ota, ایالت صیدا
, common_name = Eyalet of Sidon
, subdivision =
Eyalet
, nation = the Ottoman Empire
, year_start = 1660
, year_end = 1864
, date_start =
, date_end =
, event_start =
, event_end =
, p1 = Damascus Eyalet
, flag_p1 =
, s1 = Beirut Vilayet
, flag_s1 =
, s2 = Syria Vilayet
, image_flag =
, flag_type =
, image_coat =
, image_map = Sidon Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (1795).png
, image_map_caption = The Sidon Eyalet in 1795
, capital =
Safed (1660)
Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
(1660–1775)
Acre (1775–1841)
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
(1841–1864)
, today =
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, stat_year1 =
, stat_area1 =
, stat_pop1 =
, stat_year2 =
, stat_area2 =
, stat_pop2 =
, footnotes =
The Eyalet of Sidon ( ota, ایالت صیدا, Eyālet-i Ṣaydā; ar, إيالة صيدا) was an
eyalet (also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. In the 19th century, the eyalet extended from the border with
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
to the Bay of
Kisrawan
The Kisrawan or Keserwan is the region in Mount Lebanon straddling the Mediterranean coast north of the Lebanese capital Beirut and south of the Ibrahim River. It is administered by the eponymous Keserwan District, part of the Keserwan-Jbeil G ...
, including parts of modern
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
Depending on the location of its capital, it was also known as the Eyalet of
Safad
Safed (known in Hebrew as Tzfat; Sephardic Hebrew & Modern Hebrew: צְפַת ''Tsfat'', Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Tzfas'', Biblical Hebrew: ''Ṣǝp̄aṯ''; ar, صفد, ''Ṣafad''), is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an eleva ...
,
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
or
Acre.
Background
Ottoman rulers considered creating the Province as early as 1585. The districts of Beirut-Sidon and Safed (encompassing much of the
Galilee) were united under the rule of
Ma'nid emir
Fakhr al-Din Ma'n.
History
Creation
The province was briefly created during Fakhr al-Din's exile in 1614–1615, and recreated in 1660. The province continued to be subordinated in some ways, both in fiscal and political matters, to the
Damascus province out of which it was created.
Despite
conflicts in the 1660s, the Ma'n family "played the leading role in the management of the internal affairs of this eyalet until the closing years of the 17th century, perhaps because it was not possible to manage the province-certainly not in the sanjak of Sidon-Beirut-without them."
Late 17th to 18th centuries
The Ma'ns were succeeded by the
Shihab family
The Shihab dynasty (alternatively spelled Chehab; ar, الشهابيون, ALA-LC: ''al-Shihābiyūn'') was an Arab family whose members served as the paramount tax farmers and local chiefs of Mount Lebanon from the early 18th to mid-19th centu ...
in ruling the mountainous interior of Sidon-Beirut from the final years of the 17th century through the 19th century. The governor of Sidon's rule also remained nominal in the Safed sanjak as well, where in the 18th century different local chiefs, mainly the sheikhs of the
Zaydan family in the
Galilee and the sheikhs of the Shia clans of Ali al-Saghir, Munkar, and Sa'b families in
Jabal Amil
Jabal Amil ( ar, جبل عامل, Jabal ʿĀmil), also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila, is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Musl ...
. Even the coastal towns of Sidon,
Beirut
Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...
, and
Acre were farmed out to the Sidon-based Hammud family. By the late 1720s, Beirut and its tax farm also went over to the Shihabs under Emir Haydar, while Acre and its tax farm came under the rule of the Zaydani sheikh
Zahir al-Umar
Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar ( ar, ظاهر العمر الزيداني, translit=Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Pale ...
in the mid-1740s.
In 1775, when
Jezzar Ahmed Pasha received the governorship of Sidon, he moved the capital to Acre. In 1799, Acre resisted a
siege by Napoleon Bonaparte.
Early and mid 19th century
As part of the
Egyptian–Ottoman War of 1831–33,
Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha ( tr, Kavalalı İbrahim Paşa; ar, إبراهيم باشا ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Ottoman Albanian general in the Egyptian army and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Wāli and unrecognised Kh ...
took Acre after a severe siege on May 27, 1832. The Egyptian occupation intensified rivalries between
Druzes and
Maronites
The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larg ...
