 km2).[3]
The establishment of the province of Anatolia is held to have been in 1393, when Sultan Bayezid I (r. 1389–1402) appointed Kara Timurtash as beylerbey and viceroy was in Anatolia, during Bayezid's absence on campaign in Europe against Mircea I of Wallachia.[4][5] The province of Anatolia—initially termed beylerbeylik or generically vilayet ("province"), only after 1591 was the term eyalet used[5]—was the second to be formed after the Rumelia Eyalet, and ranked accordingly in the hierarchy of the provinces.[6] The first capital of the province was Ankara, but in the late 15th century it was moved to Kütahya.[6]
As part of the Tanzimat reforms, the Anatolia Eyalet was dissolved c. 1841 and divided into smaller provinces, although various scholars give conflicting dates for the dissolution, from as early as 1832 to as late as 1864.[6]
Administrative divisions
The eyalet consisted of seventeen sanjacks (liva) in 1530[7]
^Ménage, V. L. (1986). "Beglerbegī". The Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume I: A–B. Leiden and New York: BRILL. pp. 1159–1160. ISBN90-04-08114-3.
^ abcBirken, Andreas (1976). Die Provinzen des Osmanischen Reiches. Beihefte zum Tübinger Atlas des Vorderen Orients (in German). Vol. 13. Reichert. p. 115. ISBN9783920153568.
^Rumeli Eyaleti. Ankara: Devlet Arşivleri Genel Müdürlüğü Osmanlı Arşivi Daire Başkanlığı. 2013. p. 11.
^Çetin Varlık, Anadolu Eyaleti Kuruluşu ve Gelişmesi, Osmanlı, Cilt 6: Teşkilât, Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, Ankara, 1999, ISBN975-6782-09-9, p. 125. (in Turkish)
^Orhan Kılıç, XVII. Yüzyılın İlk Yarısında Osmanlı Devleti'nin Eyalet ve Sancak Teşkilatlanması, Osmanlı, Cilt 6: Teşkilât, Yeni Türkiye Yayınları, Ankara, 1999, ISBN975-6782-09-9, p. 93. (in Turkish)