Constantinople Vilayet

Vilâyet-i İstanbul
Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire
← 1878–1922 →
Constantinople Vilayet (1895)
History
•	Established	1878
•	Disestablished	1922
Population
•	Muslim, 1914	560,434
•	Greek, 1914	205,752
•	Armenian, 1914	82,880
•	Jewish, 1914	52,126 Ethnic Groups inConstantinople Vilayet   Muslim (62%)   Orthodox (23%)   Armenian (9%)   Jew (6%)
Today part of		Turkey

The Vilayet of Constantinople or Istanbul was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire, encompassing the imperial capital, Constantinople (Istanbul).

It had a special organisation, as it was placed under the immediate authority of the Minister of Police (Zabtiye Naziri), who filled a role equivalent to the governor (wali) in other vilayets.

It included Istanbul and the quarters of Eyüp, Kassim Pacha, Pera and Galata, and all the suburbs from Silivri on the Sea of Marmara to the Black Sea on the European side, and from Ghili on the Black Sea to the end of the Gulf of İzmit on the Asiatic side.

In 1878, a provincial structure, with a governor (wāli) and provincial officers, was established to perform the same functions within Istanbul that provincial authorities performed elsewhere in the Empire.

Administrative divisions

Sanjaks and kazas, circa 1877:

• Sanjak of Stamboul: kazas of Fatih-Sultan-Mehmet, Eyüp, Kartal, Prince Islands
• Sanjak of Pera: kazas of Galata, Yeniköy.
• Sanjak of Üsküdar: kaza of Beykoz.
• Sanjak of Büyükçekmece, kaza of Çatalca.

See also

• History of Istanbul