, as Ibrahim Pasha openly favoured Christians in his administration and his army. In 1840, the governor of Sidon moved his residence to Beirut, effectively making it the new capital of the eyalet. After the return to Ottoman rule in 1841, the Druzes dislodged
Bashir III al-Shihab, to whom the sultan had granted the title of emir.
In 1842 the Ottoman government introduced the Double
Kaymakam
Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained a ...
ate, whereby
Mount Lebanon would be governed by a Maronite appointee and the more southerly regions of
Kisrawan
The Kisrawan or Keserwan is the region in Mount Lebanon straddling the Mediterranean coast north of the Lebanese capital Beirut and south of the Ibrahim River. It is administered by the eponymous Keserwan District, part of the Keserwan-Jbeil G ...
and
Shuf would be governed by a Druze. Both would remain under the indirect rule of the governor of Sidon. This partition of Lebanon proved to be a mistake. Animosities between the religious sects increased, and by 1860 they escalated into a full-blown
sectarian violence
Sectarian violence and/or sectarian strife is a form of communal violence which is inspired by sectarianism, that is, discrimination, hatred or prejudice between different sects of a particular mode of an ideology or different sects of a religion ...
. In the
1860 Lebanon conflict
The 1860 civil conflict in Mount Lebanon and Damascus (also called the 1860 Syrian Civil War) was a civil conflict in Mount Lebanon during Ottoman rule in 1860–1861 fought mainly between the local Druze and Christians. Following decisive Druze ...
that followed, thousands of Christians were killed in massacres that culminated with the Damascus Riots of July 1860.
Dissolution
Following the international outcry caused by the massacres, the
French landed troops in Beirut and the Ottomans abolished the unworkable system of the Kaymakamate and instituted in its place the
Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon
The Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate (1861–1918, ar, مُتَصَرِّفِيَّة جَبَل لُبْنَان, translit=Mutasarrifiyyat Jabal Lubnān; ) was one of the Ottoman Empire's subdivisions following the Tanzimat reform. After 1861, there ...
, a
Maronite-majority district to be governed by non-Lebanese Christian
mutasarrıf
Mutasarrif or mutesarrif ( ota, متصرّف, tr, mutasarrıf) was the title used in the Ottoman Empire and places like post-Ottoman Iraq for the governor of an administrative district. The Ottoman rank of mutasarrif was established as part of a ...
, which was the direct predecessor of the
political system that continued to exist in Lebanon's early post-independence years. The new arrangement ended the turmoil, and the region prospered in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire.
Administrative divisions
Sidon Eyalet consisted of two
sanjaks
Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ)
* Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province")
* Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region")
* el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...
in the 17th century:
#
Sidon-Beirut Sanjak
Sidon-Beirut Sanjak was a ''sanjak'' (district) of Sidon Eyalet (Province of Sidon) of the Ottoman Empire. Prior to 1660, the Sidon-Beirut Sanjak had been part of Damascus Eyalet, and for brief periods in the 1590s, Tripoli Eyalet.
Territory and ...
#
Safad Sanjak
Safed Sanjak ( ar, سنجق صفد; tr, Safed Sancağı) was a ''sanjak'' (district) of Damascus Eyalet ( Ottoman province of Damascus) in 1517–1660, after which it became part of the Sidon Eyalet (Ottoman province of Sidon). The sanjak was ce ...
By the start of the 18th century, Sidon Eyalet was not divided into sanjaks and third-level
kaza
A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough')
* bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза
* el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also ()
* lad, kaza
, ...
s (judicial districts) as most other eyalets, including neighboring Damascus, were administratively divided at the time. Instead, Sidon comprised several smaller, fiscal districts, most commonly called ''muqata'as'' in the contemporary government documents, and less commonly referred to as
nahiyes. There were several, mostly insignificant changes to the territorial jurisdictions of the ''muqata'as'' throughout the century but for the most part, the province comprised the following ''muqata'as'':
#Beirut (town)
#Jabal al-Shuf (e.g. Druze-dominated, southern half of Mount Lebanon)
#Sidon (town)
#Iqlim al-Tuffah (southeast of Sidon)
#Iqlim al-Shumar
#Iqlim al-Shaqif(area around
Shaqif Arnun
Beaufort or Belfort Castle, known locally as Qal'at al-Shaqif ( ar, قلعة الشقيف, Qalʾāt al-Shaqīf) or Shaqif Arnun, is a Crusader fortress in Nabatieh Governorate, Southern Lebanon, about to the south-south-east of the village o ...
castle)
#
Tyre (town)
#
Bilad Bishara
#Sahil Akka (coastal plain of Acre)
#Acre (town)
#Safed and
Rama
Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...
