The Vilayet of the Archipelago ( ota, ولايت جزائر بحر سفيد, ;"Vilayet of the Islands of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

") was a first-level administrative division (

vilayet A vilayet ( ota, , "province"), also known by #Names, various other names, was a first-order administrative division of the later Ottoman Empire. It was introduced in the Vilayet Law of 21 January 1867, part of the Tanzimat reform movement init ...

) 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) ...

extant from 1867 to 1912–13, including, at its maximum extent, the Ottoman Aegean islands,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and the

Dardanelles Strait The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

. At the beginning of the 20th century, it reportedly had an area of , while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 325,866.Asia
by

A. H. Keane Augustus Henry Keane (1833–1912) was an Irish Roman Catholic journalist and linguist, known for his ethnological writings. Early life He was born in Cork (city), Cork, Ireland.George Grant MacCurdy, James Mooney and A. B. Legía - Antonio Flor ...

, page 459 The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.

History

It was established in 1867 as the successor of the homonymous "

Eyalet of the Archipelago The Eyalet of the Archipelago ( ota, ایالت جزایر بحر سفید, ''Eyālet-i Cezāyir-i Baḥr-i Sefīd'', "Eyalet of the Islands of the White Sea") was a first-level province (eyalet) of the Ottoman Empire. From its inception until the ...

", which was established in 1533. Until 1876/7, when it was transferred to the Istanbul Vilayet, the ''

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησι� ...

'' (sub-province) of

Biga Biga may refer to: Places * Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey * Sanjak of Biga, an Ottoman province * Biga Çayı, a river in Çanakkale Province * Biga Peninsula, a peninsula in Turkey, in the northwest part ...

was the capital (''pasha-sanjak''), with the seat of the governor at Kale-i Sultaniye, while the other ''sanjaks'' were those of Rodos (Rhodes), Midilli (Lesbos), Sakiz (Chios), Limni (Lemnos), and Kıbrıs (Cyprus). Vilayet of the Archipelago (1881) Boundaries and Ethnic Makeup

Vilayet of the Archipelago (1881) Boundaries and Ethnic Makeup

, which had been ruled as an independent

mutasarrifate 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 ...

under the direct jurisdiction of the

Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

since 1861, was included in the vilayet in April 1868, only to be made a separate mutasarrifate again after 1870. In 1878, Cyprus

came A came is a divider bar used between small pieces of glass to make a larger glazing panel. There are two kinds of came: the H-shaped sections that hold two pieces together and the U-shaped sections that are used for the borders. Cames are mostl ...

under

British rule The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

. After the separation of Biga, Rhodes became ''pasha-sanjak'', then Chios in 1880, and then Rhodes again in 1888. The

Dodecanese The Dodecanese (, ; el, Δωδεκάνησα, ''Dodekánisa'' , ) are a group of 15 larger plus 150 smaller Greek islands in the southeastern Aegean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Turkey's Anatolia, of which 26 are inhabited. ...

islands were occupied by

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

during the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

of 1911–12, and the remaining islands of the eastern Aegean were captured by Greece during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

(1912–13), leading to the vilayet's dissolution. Of the Aegean islands,

Imbros Imbros or İmroz Adası, officially Gökçeada (lit. ''Heavenly Island'') since 29 July 1970,Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), ''Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1 ...

and

Tenedos Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos'', ), or Bozcaada in Turkish language, Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada, Çanakkale, Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Provinc ...

remained finally under Turkish rule according to the

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

(1923), while the Dodecanese passed to Greece after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Administrative divisions

Sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian language, Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian language, Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησι� ...

s'' until 1876: #

Sanjak of Biga The Sanjak of Biga was a second-level Ottoman province (''sanjak'' or '' liva''), roughly corresponding to the modern Çanakkale Province of Turkey. History The area of the ''sanjak'' was conquered from the Byzantine Empire by 1363, and with the ...

(''pasha-sanjak'') #

Sanjak of Rhodes The Sanjak of Rodos or Rhodes (Ottoman Turkish: ''Sancak-i/Liva-i Rodos''; el, λιβάς/σαντζάκι Ρόδου) was a second-level Ottoman province (''sanjak'' or '' liva'') encompassing the Dodecanese or Southern Sporades islands, with Rh ...

Sanjak of Midilli Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the n ...

# Sanjak of Sakiz # Sanjak of Lemnos # Sanjak of Cyprus

References

External links

* {{Dodecanese Islands

Archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

History of the Aegean Sea Ottoman Cyprus History of Çanakkale Province History of Rhodes History of the Dodecanese 1867 establishments in the Ottoman Empire 1913 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire