The Sanjak of Kocaeli was a second-level Ottoman province (''

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

'' or '' liva'') with capital at Iznikmid/Izmid (

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Nicomedia Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocleti ...

, modern Izmit).

History

Kocaeli derives its name from Akça Khodja, an Ottoman Turkish warleader who began the conquest of the region from the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. His domain (in Turkish ''Koca-ili'' or ''Koca-eli'', "land of the Khodja") was recognized as a ''

'', already during the reign of

Orhan I Orhan Ghazi ( ota, اورخان غازی; tr, Orhan Gazi, also spelled Orkhan, 1281 – March 1362) was the second bey of the Ottoman Beylik from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I. In the early stages of his r ...

, sometime between 1327–1338, making it one of the earliest ''sanjaks'' of the Ottoman Empire. Its capital was Iznikmid (Nicomedia, modern Izmit), which was conquered by the Ottomans sometime between 1331 an 1338. With the establishment of the Anatolia Eyalet it became part of it until 1533, when it was added to the newly created

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 ...

. The woods of the province allowed the city to become the site of a major naval arsenal, especially during the

Köprülü era The Köprülü era ( tr, Köprülüler Devri) (c. 1656–1703) was a period in which the Ottoman Empire's politics were frequently dominated by a series of grand viziers from the Köprülü family. The Köprülü era is sometimes more narrowl ...

. It remained part of the Eyalet of the Archipelago until the Tanzimat reforms of the 19th century; by 1846, it had been transferred to the Kastamonu Eyalet. In 1855 it passed to

Hüdavendigâr Eyalet Hüdavendigâr Eyalet ( ota, ایالت خداوندگار, Eyālet-i Ḥüdāvendigār) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. The word ''Hüdavendigâr'' comes from the Persian word Khodāvandgār which literally translates to ''"devotee of god" ...

(and its successor

Hüdavendigâr Vilayet The Hüdavendigâr Vilayet ( ota, ولايت خداوندگار, Vilâyet-i Hüdavendigâr) or Bursa Vilayet after its administrative centre, was a first-level administrative division ( vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the 20th ...

after 1867). From there it was transferred to the Istanbul Vilayet in 1870, before returning briefly to Hüdavendigâr (1871), becoming an independent ''sanjak'' in 1872, and returning to Istanbul in 1876. In 1887, the Sanjak of Kocaeli (increasingly known as Izmid, after its capital) returned to the jurisdiction of the Hüdavendigâr Vilayet.

References

Sources

* * * {{coord, 40.852, N, 29.878, E, display=title Kocaeli History of Kocaeli Province States and territories established in the 1320s Bithynia