(these had been separate ''muqata'as'' but were merged by the governor
Jazzar Pasha in 1777)
#Jira (countryside of
Safed; sometimes, this district was called 'Jira and
Tarshiha')
#
Shefa-Amr and
Nazareth (these had been separate ''muqata'as'' but were merged by Jazzar Pasha in 1777)
#
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
and
Yajur (these had been part of the Damascus Eyalet, but were appended to Sidon in 1723. They were later re-appended, in name only, to Damascus in the 1760–1762, but were afterward restored to Sidon)
#Sahil Atlit (the
Atlit
Atlit ( he, עַתְלִית, ar, عتليت) is a coastal town located south of Haifa, Israel. The community is in the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council in the Haifa District of Israel.
Off the coast of Atlit is a submerged Neolithic village. At ...
coast south of Haifa was effectively annexed from Damascus, without imperial sanction, by the powerful tax farmer,
Zahir al-Umar
Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar ( ar, ظاهر العمر الزيداني, translit=Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Pale ...
, in the late 1750s, and became officially part of Sidon during Jazzar Pasha's governorship, 1776–1804)
#
Marj Ayyun (appended to Sidon during Jazzar Pasha's governorship)
Sidon Eyalet consisted of seven ''sanjaks'' (districts) in the early 19th century:
[System of universal geography founded on the works of Malte-Brun and Balbi](_blank)
— Open Library (p. 647)
#
Acre Sanjak
#
Beirut Sanjak
#
Sidon Sanjak
#
Tyre Sanjak
#
Nablus Sanjak
The Nablus Sanjak ( ar, سنجق نابلس; tr, Nablus Sancağı) was an administrative area that existed throughout Ottoman rule in the Levant (1517–1917). It was administratively part of the Damascus Eyalet until 1864 when it became part o ...
#
Nazareth Sanjak
#
Tiberias Sanjak
Governors
Governors of the eyalet:
World Statesmen — Lebanon
/ref>
* Abidin Pasha (1685)
* Kavanoz Ahmed Pasha (1691/92 – 1694/95)
* Qublan Pasha al-Matarji (1700–1703)
* Arslan Pasha al-Matarji (1703–1706)
* Bashir Pasha al-Matarji (1706–1712)
* Uthman Pasha Abu Tawq (1712–1715)
* Bashir Pasha al-Matarji (1715–1717)
* Uthman Pasha Abu Tawq (1717–1718)
* Genç Ahmed Pasha (1716–1718)
* Damat Hafiz Ahmed Pasha (November 1722 – 1723/24; 1st term)
* Ahmad Pasha Abu Tawq (1723–1725)
* Uthman Pasha Abu Tawq (1725–1726)
* Köprülü Abdullah Pasha
Köprülü Abdullah Pasha ( sq, Abdullah pashë Kypriljoti; 1684 – 1735)Michael Nizri: ''Ottoman High Politics and the Ulema Household'', Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. pp. 65 was an Ottoman general of the first half of the 18th century and one of t ...
(1726/27–1728)
* Sulayman Pasha al-Azm (1728–1730)
* Ahmad Pasha Abu Tawq (1730–1734)
* Sa'deddin Pasha al-Azm (1734–1737)
* Ibrahim Pasha al-Azm (1737–1741)
* As'ad Pasha al-Azm
As'ad Pasha al-Azem ( ar, أسعد باشا العظم, 1706 – March 1758) was the governor of Damascus under Ottoman rule from 1743 to his deposition in 1757. He was responsible for the construction of several architectural works in the city a ...
(1741–1742)
* Yaqub Pasha (1742)
* Ibrahim Pasha al-Azm (1742–1744)
* Sa'deddin Pasha al-Azm (1744–1748)
* Uthman Pasha al-Muhassil (1748–1750)
* Mustafa Pasha al-Qawwas (1750–1752)
* Sa'deddin Pasha al-Azm (1752–1753)
* Mustafa Pasha al-Qawwas (1754–1755)
* Mustafa Pasha al-Azm (1755–1756)
* Sa'deddin Pasha al-Azm (1756–1759)
* Nu'man Pasha (1760–1763)
* Muhammad Pasha al-Azm (1763–1770)
* Darwish Pasha al-Kurji
Darwish Pasha al-Kurji (also known as Osmanzade Dervish Pasha) was an Ottoman statesman who served as ''wali'' (governor) of Sidon in 1770–1771 and Damascus in 1783–1784. He was the son of Uthman Pasha al-Kurji, who was of Georgian origin.
Da ...
(1770–1771)
* Zahir al-Umar
Zahir al-Umar al-Zaydani, alternatively spelled Daher al-Omar or Dahir al-Umar ( ar, ظاهر العمر الزيداني, translit=Ẓāhir al-ʿUmar az-Zaydānī, 1689/90 – 21 or 22 August 1775) was the autonomous Arab ruler of northern Pale ...
(1771–1775) (''de facto'')
* Rajab Pasha (1772) (''de jure'')
* Malak Muhammad Pasha (1775) (''de jure'')
* Jezzar Pasha
Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar ( ar, أحمد باشا الجزّار; ota, جزّار أحمد پاشا; ca. 1720–30s7 May 1804) was the Acre-based Ottoman governor of Sidon Eyalet from 1776 until his death in 1804 and the simultaneous governor of D ...
(1775–1804)
* Sulayman Pasha al-Adil (1804–1819)
* Bashir Shihab (1819) (''de facto'')
* Abdullah Pasha (1820–1822)
* Darwish Mehmed Pasha (1822) (''de jure'')
* Mustafa Pasha (1822-1823) (''de jure'')
* Abdullah Pasha (1823-1832)
* Egyptian rule ( 27 May 1832 – 10 October 1840)
** Husayn Abd al-Hadi (1833 – pre-1840)
* Köse Ahmed Zekeriya Pasha (November 1840 – March 1841)
* Eneste/Haseki Mehmed Selim Pasha (March 1841 – December 1841)
* Izzet Ahmed Pasha (December 1841 – July 1842)
* Mustafa Pasha (1842)
* Selim Pasha (1842)
* Ömer Pasha (Mihaylo Lattas) (1842 – 7 December 1842)
* Ayasli Asad Mehmed Muhlis Pasha (August 1842 – 9 April 1845)
* Yozgatli Mehmed Vecihi Pasha (9 April 1845 – January 1846)
* Mühendis Mehmed Kamil Pasha (January 1846 – September 1847)
* Mustafa Sherifi Pasha (September 1847 – July 1848)
* Salih Vamık Pasha (August 1848 – September 1851; 1st term)
* Pepe Mehmed Emin Pasha (September 1851 – September 1852)
* Salih Vamık Pasha (September 1852 – March 1855; 2nd term)
* Mahmud Nedim Pasha
Mahmud Nedim Pasha ( 1818 – 14 May 1883) was an Ottoman conservative statesman of ethnic Georgian background,Buṭrus Abū Mannah (2001), ''Studies on Islam and the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century, 1826-1876'', p. 163. Isis Press, wh ...
(March 1855 – December 1855)
* Salih Vamık Pasha (December 1855 – July 1857; 3rd term)
* Arnavud Mehmed Kurshid Pasha (June 1857 – 17 July 1860)
* Fuad Pasha (17 July 1860 – 9 June 1861)
* Charles-Marie-Napoléon de Beaufort d'Hautpoul (16 August 1860 – 5 July 1861; ''de facto'' as part of the French expedition in Syria)
* (1860–1863)
* Mehmed Kabuli Pasha (1863–1864)
* Mehmed Kurshid Pasha (1864–1865)
See also
* Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
* Mount Lebanon Emirate
The Emirate of Mount Lebanon () was a part of Mount Lebanon that enjoyed variable degrees of partial autonomy under the stable suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire between the mid-16th and the early-19th century.
The town of Baakleen was the seat o ...
* History of Lebanon under Ottoman rule
The Ottoman Empire at least nominally ruled Mount Lebanon from its conquest in 1516 until the end of World War I in 1918.
The Ottoman sultan, Selim I (1516–20), invaded Syria and Lebanon in 1516. The Ottomans, through the Maans, a great Druze ...
References
Bibliography
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{{coord, 33.55, 35.3833, display=title
Eyalets of the Ottoman Empire in Asia
Ottoman Syria
Ottoman period in Lebanon
1660 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
1864 disestablishments in Ottoman Syria
Ottoman Galilee